HC Deb 10 June 1988 vol 134 cc710-1W
Mr. Flannery

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in theOfficial Report (a) the number of fatal accidents investigated by Her Majesty's factory inspectorate, (b) the number of prosecutions arising from these investigations and (c) the number of these prosecutions taken in the Crown court, in each of the last five years.

Mr. Nicholls

The numbers of fatal accidents investigated by the Health and Safety Executive's factory inspectorate are set out in the table:

Year Fatal accidents investigated
1983 384
1984 414
1985 412
1986 353
1987 365

The numbers of informations laid relating to prosecutions by the factory inspectorate are set out in the table. Not all these cases arose from accidents at work. The proportion of these that relates to fatal accidents and the number of subsequent prosecutions taken in the Crown court could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information for 1987–88 is not yet available.

Year Information laid
1982 2,134
1983 1,989
1984 1,882
1985 1,842
11986
Quarter 1 446
21986–87 1,690
1 Data for the 3-month period January 1986 to March 1986.
2 Provisional data for the 12-month period April 1986 to March 1987.