Opening Address

I believe that this is the first time that your constituent Institutions have combined to promote a safety conference and I warmly applaud your public spirited initiative.

A few days ago I looked at the circular that your Council issued last year to announce the conference, and I saw that it began by saying that over the five years 1962-1966 more than 1300 lives were lost and

183 000 accidents occurred in construction work.

Theestimated cost of these incidents was about

£500 million.

During the next two days you will be analysing and considering these figures more closely. But I would like you also to remember the costs that cannot be counted. I mean, of course, the effect of many of these accidents on the future life and employment of the individual worker, and in the case of those 1300 fatal accidents the effect on the lives of widows and children left behind.