§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many accidents occurred in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 1977 on carding machines used in the wool textile industry which could be attributed to the inadequacy of the guarding of those machines; of those accidents, how many were investigated by Her Majesty's Factory Inspectorate; and of those investigated, how many machines had been guarded to the standard recommended by the Joint Standing Committee for the wool textile industry in their notes of guidance published in January 1974.
§ Mr. John GrantThe number of accidents which occurred in 1974, 1975 and 1976 on carding machines used in the wool textile industry which could be attributed to the inadequacy of the guarding of these machines was:
1974 135 1975 112 1976 84 The figure for 1976 is unreliable since it was affected by industrial action taken by some members of the Civil Service who refused to complete statistical returns during the year.
The number of accidents for 1977 is not available. It was agreed by the Wool JSC in October 1977 that future returns of accidents should be on a five-yearly basis, not on an annual basis.
The number of accidents investigated by Her Majesty's Factory Inspectorate for each of the years in question was as follows:
1974 83 1975 78 1976 44 1977 39 The numbers of machines which were found by Her Majesty's inspector during those investigations to be guarded to the standard set out in the notes of guidance published in 1974 were as follows:
1974 1 1975 1 1976 4 1977 6