HC Deb 18 April 1989 vol 151 cc134-5W
14. Mr. Jack Thompson

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will estimate the number of accidents that go unreported in the construction industry.

95. Mr. Bradley

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will estimate the number of accidents that go unreported in the construction industry.

Mr. Nicholls

All cases of fatal injury in the course of work activity are reported to the enforcement authorities. It is not known what proportion of other reportable injuries to people employed in construction go unreported, but it is thought to be significantly more than 50 per cent.

63. Dr. Reid

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the fatal and major injury rates in construction industries in 1974, 1978 and 1988.

128. Ms. Quin

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what were the fatal and major injury rates in construction industries in 1974, 1978 and 1988.

Mr. Nicholls

The available information for employees is shown in the table. More than one third of the people employed in the industry are classified as self-employed. Prior to 1981, injuries to the self-employed were not reportable and under current regulations they are not reportable for self-employed people working on their own. Figures for the self-employed are therefore not included in the table, but the provisional 1987–88 figure for the number of employees and self-employed killed in the course of construction activity was 141.

Injury rates per 100,000 employees in the construction industry1
Fatal Injuries 2Major Injuries 3All reported Injuries
1974 13.6 n/a 2,830
1978 10.4 n/a 2,976
41987–8 10.1 206.6 1,914
1 Defined as Order 20 of the 1968 Standard Industrial Classification in 1974 and 1978 and Division 5 of the 1980 SIC in 1987–88.
2 The classification of injuries as major was first introduced in 1981.
3 Includes all reported injuries causing more than three days' absence from work. Comparisons between years may be affected by variable under-reporting of non-fatal injuries.
4 Provisional.

n/a Not available.