HC Deb 16 December 1992 vol 216 c253W
Mr. Mike OBrien

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if she will list the companies which have been prosecuted for breach of health and safety regulations since 1987 distinguishing those in which fatalities have resulted, and those in which injuries have occurred.

Mr. McLoughlin

The information is not available in the form requested. However, between 1987–88 and 1991–921 12,037 information were laid by the Health and Safety Executive for breaches of health and safety regulations, with a further 2,814 laid by local authorities between 1987–88 and 1990–91; figures for 1991–92 not yet available.

1 Provisional.

Mr. Austin-Walker

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment which leaflets published by the Health and Safety Executive are available in languages other than English; and if she will list the languages in which they are available.

Mr. McLoughlin

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places the responsibility for the provision of necessary information to employees upon employers. This reflects the need for information to relate to the work in hand and the practical difficulty of providing information about hazard in the numerous minority languages spoken in the workplace.

The Health and Safety Executive has recently published a booklet "Health and Safety in Great Britain"; it is available free in all European Community Languages. A Welsh language version of the poster "Health and Safety Law—What you should know" is available in Welsh and three leaflets in the agricultural series have also been produced in Welsh. The HSE has undertaken to produce its booklet "HSE and you", which is addressed to the citizen, in a number of minority languages.

Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what representations she has received from British Sikhs concerning possible exemptions to headgear regulations under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. McLoughlin

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received a number of representations from Sikh organisations and others on this issue, to which she and Ministers of this Department have responded individually.