§ 12. Mrs. McKayasked the Minister of Labour (1) if he will report on the pilot scheme initiated by his Department in 1966 on the establishment of an Industrial Hygiene Laboratory Service attached to Her Majesty's Factory Inspectorate; how extensively the advice of this service has been sought by the district staff and industry; and what positive changes have been effected to safeguard workers' health;
(2) to what extent the work of Her Majesty's Factory Inspectorate's Industrial Hygiene Laboratory Service has reduced the 20,000,000 working days lost 177W annually through industrial illness; what new health hazards arising from employment of new industrial processes and materials they have discovered; how widely these new hazards have been publicised; and what advice his Department has given to industry to counter the old and new health hazards.
§ Mr. FernyhoughThe Industrial Hygiene Division was created in 1966 to assess and control sources of industrial hazard, and to give support, including adequate laboratory facilities, to the work of the general inspectorate. This was reported in the Report for 1966 of the Chief Inspector, which cited instances of new hazards encountered and the action taken. The Report for 1967 will include a special chapter on this subject.
The pilot scheme was to equip some of the general inspectorate with basic industrial hygiene instruments and to train them in their use. This scheme has been a success and is being extended.
Advice to industry on known and new hazards is given through the normal close contacts with industry of the general
TOTAL NUMBERS REGISTERED AS UNEMPLOYED, AND WHOLLY UNEMPLOYED PERCENTAGE RATES, IN THE NORTHERN REGION Total registered unemployed Men Boys Women Girls Total Temporarily stopped included in total Wholly unemployed percentage rate 17th March, 1952 … 18,698 450 12,995 1,652 33,795 2,377 2.5 16th March, 1953 … 18,567 452 11,465 1,027 31,511 1,358 2.4 15th March, 1954 … 20,588 541 11,282 989 33,400 1,639 2.5 14th March, 1955 … 17,853 536 9,499 687 28,575 1,970 2.1 12th March, 1956 … 13,561 427 6,950 439 21,377 1,058 1.6 11th March, 1957 … 16,190 431 6,842 382 23,845 584 1.8 17th March, 1958 … 20,349 549 6,828 533 28,259 1,580 2.1 9th March, 1959 … 34,116 1,498 10,104 961 46,679 4,168 3.3 14th March, 1960 … 30,927 1,650 9,886 746 43,209 1,880 3.2 13th March, 1961 … 22,740 917 7,795 657 32,109 1,090 2.4 12th March, 1962 … 33,745 2,062 8,397 1,169 45,373 3,097 3.2 11th March, 1963 … 60,150 4,707 11,424 2,918 79,199 7,548 5.4 16th March, 1964 … 35,520 2,038 9,759 1,294 48,611 1,051 3.6 8th March, 1965 … 28,170 1,189 7,268 794 37,421 973 2.7 14th March, 1966 … 25,934 905 5,447 578 32,864 1,075 2.4 13th March, 1967 … 40,026 1,601 7,923 1,124 50,674 1,619 3.7 11th March, 1968 … 49,078 1,562 8,041 876 59,557 1,202 4.4