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Industrial accidents are casualties occurring chiefly among wageearners employed in industrial pursuits, this term including all manufacturing and mechanical industries and trade and transportation. A narrow definition limits this class of accidents to factories and workshops, but this seems hardly warranted by the conditions under which the industrial activity of the nation presents itself as a problem in statistical analysis. The scientific definition of the term is, however, of small importance, and the whole subject is practically comprehended in the term "dangerous trades," which implies that the risk, or liability to accident or injury, is because of personal exposure more or less inseparable from the employment.

ACCIDENT FREQUENCY IN THE UNITED STATES.

Thus far no national investigation of the subject of industrial accidents has been made to determine the true accident risk in industry, and the statistical data extant are more or less fragmentary and of only approximate value. The ever increasing legislation for the protection of life and health in industry and the demand for more stringent employers' liability legislation emphasize the need of a more careful consideration of the facts by selected industries than has thus far been possible. In an article on the subject, contributed to the "New Encyclopedia of Social Reform " (1908), it was estimated by the writer that the number of accidents among men em

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ployed in manufacturing industries for 1906 was 208,300, of which number about 5,000 were fatal and the remainder more or less serious. This estimate, however, was exclusive of accidents in mines and quarries, transportation by land and sea, and all general employments.

For the purpose of arriving at an estimate of the total number of fatal accidents occurring annually among occupied males in the United States at the present time the percentage of occupied males 15 years of age or over is assumed to be the same as at the census of 1900, namely, 30.005 per cent of the total population. The total population of the United States on June 1, 1908, was estimated by the Bureau of the Census to be 86,895,359, and 30.005 per cent of this total, or 26,072,952, represents approximately the number of occupied males 15 years of age or over at that date. The degree of fatal accident frequency (inclusive of homicides, but exclusive of suicides) among occupied males 10 years of age or over was returned by the census of 1900 as 1.13 per 1,000 in the registration States, and in the absence of other data relating to this subject this proportion is considered to represent approximately the accident frequency among all occupied males 15 years of age or over in the United States. (a) By applying this ratio to the total above estimated (26,072,952) it is found that the number of fatal accidents among occupied males 15 years of age or over is approximately 29,462 in 1908. If allowance, however, is made for the probably higher degree of fatal accident frequency in the western portion of the United States, on account of dangerous mining and lumbering industries, the actual number of fatal accidents among occupied males in 1908 is probably somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000. This estimate of the total accident mortality for 1908 of adult males in gainful occupations is the best possible at the present time, and, while there are no very conclusive trade mortality statistics for this country which sufficiently discriminate between accidents which are the result of general conditions and those which are the direct result of the employment, it is probably safe to estimate that half of the accidents are more or less the immediate result of dangerous industries or trades.

a The number of deaths from accidents among occupied males in the registration States is not given separately for those 15 years of age or over or for those 10 to 14 years of age, inclusive. While the fatal accident frequency in the latter group is probably lower than among adults, the number of occupied males from 10 to 14 years of age represents but a small proportion of all occupied males (only 3.7 per cent for the United States, according to figures shown in the census report on Occupations for 1900); hence it is concluded that the fatal accident frequency among occupied males 15 years of age or over approximates very closely to that among those 10 years of age or over.

THE PROBLEM OF ACCIDENT NOTIFICATION.

It has been pointed out in a report of a British departmental committee, appointed to inquire into the notification of industrial accidents that the term "accident" in itself conveys no exact significance. "Accidents," it is said, "gradually shade off into what are not accidents in the ordinary sense of the word, and there is no hard or fast line which determines when a bruise or a cut, for instance, becomes an accident. A distinguishing line can only be drawn artificially by fixing some kind of standard, as has been done by Parliament in every case in which it has imposed upon employers the obligation to report, and it is clear that unless some line is drawn the application of the system will be left to uncertainty, and uniformity in the administration of the act will be rendered impossible." It is evident that some such definition is imperative to avoid misleading conclusions. There is not so much difficulty in the reporting of fatal accidents since most of the deaths, as a rule, occur at the time of the happening of the accident, or very shortly thereafter. The real difficulty lies in an exact definition of nonfatal accidents, which, as such, "gradually shade off into what are not accidents," which leaves a large amount of necessary discretion with those who are by law required to report them. Since the conditions vary considerably with different industries, an exact or trustworthy comparison of the nonfatal accident ratio in one industry often can not be made with the corresponding return of nonfatal accidents in some other industry. This, for illustration, is true of railroad transportation and coal mining, since in the former nonfatal accidents are reported in more detail than in the latter, which leaves a reasonable question of doubt as to the actual number and degree of minor injuries in coal mining operations. Since it is also almost impossible to keep always in mind the widely different statutory requirements in accident reports, the most useful and conclusive investigations are those which are limited to fatal accidents, about which there can never be more than a minor degree of uncertainty or inaccuracy, due to causes and conditions fairly uniform and quite well understood.

DEGREE OF ACCIDENTAL INJURY.

The degree of accidental injury is of necessity one of the most important elements of the industrial accident problem. The most extensive investigation into this subject has been made by the New York State Department of Labor for the five years ending with 1906. Out of 39,244 accidents in factories and workshops reported upon in detail, 80.8 per cent caused temporary disablement, 16.8 per cent caused per

manent disablement, 2.2 per cent proved fatal, and 0.2 per cent were ill defined. Of the 80.8 per cent of accidents causing temporary disablement, 19.0 per cent were cuts, 18.9 per cent were lacerations, 18.0 per cent were bruises, 7.1 per cent were burns, 5.8 per cent were fractures, 3.9 per cent were sprains, and 8.1 per cent were other injuries. The details regarding accidents causing permanent disablement were not as fully reported upon and the returns are, therefore, less conclusive. Of the 16.8 per cent of accidents causing permanent disablement, 14.8 per cent were not specified as to the degree of the injury, but 0.6 per cent resulted in loss of one or both hands or feet, 0.6 per cent in internal injury, 0.4 per cent in loss of one or both limbs, and about the same proportion in the loss of one or both eyes. A critical analysis, by Mr. F. S. Crum, regarding the nature and extent of the injuries reported to the Bureau of Factory Inspection of New York State for the period mentioned, has been published in the Spectator (an insurance periodical) for March 19, 1908. From that paper the following table has been prepared:

NUMBER AND PER CENT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS IN NEW YORK STATE, BY DEGREE OF INJURY, FOR THE PERIOD 1901 TO 1906.

[From an analysis by Mr. F. S. Crum, in the Spectator for March 19, 1908, compiled from the annual reports of the New York Bureau of Factory Inspection, 1901 to 1906.]

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A similar analysis of the reports of the British factory inspectors for the period from 1895 to 1906, includes 196,047 accidents to males and 23,120 accidents to females. According to this analysis, which is limited to the adult population, or persons 18 years of age or over, the proportion of fatal accidents in all industrial casualties was 4.8 per cent for males and 0.6 per cent for females.

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