HC Deb 13 February 1992 vol 203 cc620-5W
Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was(a) the number of health and safety inspectors employed, (b) the number of visits made, (c) the number of incidents investigated and (d) the number of prosecutions for health and safety offences, for each year since 1979.

Mr. Forth

The total number of inspectors in post in the Health and Safety Executive for each year since 1979 is as follows:

Year Total inspectors1
1 April 1979 1,426.5
1 April 1980 1,444.5
1 April 1981 1,404.0
1 April 1982 1,323.5
1 April 1983 1,276.5
1 April 1984 1,239.0
1 April 1985 1,266.0
1 April 1986 1,231.5
1 April 1987 21,204.5
1 April 1988 1,165.0
1 April 1989 1,182.5
1 April 1990 1,239.0
1 April 1991 31,342.0
1 February 1992 31,421.0
1 Includes inspectors on non-inspection duties eg line management, contributing to policy or technical standards.
2 Industrial Air Pollution Inspectorate transferred to the Department of the Environment on 1 April 1987.
3 Includes inspectors in Railway Inspectorate and Offshore Safety Division who transferred to HSE in December 1990 and April 1991 respectively.

Information on the total numbers of visits made and incidents investigated since 1979 is either not available on a consistent basis or could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The available information on the number of visits made and incidents investigated by HSE inspectors since 1983–84 is as follows:

Year Number of visits Number of incidents investigated1
1983–84 230,078 710,153
1984–85 3209,058 710,449
1985–86 4227,637 77,061
1986–87 5241,436 79,877
1987–88 231,436 810,742
1988–89 229,429 912,335
1989–90 234,389 1011,556
1990–91 6229,079 610,862

Notes:

1 Incidents investigated are included in the total number of visits.

2 Data for HSE's Agricultural Inspectorate (AI) only.

3 Data for HSE's Factory Inspectorate (FI) and AI only.

4 Data for FI, AI, and HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and Inspectors in HSE's Technology Division.

5Data for all Inspectorates, including HSE's Mines and

Table A: Fatal and major injuries reported (a) to HSE's factory inspectorate, 1981 to 1990–91 (provisional) by HSE administrative area (b) Fatal injuries
HSE administrative area 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 11990–91
01 South West 12 21 25 21 20 20 21 [...]6 25 18
02 South 13 10 20 18 12 14 24 21 26 18
03 South East 24 26 27 26 27 19 39 29 28 27
04-06 Greater London 44 38 46 36 56 46 60 61 47 47
07 East Anglia 14 17 14 20 19 16 18 19 21 10
08 Northern Home Counties 6 14 11 21 16 15 12 10 16 6
09 East Midlands 13 18 14 11 14 13 14 11 13 17
10 West Midlands 16 17 21 14 15 9 19 18 6 11
11 Wales 25 31 22 31 21 26 34 20 28 27
12 Marches 14 13 15 15 8 9 7 19 14 15
13 North Midlands 17 17 19 20 19 13 13 17 24 16
14 South Yorkshire and Humberside 13 19 20 16 17 18 13 19 6113 18
15 West and North Yorkshire 26 24 25 28 783 24 13 27 17 21
16 Greater Manchester 15 14 18 17 20 14 13 26 24 22
17 Merseyside 12 13 18 22 21 12 16 10 15 11
18 North West 11 18 22 27 6 12 17 13 16 15
19 North East 22 24 12 20 18 19 17 14 32 11

Quarries Inspectorate (MQI).

6 Excluding Railway Inspectorate.

7 Accidents and incidents investigated by FI only.

8 Accidents, incidents and dangerous occurrences investigated by FI and AI and cases of disease/ill health investigated by AI.

9 Accidents, incidents and dangerous occurrences investigated by FI, AI, MI and QI; and cases of disease/ill health investigated by AI.

10 Accidents, incidents and dangerous occurrences investigated by FI, AI, MI and QI.

Information on the total number of prosecutions for health and safety offences since 1979 can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The available data on the number of informations laid by HSC/E enforcing authorities (excluding local authorities) since 1979 is as follows:

Date of hearing1 Number of informations laid2
19793 2,427
19803 2,624
19814 1,892
19824 2,351
1983 2,238
1984 2,209
1985 2,321
1986–87 2,199
1987–88 2,337
1988–89 2,328
1989–90 2,653
1990–915 2,292
1 From 1979 to 1985, based on calendar years. 1986–87 onwards, based on year commencing 1 April.
2 Includes, for Scotland, charges preferred.
3 Data for FI and AI only.
4 Data for FI, AI, and MQI only.
5 Provisional figure.

Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many fatal and major injuries were reported to the factories inspectorate in each year since 1979 in each(a) region and (b) sector.

Mr. Forth

The available information is provided in the tables. Prior to 1981, the only analysis available is of fatal injuries to employees by industry sector.

