Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

ACCIDENTS IN THE GAS INDUSTRYSource: Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vol. 3, No. 6 (DECEMBER,1916), pp. 26-27Published by: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of LaborStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41823932 .

Accessed: 13/05/2014 20:39

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.135 on Tue, 13 May 2014 20:39:17 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

26 MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

A table is given showing that under plan 3, 171 firms, with pay rolls amounting to $2,950,313.93, contributed $29,158.86 to the Stato fund.

ACCIDENTS IN THE GAS INDUSTRY.

The report of the committee on analysis of accidents in the gas industry,1 submitted at the eleventh annual meeting of the American Oas Institute in October last, gives a record of 10,000 accidents, 3,763 of which were reported during the past institute year by 104 com- panies in 30 States. Of the 10,000 cases 27 were fatalities. By com- bining the analyses for the two institute years ending September 1, 1916, the report announces that -

Of the 6,490 cases reported during the two years 5,283 reported on disability, and of that number 2,286, or 43 per cent, reported disabilities amounting in all to 25,036 days, being an average of 10.9 day's disability per case, and in 2,997 cases, or 57 per cent, it was reported that no disability resulted. Of the 2,286 cases of disability it was found that 478 (20.9 per cent) showed periods of disability of over two weeks each and involved a total disability of 13,346 days, being an average of 27.9 day's disability per case. It is also interesting to note that of 4,325 cases reported during the two years on length of service, 1,946, or 45 per cent, of the employees injured had been in the company's employ one year or less. During the two years' period, 6,362 reports indicated the age of the injured employees, which showed the average age to be 33 years.

The following table gives the analysis of the 10,000 cases by causes:

ANALYSIS OF 10,000 ACCIDENTS IN THE OAS INDUSTRY, BY CAUSES.

Nonfatal. Fatal. | Cause of accident. -7 ! Total.

Number. Percent. Number. Percent. !

Leak of gas outside 133 1.33 4 14.81 137 Leak of gas inside 88 . 88 88 Animal Dites 196 1.96 195 Machinery in operation 323 3.24 2 7.41 325 Elevators, etc 160 l.W J 7.41 171 Explosions, ignited gas, etc 265 2.66 3 11.11 268 Failing in or through openings 449 4.50 3 11.11 452 Hot material 489 4.90 1 3.70 490 Objects, hanging or swinging 96 . 96 96 Objects! motruaing 7?. V?. 421 4.22 . 421 Objects felling.. TT. 1,035 10.38 2 7.41 1,037 Flying particles 872 8.74 872 VehicfesTetc Flying 919 9.21 5 18.52 924 Nails, wires, etc 620 6.22 620 Handling material 1,057 10.60 1 3.70 1,058 Slipping or tripping 866 8.68 866 Hand tools usca by injured 1, 235 12. 38 1, 23o Hand tools used by others 189 1.90 189 Miscellaneous « 552 5.53 4 14.81 556

Total 9,973 100.00 27 100.00 10,000

[The report does not give the numbers slunní here, but they were furnished through the courtesy of the chairman of the committee, Mr. James B. Douglas.]

1 Report of committee on analysis of accidents, presented at the eleventh annual meeting of the American Gas Institute, October, 1916. [American Gas Institute, 29 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York.j 6 pp.

£726]

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.135 on Tue, 13 May 2014 20:39:17 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 27

In a statement of the effect of these accidents it is shown that 67.2 per cent are classed as lacerations or contusions, 8 per cent as burns, 5.4 per cent as fractures, 8.6 per cent as eye injuries, 8.1 per cent as strains, etc., and 2.8 per cent as illness caused by gas. The report states that the work on analyses of accidents from year to year done by the several committees has been of real value and has been used on a number of occasions to prove that the gas industry can not be properly classified as extrahazardous.

It will be noted that accidents peculiar to the industry, i. e., leak of gas (outside and inside) and explosions, constituted but 4.9 per cent of the 10.000 cases reviewed. This being positive evidence, should prove convincing to any State body or insurance committee having to do with casualty ratings for the industry.

The committee recommends that this work be continued and that the president of the institute urge the members to make better re- sponse to the committee's requests for reports of accidents.

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION CASES IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.

On Monday, November 13, the Supreme Court ordered a reargu- ment of a number of cases named below affecting the validity and construction of the compensation laws of Iowa, New Jersey, New York, and Washington. The Iowa case (Hawkins v. Bleakley) came up from a district court of the United States, while the others were cases from the State courts.

The Iowa case was decided June 22, 1914, and the validity of the compensation law of that State was upheld against contentions of its unconstitutionality as depriving of liberty of contract, due pro- cess of law, and right of trial by jury, the court saying that these could be waived by the parties in interest, either expressly or by common consent or acquiescence. The provisions abrogating the common-law defenses, arranging for arbitration by the industrial commissioner of the State, and arranging for the insurance of the employer's liabilities under the act were also upheld.

The point involved in the New Jersey case (Erie Railroad Co. v. Winfield, Jan. 6, 1916) is the applicability of the State compensation law to injuries received in interstate commerce where there is neither allegation nor proof of negligence on the part of the railroad com- pany. The court of errors and appeals of the State held the law applicable, while the company contended that the Federal law alone controls where the injury is received in interstate commerce. The contentions are identical in one of the New York cases (New York

[727]

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.135 on Tue, 13 May 2014 20:39:17 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions