§ Mr. PatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will hold an inquiry into why major injuries in the coal industry per 100,000 man shifts have trebled in the last seven years; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 2 November 1987]: There are no plans to call an inquiry. Major injury rates over the last seven years are not comparable as two legislative changes widened the definition of major injury to include new categories of injury and these increased the number of accidents reported. The first change was on 1 January 1981 when the Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 (NADO) came into force and the second on 1 April 1986 when the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 (RIDDOR) came into operation. A more accurate reflection of the accident rate is provided by fatal and total accidents which were unaffected by these changes. The coal mining fatal accidents rate has fallen in this period from 0.08 in 1980 per 100,000 manshifts to 0.05 in 1986–87. The total accident rate has also fallen from 72.66 in 1980 to 45.22 in 1986–87.
1986 Regions June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec South East 2,665 12,683 15,815 1,360 11,515 21,532 18,105 London 9,042 13,163 19,638 14,865 20,392 26,844 25,871 South West 420 4,114 7,183 5,802 6,720 10,728 8,324 West Midlands 7,586 15,726 12,740 16,620 28,493 29,770 20,056 East Midlands 1,126 7,593 11,046 8,221 11,875 18,371 18,013 Yorkshire and Humberside — 8,698 13,826 13,290 14,070 19,940 14,346 North West 1,640 23,886 26,490 22,308 25,553 32,985 28,784 Northern 4,539 8,546 11,622 19,925 10,772 16,387 12,313 Wales 660 7,706 8,802 6,366 7,685 11,128 9,114 Scotland 3,601 12,981 14,193 13,066 15,000 20,495 18,215 GB Total 34,291 114,153 135,674 111,823 152,075 208,180 173,141 GB Cumulative 34,291 148,444 284,118 395,941 548,016 756,196 929,337