§ Mr. ArcherTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many notifiable accidents there have been to children in the course of legal employment in each year since 1973, categorised by age of child and severity of accident.
§ Mr. NichollsThe available information collected under current regulations is set out in the table. It relates to all young people aged 13 to 15 described as employees in injury reports.
Injuries to employees aged 13 to 15 reported under RIDDOR1 to all enforcing authorities Fatal Major Over 3 day Total 1986–872 aged 13 — 6 2 8 aged 14 1 7 2 10 aged 15 — 10 15 25 1987–882 3 aged 13 — 2 3 5 aged 14 — 12 1 13 aged 15 1 10 24 35 1 Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985.
2 Year commencing I April: analyses of data by age before 1981 are not available. Between 1981 and 1985 the apparent numbers of employed children being injured in the course of work were inflated by extensive mis-reporting and mis-coding of injuries to non-employed children and reliable figures are therefore not 370W available. However, following a careful examination of the narrative reports of injuries to children at work from 1981 to 1984, a note was published in Health and Safety Statistics 1984–85, available in the House of Commons Library.
3 Provisional.