§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a list of all research commissioned or carried out by his Department or the Health and Safety Commission into the operation of health and safety legislation in small firms; what figures were obtained as to the number and rate of fatal and/or serious accidents in small firms compared with larger firms; what subsequent action has been taken by his Department and/or the Health and Safety Commission to improve health and safety in small firms; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 21 October 1993]: The Health and Safety Commission—HSC—has not commissioned or carried out external research into the operation of health and safety in small firms.
The Health and Safety Executive—HSE—has carried out two separate analyses of the relative accident records of small and large firms.
A report on the first, based on accidents notified under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences (RIDDOR) Regulations 1985, was published in the January 1991 issue of Employment Gazette, pages 20–24, available in the Library. The study suggested that rates of reported major injuries and of fatalities were higher in small firms—defined as those with 100 employees or fewer. However, the number of fatalities was sufficiently small for the difference in rate to be accounted for by the fact that small firms tend to operate in more hazardous industries.
The second analysis, based on information from the 1990 "Labour Force Survey"—LFS—indicated that, comparing firms with fewer than 25 employees and those with more, injury rates per 100,000 employees are higher among larger firms. These results were published in the Employment Gazette for December 1992, pages 621–38.
Research carried out by the Employment Department is listed in the annual report on research. The 1993 report will be published on 25 October and a copy will be placed in the Library.
The HSC is currently considering ways in which the effectiveness of its approach to regulation of health and safety for small firms and self-employed people might be improved.