§ Mr. Craigenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the estimated cost of accidents and injuries in the workplace for each year from 1970 to the present.
§ Mr. GummerThere is considerable uncertainty about both the information and the methods of calculation on which an overall estimate of the cost of accidents and injury in the workplace could be based and no official figure is available. For an unofficial estimate, I refer the hon. Member to an article in theDepartment of Employment Gazette of November 1981. I will send a copy of the article to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. Craigenasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many fatalities there were in each year since 1970 from (a) accidents in the workplace, (b) accidents in manufacturing industry and (c) accidents in the home.
§ Mr. GummerInformation is as follows for 1970–82; information for 1983 is not yet available.
265W
FATAL ACCIDENTS in the workplace in manufacturing industry in the home 1976 789 — 214 — 5,090 1977 737 — 206 — 4,967 1978 714 — 186 — 5,011 1979 691 — 180 — 5,414 1980 628 — 151 — 5,022 1981 502 626 128 118 3,957 1982 n.a. 624 n.a. 129 p 4,539 Notes:—
n.a.=not available
P=provisional
1. Columns (a) show fatal accidents attracting awards of industrial death benefit; they include road traffic accidents and relate to employees only.
2. Columns (b) show fatal accidents reported to the Health and Safety Executive; they exclude road traffic accidents and relate to employees, the self-employed and members of the public.
3. Columns (a) and (b) thus show information on fatal accidents drawn from different bases and the figures provided for 1981 should not be added together.
4. Column (c) is derived from information furnished by HM Coroners and relates to accidents in dwellings. The figures for 1981 and 1982 are distorted owing to the effect of an industrial dispute.