HSE administrative area 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 11990–91
20 Scotland East 29 27 36 27 22 23 20 32 26 25
21 Scotland West 36 36 19 26 22 14 20 26 19 22
Unclassified 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 362 397 404 416 7436 336 390 408 6510 357

Table A: Fatal and major injuries reported (a) to HSE's factory inspectorate, 1981 to 1990–91 (provisional) by HSE administrative area (b) (continued) 8Major injuries
HSE administrative area 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 11990–91
01 South West 1,218 1,411 1,338 1,383 1,354 1,757 1,421 1,329 1,438 1,328
02 South 482 335 803 825 980 1,636 1,724 1,615 1,805 1,782
03 South East 825 1,044 1,137 1,154 1,189 1,879 1,834 1,482 1,500 1,448
04-06 Greater London 992 1,274 1,428 1,491 1,448 3,184 2,728 2,522 2,128 1,873
07 East Anglia 803 959 806 385 891 1,772 1,995 1,880 1,344 982
08 Northern Home Counties 446 411 602 668 562 778 735 939 881 729
09 East Midlands 403 668 722 699 703 1,508 1,215 1,303 1,339 1,287
10 West Midlands 941 925 970 1,017 1,067 1,703 1,525 1,619 1,519 1,482
11 Wales 788 638 669 820 936 1,452 1,393 1,521 1,413 1,423
12 Marches 569 484 551 707 507 1,236 973 936 1,003 1,035
13 North Midlands 723 852 834 896 917 1,892 1,835 1,868 1,955 1,182
14 South Yorkshire and Humberside 1,014 763 881 919 808 1,793 1,509 1,501 62,142 1,342
15 West and North Yorkshire 781 767 866 960 1,205 1,422 1,421 1,401 1,582 1,584
16 Greater Manchester 909 776 907 766 860 1,476 1,312 1,426 1,373 1,250
17 Merseyside 1,083 893 1,048 1,202 1,214 1,969 1,200 1,196 1,088 1,082
18 North West 656 824 761 882 709 1,236 1,486 1,436 1,244 1,076
l9 North East 1,062 556 548 595 656 1,706 1,664 1,596 1,443 1,481
20 Scotland East 724 647 612 755 710 1,603 1,634 1,606 1,443 1,352
21 Scotland West 661 660 539 546 515 958 946 1,090 1,010 1,138
Unclassified 1 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 15,081 14,945 16,022 16,670 17,231 30,960 28,550 28,266 627,650 24,856

Table B: Fatal and major injuries reported (a) to HSE's factory inspectorate, 1979 to 1990–91 (provisional) by industrial sector Fatal injuries
Industry sector4 51979 51980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 11990–91
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Energy and water supply industries 12 13 12 17 13 38 26 12 14 13 14 5
Manufacturing industries 149 122 116 130 126 132 109 99 86 93 113 85
Construction 149 165 128 131 151 124 139 138 155 150 160 125
Service industries 89 87 104 119 114 122 7162 87 135 151 6222 142
Unclassified 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 399 387 362 397 404 416 7436 336 390 408 6510 357

Table B: Fatal and major injuries reported (a) to HSE's factory inspectorate, 1979 to 1990 –91 (provisional) by industrial sector (continued) Major injuries8
Industry sector4 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 11990–91
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 3 4 3 4 2 6 11 11 11 16
Energy and water supply industries 226 229 219 242 239 587 503 443 418 435
Manufacturing industries 4,078 4,066 4,255 4,686 4,805 7,230 7,100 7,244 7,239 6,677
Construction 1,763 2,032 2,298 2,431 2,430 3,312 3,455 3,757 4,195 3,877
Service industries 8,912 8,583 9,224 9,288 9,755 19,707 17,253 16,661 615,623 13,607
Unclassified 99 31 23 19 0 118 228 150 164 244
Total 15,081 14,945 16,022 16,670 17,231 30,960 28,550 28,266 627,650 24,856

Footnotes to tables (A) and (B):

1 Provisional.

2 Injuries at work to employees and self-employed persons and members of the public injured as a result of someone else's work activity reported under various pieces of legislation, but chiefly the 1961 Factories Act for the calendar years prior to 1981, under the Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrencies Regulations (NADOR) for the calendar years 1981 to 1985, and under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) for the subsequent financial years commencing 1 April 1986.

3 The analysis is provided by Health and Safety Executive administrative area.

4 Standard Industrial Classification 1980 divisions, aggregated to sector level.

5 Fatal injuries to employees only.

6 Data include the 95 fatalities and 766 major injuries to members of the public arising from the Hillsborough Stadium disaster.

7 Data include the 56 fatalities to members of the public in the Bradford City Football Club fire disaster.

8 Introduced under NADOR on 1 January 1981. Definition extended under RIDDOR, 1 April 1986.