§ Major Bruceasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty (1) how many officers and/or civilian officials are employed on a full-time basis in the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth for the purpose of ensuring that the safety regulations are complied with; (2) how far the Factory Act regulations for work on ship reconstruction are applicable to work of this nature carried out in His Majesty's dockyards; (3) what is the number of accidents, other than minor mishaps, which have taken place during the course of work carried out in his Department's establishments at Portsmouth, Gosport, and Fareham, respectively, in each of the years 1939, 1944, 1945 and 1946 to the latest convenient date; and if he will state how many of these were ascertained to be the result of the safety regulations not being complied with.
§ Mr. W. EdwardsThe following figures give the number of accidents involving workpeople in Admiralty Establishments at Portsmouth, Fareham, and Gosport, in absences of three days or, more on the hurt list:
1939. 1944. 1945. 1946* Portsmouth 675 799 679 576 Fareham 59 284 207 72 Gosport — — — 7 * First three-quarters. All these accidents, with three exceptions, occurred to individual workers. In the three cases mentioned, four, three, and eight workers respectively were concerned.
The numbers of these accidents which were due to non-compliance with safety regulations were:
458W
1939. 1944. 1945. 1946 Portsmouth 55 76 142 127 Fareham 18 8 14 2 Gosport — — — — The appropriate provisions of the Factories Act apply in their entirety in H.M. Dockyards, and one safety officer is employed full-time at each of the main yards, including Portsmouth Dockyard, to ensure that these provisions are observed.