§ Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Minister of Power (1) what are the results of the investigation into pneumoconiosis being carried out in co-operation with the National Coal Board, the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance and the Medical Research Council; to what extent miners' sickness and accident incapacity compare with other industries; and what action in the matter is proposed;
(2) what lessons have been learned from the field research on pneumoconiosis undertaken by the National Coal Board; and what action it is proposed to take in the matter.
§ Mr. PeytonInvestigations into pneumoconiosis are being carried out by the National Coal Board, the Medical Research Council and the Safety in Mines Research Establishment. These three bodies are respectively responsible for field research, which is primarily aimed at defining safe levels of airborne dust; for fundamental research into the medical and allied aspects of pneumoconiosis; and for research into problems of dust physics and mineralogy having a bearing on medical research. The work of the three bodies is closely co-ordinated and is reviewed from time to time by the National Joint Pneumoconiosis Committee under my chairmanship. Government Departments and other organisations concerned with coal-miners' pneumocoiosis are represented on that Committee.
Recent results of the National Coal Board's field research support the view 103W that the type of coal, as well as the amount of dust in the air, may have some connection with the disease. New gravimetric dust-sampling instruments should help further research to make it possible to measure dust exposure more effectively.
Experience in the years 1957–60 indicates that incapacity due to industrial accidents is ten times as frequent in mining as in other industries. The Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance is making a special inquiry into the incidence of incapacity for work in different occupations in the year 1961-62. The National Coal Board is co-operating in this inquiry, which will show how absence due to sickness in coal mining compares with that in other industries.
The National Coal Board is constantly seeking ways of making the mines safer and healthier to work in. My Department gives the Board all the support it can in its efforts to that end.