§ Mr. Michael Cocksasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that Rio Tinto Zinc puts into effect the recommendations contained in the Windeyer Report into lead poisonings at the Rio Tinto Zinc plant at Avonmouth, Bristol, namely, that the responsibilities for the protection of the 39W health of workers is the responsibility or top management.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithWhen the Chief Inspector of Factories met the chairman and directors of Rio Tinto Zinc on 16th August, 1972, the company chairman assured my Department's officials that he accepted all recommendations of the report, including this one. This meeting was followed by a series of discussions at the plant between local factory inspectors, together with members of the Industrial Hygiene Unit and the factory management.
§ Mr. Michael Cocksasked the Secretary of State for Employment what were the dates of the representations made by the Factory Inspectorate to Rio Tinto Zinc regarding increasing concern at failure to control the levels of lead-in-air in the working environment at the Rio Tinto Zinc smelter at Avonmouth; and how these representations were made.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThese matters were first discussed with the firm in 1968, soon after production started. There were further discussions in 1969, and in April of that year the firm agreed to shut down the plant for a short time to make improvements, and subsequently environmental tests were carried on by the Industrial Hygiene Unit. From the middle of 1969 onwards letters were sent making specific recommendation to the firm. This continued until September, 1971, when, because earlier improvements had not been maintained, the company was asked to extend the next planned shut down to make plant modifications. This shut down had started in February, 1972, at the time of the setting up of the committee of inquiry.
§ Mr. Michael Cocksasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he has taken to communicate the recommendations of the Windeyer Report into lead poisoning at the Rio Tinto Zinc smelter at Avonmouth to other firms where similar hazards exist.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe report has aroused much interest in the lead industry. As foreshadowed in my right hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Bristol, North-West (Mr. McLaren) on 16th July, 1972, my Department's officials40W have started a series of meetings with both sides of the industry, with the object of formulating recommendations to the trade based on the report's findings. The Factory Inspectorate, including the Industrial Hygiene Unit, is continuing its efforts to ensure that individual factories control their lead problems.—[Vol. 841, c. 345–46.]
§ Mr. McLarenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that Rio Tinto Zinc puts into effect the recommendations contained in the Windeyer Report into lead poisonings at the Rio Tinto Zinc plant at Avonmouth, Bristol, namely that there should be a greater flow of information about environmental contamination and lead absorption of individual workers not only to management, but to workers themselves.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithA committee formed of representatives of management and employees known as the "Watchdog" Committee meets monthly and detailed figures of the results of environmental monitoring are placed before it. Figures of lead absorption are given to individual workers orally by the doctor carrying out the examinations.
§ Mr. McLarenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that Rio Tinto Zinc puts into effect the recommendations contained in the Windeyer Report into lead poisonings at the Rio Tinto Zinc plant at Avonmouth, Bristol, namely that there should be more education of the workers about health hazards and how they can be avoided.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThis recommendation has been the subject of discussions between the Factory Inspectorate and the company and between the management and the unions in the "Watchdog" Committee. The firm has now instituted a system for hygiene training of workers, with the intention that every member should receive training in personal hygiene, and precautions to be taken. Each employee has been issued with a copy of the leaflet "Lead and You" prepared by my Department's Medical Services Division for the information of all who work with lead and lead compounds.
41W
§ Mr. McLarenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to put into effect the recommendations contained in the Windeyer Report into lead poisonings at the Rio Tinto Zinc plant at Avonmouth, Bristol, namely that research into such problems be intensified and co-ordinated.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithMy Department's Chief Medical Adviser has been in touch with the Secretary of the Medical Research Council on the setting up of a committee to consider the recommendations of the Windeyer Committee on long-term research. This committee has now been constituted and a first meeting is being arranged.
The Windeyer Report and the Department's suggestions on future research were presented to the Industrial Health Advisory Committee at its meeting on 10th October, 1972.
§ Mr. McLarenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that Rio Tinto Zinc puts into effect the recommendations contained in the Windeyer Report into lead poisonings at the Rio Tinto Zinc plant at Avonmouth, Bristol, namely that the monitoring of the air as specified in the report should be intensified.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe company is now carrying out on an increasing scale continuous monitoring by two methods, namely, by static monitors in dusty areas and by individual personal samplers worn by men working in those areas. The procedure has been agreed with a member of the Industrial Hygiene Unit who knows the works well.
§ Mr. McLarenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to ensure that Rio Tinto Zinc puts into effect the recommendations contained in the Windeyer Report into lead poisonings at the Rio Tinto Zinc plant at Avonmouth, Bristol, namely that an industrial hygiene officer be appointed.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithAn industrial hygienist has been appointed and has now taken up his post at the Avonmouth factory.
§ Mr. Michael Cocksasked the Secretary of State for Employment what steps he is taking to carry out the recommenda- 42W tions of the Windeyer Report into lead poisonings at Rio Tinto Zinc smelter at Avonmouth, Bristol, with regard to the designation of lead poisoning as set out in paragraph 87 of that report.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithCriteria for suspension from lead work based on lead absorption indices were introduced by my Department's Medical Services Division some time before the publication of the report, and these have been modified to bring them into line with those recommended as an interim measure in the report itself. The matter is to be studied further by the committee set up by the Department of Employment and the Medical Research Council to consider the long-term problems of lead exposure identified in paragraph 88 of the report.