Mines Department of the Board of Trade.

Part of Orders of the Day — Supply. – in the House of Commons at on 24 July 1935.

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Captain CROOKSHANK:

I do not want to run away from the point. I merely say that the actual compensation part is no longer my business; it is a Home Office matter. But, so far as research is concerned, there is an inquiry by the committee of the Privy Council on which both Departments are represented.

With regard to the other principal industrial disease, nystagmus, it is a great relief to all of us to find the drop every year in the number of new cases. Between 1929 and 1933 the drop was no less than 40 per cent. I know perfectly well that there were fewer men employed, but not 40 per cent. fewer. The decrease in the average number of men employed underground was 19 per cent., and the drop in the number of cases, as I said, was 40 per cent. I do not say that is exactly the percentage, because there is a difference in time worked. But, even taking that into account, there is a big drop, and it is very satisfactory. That disease has been considered to be due largely to bad lighting and that brings me to the lighting regulations issued last year. First of all the workers at the coal face must have lamps with a certain minimum standard of lighting performance. Those new lamps were started in use on 1st September last, and a complete change-over has to take place by the end of 1936. That is so that it may be done in an orderly way. I think it is as well to say here and now that any delay in taking steps to make the change would not be accepted as an excuse after the statutory period has elapsed at the end of 1936.

Secondly, from last July the area in which mains lighting is permissible was extended, subject to certain safety precautions. Here I must express my disappointment that so little has been done. I am told that there are only 20 of the new areas so lit, and actually in three of the divisional inspectorate areas nothing has been done at all. I propose to pay considerable attention to that. The third regulation was with regard to white-washing. That has been very rapidly dealt with, and there has been very great improvement there. That of course will help to solve the nystagmus problem from the point of view of lighting, and also from the point of view of accidents, because it stands to reason that the better lit face must obviate the possibility of some accidents. Hon. Members may take it from their own experience. Coming home late at night they are less likely to bark their shins in a well lighted hall than if they have to strike a series of matches to take them to bed. Better lighting is of assistance, and I am glad that that part of the problem has been improved under the new regulations.

Lighting in that connection takes me to safety, the connecting link, of course, being the inspectorate. We have 111 inspectors and 101 deal with mines under the Coal Mines Act. Last year there were 2,123 mines at work, and I believe the Committee would like to know the number of inspections. I do not want to give too many figures, but I know that these are generally interesting. The number of inspections underground was 17,566, and on the surface 5,601, while 1,301 mines, or over 60 per cent. of the total, were inspected throughout. I know that includes a number of small mines which are probably inspected throughout, when any inspection is made at all. Still, it is a pretty satisfactory figure. Of course, I had better say that the development of machine mining has meant that work has gone on when coal was not being drawn—a question in which the hon. Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker) is interested. In three months ending 22nd June there were 189 underground inspections in the afternoon and 379 at night, representing 14 per cent. of the total number of underground inspections during that period. So much for inspection.

With regard to accidents, the past year has been marred of course by the terrible disaster at Gresford. This House has already expressed its sympathy with the bereaved at the time of the occurrence, and the nation as a whole has shown its sympathy by the amazing response which was made to the appeal for funds. Of course, the 265 casualties at that disaster has swollen the total of fatal accidents very much. The total for the year was 1,073, but if we exclude the Gresford disaster it was 808. The three-day accidents were 132,859. For the first six months of this year preliminary figures show that there were 399 fatal accidents, a reduction of five compared with the same period last year. That represents a rate of 3.6 per million tons of output, the basis of comparison which is used from year to year, and it is the lowest rate that we have had. One thing at which, coming new to this job, I have been shocked as much as at anything on reading the reports of the inspectors—I hope I shall not be misunderstood when I say this—is that so many of these accidents might have been avoided. Take scratches. A scratch might happen to any one of us. I might scratch my finger here on this Box and pay no attention to it, but, if septicaemia sets in, it may result in the loss of a limb, or even in death. We all know personally of cases of that kind which have nothing to do with the mining industry at all, but they do occur in that industry.

There is another group of accidents, where you have a momentary lack of concentration, or where, perhaps, one has done the job so often, however dangerous it may be, that one forgets that it is dangerous and something happens. I am not blaming anyone; I desire to make that quite clear; and I am not minimising the accidents which arise from the faults of other people; but I am saying that in all grades of accidents one sees perhaps, on looking back, that some might have been avoided if more care had been taken. I put it no higher than that. Any of my hon. and gallant Friends in this House will bear me out, from their own experience in the War, that time after time, when one was going down a trench, there would be a notice telling one to get on ones hands and knees, because it was dangerous; but a number of people would think that their name was not on the particular bullet that was coming, and that they might as well take the chance, because, if they did go on their hands and knees, they knew that, since there was a foot of water in the trench, they would certainly be uncomfortable for a long time. This is something against which I hope it may be possible to guard. I do not minimise other causes, but that is one group.

