§ Mr. Bill MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many prohibition notices have been issued against employers relating to the control of dust at work for each of the geographical areas of the Mines and Quarries Inspectorate in each of the last 20 years. [28638]
§ Angela EagleI have been asked to reply.
The Health and Safety Executive's inspectors responsible for Mines and Quarries have not issued any Prohibition Notices against employers relating to the control of dust at work in any of the geographical areas. Prohibition Notices can only be issued by inspectors when there is a risk of serious personal injury. Problems of control of dust at work are normally dealt with by Improvement Notices which require remedy within the period of the Notice. For Mines, the Coal Mines (Respirable Dust) Regulations 1975 apply and these require the owner of a coal mine to notify HM Inspectorate of Mines when the levels of dust exceeds the permitted amount. The information in respect of notifications to HSE for each year, over the last 20 ears, for each geographical area, could be obtained only at disproportionate costs. However, during the last five years the following notifications have been received:
Scotland and eastern England Wales and western England 1993 38 — 1994 33 — 1995 24 13 1996 16 7 1997 32 3