HC Deb 29 January 1988 vol 126 c415W
Mr. John Garrett

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services how many cases of deaths and injuries have been reported in each of the last 10 years from the effects of the use of trichloro ethylene in industry.

Mr. Nicholls

I have been ask to reply.

The information available is shown in the table. The figures given up to and including 1985–86 are for incidents of gassings caused by trichloro ethylene in factory premises which have been notified to the Health and Safety Executive's Factory Inspectorate and medically confirmed by the Employment Medical Advisory Service. For 1986–87 the numbers are for all persons affected by accidental exposure to trichloro ethylene reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 (RIDDOR).

Persons affected by exposure to trichloroethylene
Year Number of cases Of which fatal
1977 14 0
1978 10 0
1979 12 0
1980 7 1
1981 4 0
1982 and first quarter of 19831 4 0
1983–84 4 0
1984–85 1 0
1985–86 4 0
1986–87 28 0
1 From 1 April 1983 the statistics were kept by financial year rather than calendar year.
2 Provisional.