I now come back to the figure of 808 fatal accidents in mines, excluding Gresford, and 132,859 non-fatal accidents. In July of last year I spoke in this House about accidents from the point of view of the Home Office. The figures given in this year's report of the Chief Inspector of Factories—the figures for industrial accidents in factories and workshops—approximate in a very remarkable way to the figures of mining accidents. Last year the fatal industrial accidents were 785, which I compare with 808 for the mining industry; and the non-fatal accidents were 136,073, which I compare with just on 133,000 in the mines. I make that comparison for one purpose only, and that is to point out that the number of hands with whom the Chief Inspector of Factories is dealing in his report is just over 5,000,000, whereas the number of miners with whom our figures deal is somewhere in the region of 780,000 only. Does it not bring home to the Committee and to the country in a very vivid way the risks and dangers of the mining industry when we see that its accidents, both fatal and non-fatal are, comparatively, something like six times the number occurring in industrial life in factories and workshops? What can be done? Suppose that we start with propaganda. The Chief Inspector of Factories deals this year in his report with the enormous number of accidents that occur in factories to young persons coming into industry, and he says: The adult worker has become accustomed to his environment, and has—or ought to have—acquired habits of caution. The young entrant finds factory life an entirely new experience, and possesses, in addition, certain qualities of youth, such as bravado and curiosity, which render him essentially susceptible to accidents. He is talking about factories, but there is a great deal in what he says that applies to the mining industry. He goes on: It seems to me, therefore, that it is encumbent on us to give him an apprenticeship in safety just as in his productive work, and to see that he is not only warned, but forewarned, of the dangers inherent in all industrial life. The Factory Inspector goes on to suggest that the young entrant into industry might be shown the principal risks to be guarded against, that he might be supplied with copies of the safety rules, that a watch should be kept on him during his first year, and that steps should be taken to see that those who meet with many accidents are put on some other job. In the autumn of 1931, propaganda was started with regard to boys, and this is a matter to which my predecessor gave a great deal of publicity by making speeches up and down the country in conjunction with employers and representatives of the workers. That has spread tremendously. Last year there were no fewer than 261 centres, at which there attended 10,647 boys. Awards are made and certificates given to those who are most successful, and 5,500 of these boys received awards. That is preventive work which is really admirable, and I hope that everyone concerned will co-operate with us in seeing that it is continued. There is one black spot. I find that, in regard to South Wales, which has been particularly slow to get this work started, the Inspector's report for the Swansea district states that last October 11 centres were started, at five of which only 107 boys were enrolled, while at six the attendance was so small that the classes had to be discontinued. I appeal to hon. Members for Welsh constituencies, and also to employers of labour in South Wales, to assist me to see whether that cannot be improved upon.

From propaganda I turn to the question of avoidance of accidents. With regard to safety equipment, most of the time of one Divisional inspector and all the time of one Junior inspector is now devoted to work on that side. Then, there are the recent regulations which require that in every safety-lamp mine the management must provide sufficient fire-damp detectors of approved type. I want, however, to give a word of warning in this regard—that the provision of these detectors is not to be a substitute for the statutory examinations. It was not easy, as hon. Members who have followed this matter will know, to agree on the number of detectors which ought to be laid down in the regulations, but it was decided that some elasticity would be required. It was decided that the number should be one safety lamp or other approved detector for every eight men in long-wall workings, and one for every four men in other types of working. These regulations are to be tried for an experimental period of two years, and then it is intended to set up a committee to review their working. It is not, of course, the intention to constitute the committee now, but only when it will have become possible to see and report on the effect of these approved gas detectors, which will comprise, firstly, any approved type of flame safety lamp not fitted with internal relighters, and, secondly, approved automatic detectors such as the Ringrose. I repeat that these must not be regarded as substitutes for the statutory examination. If I may sum up this part of my statutory duties with regard to health and safety, I would say that research is being continued and inspection is being kept at the highest possible mark.

I turn now to my other function, of securing the most effective development and utilisation of the mineral resources of the United Kingdom, and this brings me to say a few words about the trade position. In 1933, the output of saleable coal was just over 207,000,000 tons. Last year that figure rose by 13,600,000 tons, an increase which so far as can be traced was almost entirely due to an increased demand in the home market. When I hear questions asked as to what has been the effect of the tariff policy on the coal-mining industry, and when I note that many people are prepared to say that it has had no effect at all, I would remind the Committee that it is precisely the increase of employment in protected industries that has caused this increased demand for coal, and not least in the iron and steel industry. I find that the increased demand in that industry was something like 4,000,000 tons last year. The iron and steel industry has certainly improved its production as a result of the tariff, and that, at any rate, is one form in which assistance to the mining industry has come from our protectionist policy. Of course, there have been great economies in the methods of using fuel in the iron and steel industry. I have seen some figures quoted in the Press which put the quantity of coal required for the increased production of iron and steel at far too high a figure. Much less coke is required for the production of pig iron than was the case 10 years ago, owing to improved technique, and the quantity of pig iron required for the production of one ton of steel has been halved. I estimate to-day that, unfortunately, only 1¾ ton of coal is required to make a ton of steel.