§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will re-activate the Newcastle diving registry records as a basis for a comprehensive database of divers. [41128]
§ Angela EagleThe Health and Safety Executive has no plans to re-activate the Newcastle diving registry, but is investigating whether the information collected in the registry can provide information which could be useful in the proposed research project into the long-term health effects associated with diving.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what action was taken by the Health and Safety Executive in response to the Offshore Technology report, OTO 94 009 Neurological and Cerebrovascular Abnormalities in Divers, issued in August 1994, in respect of its findings relating to damage caused to the central nervous system by diving. [41127]
§ Angela EagleIn my written reply, given on 22 January 1998,Official Report, columns 614–15, to one of the hon. Friend's earlier questions, I explained that HSE was commissioning research into the long-term health effects associated with diving. This was, partly, in response to the report referred to.
The initial advertisement and tendering exercise for this research project was not concluded successfully and so the scope of the project is being reconsidered with a view to readvertising it.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many professional divers he estimates there were in each year since 1979; and how many have had their medical certificates revoked or not reissued due to medical conditions directly attributable to diving. [41130]
§ Angela EagleThe best estimates of the numbers of active professional divers in Great Britain come from the numbers of medical examinations notified to the Health and Safety Executive by approved medical examiners of divers under the Diving Operations at Work Regulations 1981 and the Diving at Work Regulations 1997. These figures are readily available only from 1989 and are shown in the table. Information for the period between 1985 and 1989 could be obtained only at disproportionate expense.
The medical condition causing divers to fail their medicals is reported to the Health and Safety Executive, but not the cause of that condition. The conditions are often those prevalent in the general population, for example hypertension, which may, or may not, be attributable to diving. It is not, therefore, possible to state which of the failures were the result of conditions caused by diving. The numbers of divers failing their medicals from 1989 is shown in the table.
Since 1995, only one medical certificate has been revoked. The diver concerned had a serious medical condition, unrelated to diving, which was not disclosed to the examining doctor. This condition put the diver at a 62W serious risk. Information on other revocations is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate expense.
Year Medicals Failures 1989–90 3,943 30 1990–91 4,746 33 1991–92 4,749 60 1992–93 5,054 43 1993–94 4,984 78 1994–95 4,911 23 1995–96 4,867 54 1996–97 4,780 34 1997–98 4,889 36