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36
ACCIDENTS IN HAMPSTEAD, 1952.
Accidents can conveniently be divided into those occurring at work,
in the road, and those occurring at or around the home.
Industrial accidents.
In Hampstead in 1952, there were no deaths due to industrial
accidents. The H.M. District Inspector of Factories has very kindly
given me details of accidents which occurred in premises subject to the
Factories Act during 1952, in the Borough of Hampstead. There was a
total of 35 accidents, 32 in males and 3 in females. The age distribution
is shown in Table I. There are 8 cases in which the age is not known.

In the remaining 27 there is no excess of accidents in any particular age
group. The fact that all the accidents to women occurred in the youngest
age group would be related to the fact that such women form the bulk
of the employed female population. The older women are busy in the
industry of keeping house and are indeed exposed to more hazards and
strain than the industrial workers.
Many of the industrial accidents are essentially preventable. Thus
one man cut his hand whilst cleaning a circular saw which was in motion;
another put his hand in a boring machine whilst it was in motion. Out
of the 35 accidents, no less than 10 occurred in connection with building.
The Building (Safety, Health and Welfare) Regulations came into force
on October 1st, 1948, and it is hoped that they will diminish the number
of accidents. The building trade has especial difficulties in that each
building site is only a "temporary factory." In all industries, accidents
cannot be avoided entirely by legislation and in the end much depends
on the individual worker.
Road accidents.
Road accidents and measures for their prevention are under constant
study by the Road Safety Committee under the Chairmanship of Miss
D. R. Bailey, and the following figures are taken from their Statistical
Review of 1952.
In 1952 there were three fatal accidents on the road, two concerned
pedestrians and one a passenger in a car. In 1951 there were four fatal
accidents and in 1950 two. The number of injured in 1952 was 372, in
1951, 421 and in 1950, 417. During these three years there has been
an increasing number of vehicles on the road and there is a definite
improvement in safety.
The age incidence is shown in Table II.