§ Mr. CECIL WILSONasked the Home Secretary the number of workmen who are not affected by the Silicosis Act, but who when examined by officers of the Department during the last five years have been found to be suffering from silicosis?
1650W
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSNo routine examinations of workers are made by the medical inspectors of factories, but during the period in question a number of sample examinations were made in connection with special inquiries into the grinding and other industries. Approximately 1,106 workers employed in processes which involved exposure to silica dust, but which do not come under the existing scheme of compensation for the refractories industries, were so examined. Of these, 556 were found to be affected by fibrosis of the lungs, which I am advised must be attributed to the exposure to the silica dust. The degree of fibrosis, however, varied very greatly, and, so far as could be judged on a clinical examination, a large proportion were in the early stage. Five hundred and twenty-eight of the 556 men were employed in the grinding industries and the remaining 28 at steel works.