§ Mr. Ron Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a list of those chemicals produced in the United Kingdom which are subject to regulations concerning exposure limits to protect the health of the workers employed in chemical plants and the threshold limit values of each of the chemicals concerned.
§ Mr. John Grant:I am advised by the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that there are no chemicals produced in the United Kingdom which are subject to regulations concerning exposure limits to protect the health of workers employed in chemical plants. There are, however, 34 codes of regulations which require a limitation of exposure as does section 63 of the Factories Act 1961 and section 2 of the Health and Safety at 598W Work, etc. Act 1974 but which do not include specific values.
The general policy of the Health and Safety Commission with regard to toxic substances has been published by the Health and Safety Executive in guidance note EH18"Toxic Substances: a Precautionary Policy"and states that exposure should be kept as low as is reasonably practicable and in any case within the published threshold limit values. This policy is repeated in the introduction to guidance note EH15:"Threshold Limit Values." Both of these guidance notes are readily available.
§ Mr. Ron Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make more manpower and resources available to those divisions of the Health and Safety Executive which have responsibility for areas like Avonmouth—Bristol where there is a high concentration of chemical plants, reported chemical leakages and emissions of dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere.
§ Mr. John Grant:I am informed by the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that the current level of manpower and resources employed by the Health and Safety Executive in the Avonmouth—Bristol and other similar areas is considered to be sufficient to meet the demands imposed upon them.
§ Mr. Ron Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will discuss the adequacy of threshold limit values in chemical plants further to protect the health of the workers concerned with parties and unions affected.
§ Mr. John Grant:The Trades Union Congress and the Confederation of British Industry are both fully represented on the Health and Safety Commission, which has overall responsibility in the field of health and safety at work. Further, both trades unions and employers are equally well represented on the Health and Safety Commission's Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances set up to advise it on all matters relating to the use of toxic substances at work, including the adequacy of threshold limit values.
I have no plans for discussing the adequacy of threshold limit values with parties and unions affected since I consider that there is already ample provision 599W made for consultation on this topic between the Health and Safety Commission and other parties and unions concerned.
§ Mr. Ron Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is satisfied that current regulations under health and safety legislation adequately ensure that workers in chemical plants are fully informed via company notice boards, and so on, of threshold limit values; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John Grant:I am satisfied that current regulations under health and safety legislation make adequate provision for the dissemination of information to workers in chemical plants. A list of threshold limit values is published annually by the Health and Safety Executive in a guidance note EH15"Threshold Limit Values ", which is readily available.
Section 2(2) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 requires an employer to provide necessary information, instruction, training and supervision, while section 2(3) requires him to prepare, keep up to date and bring to the notice of all employees a written statement of all the company policy on health and safety matters.
In addition, section 2(6)of the Act as amplified by the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1978 requires employers to consult safety representatives with a view to enabling the employer and his employees to promote develop and check the effectiveness of measures designed to ensure the health and safety at work of his employees.
§ Mr. Ron Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report, from international sources available to him, a comparison table showing the regulations and threshold limit values to protect the health of workers employed in chemical plants in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the other EEC countries and the USSR.
§ Mr. John Grant:I am advised by the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission that there are no readily available sources of information from which to make a comparison of regulations in the United Kingdom, the USA the other EEC countries and the USSR to protect 600W the health of workers employed in chemical plants in those countries.
There is a book containing lists of threshold limit values in different countries which is published from time to time by the International Labour Office. The most recent edition, published in 1977, contains comparison tables of TLVs from 18 countries, including USA, four other EEC countries and the USSR. This information occupies 187 pages and I consider that the cost of publishing these tables in the Official Report as requested by my hon. Friend would be unreasonable.