MANY MORE ACCIDENTS IN 1964
Page 38
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
FROM OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
DIG rises in the number of industrial accidents in all major sectors of industry have been reported to Parliament by the Chief Inspector of Factories. The total number of reportable accidents during 1964 was 268,648, the highest since the war and nearly one-third higher than in 1963.
Analysed by process, the increases were: factories up 29-7 per cent, building operations up 441 per cent, engineering construction 38.1 per cent, and docks, wharves, quays and inland warehouses up 30.6 per cent.
In factories, accidents connected with rail transport numbered 1,256 and those associated with other forms of transport totalled 15,640. Fatal transport accidents in this sector numbered 57, compared with 47 the year before.
On construction work, transport other than rail accounted for 2,688 accidents, of which 14 were fatal: 822 were related to load-carrying road vehicles, and 747 to vehicles designed for site use.
At docks, quays, wharves and warehouses there were 10,207 accidents, 40 fatal. Transport accounted for 14 per cent of this total. There were 1,226 accidents associated with transport at shipside alone.
The "big five" continued to be the main accident toll-takers in 1964. They are: manual handling of goods, falls of persons, stepping on (or striking) objects, being struck by falling objects, and the use of hand tools.
The report is scathing about this " substantial and disquieting " rise in accident rates, in which the number of avoidable casualties among young people was a distressing feature.
The Chief Inspector (Mr. R. K. Christy) points out that to subordinate safety to " efficiency " is a fallacy, and slams the bad example of older workers, and the lack of proper instruction and boardroom drive at places which contributed to last year's sorry tale.