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

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS AND COMPENSATION INSURANCE COST OF THEINTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT BOARDS AND COMMISSIONSSource: Monthly Review of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vol. 3, No. 4 (OCTOBER, 1916),pp. 43-46Published by: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of LaborStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41823148 .

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MONTHLY BEVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOB STATISTICS. 43

while 157 made no report on this point. One hundred and forty-six reported that they had arrangements with outside hospitals; in 754 establishments (74.1 per cent) the choice of physician is allowed, with or without certain restrictions, by the person injured or his family or friends, and of this number 604 establishments (80.1 per cent) pay the physician. The returns indicated that first-aid outfits were in use in 354 (42.4 per cent) of the establishments giving information on this point.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS AND COMPENSATION IN- SURANCE COST OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INDUS- TRIAL ACCIDENT BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS.

The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions was organized " to bring into closer relation with one another the various boards and commissions administering compen- sation laws of the United States, and to effect so far as possible uniformity of legislation and administration of such laws and to encourage and give effect to all measures looking toward the pre- vention of accidents and the safeguarding of plants and machinery.'' At the meeting held in Chicago on January 12 and 13, 1915, the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost was created and commissioned to prepare: (1) Uniform tables for the establish- ment of compensation costs; (2) uniform classification of industries; (3) uniform classification of causes of injuries; (4) uniform classifi- cation of nature of injuries. The first report of the committee,1 embracing a preliminary grouping of industries, was approved by the association at its meeting held at Seattle, September 30 to October 2, 1915, and a second report, which was submitted at the third annual meeting of the association held at Columbus, April 25 to 28, 1916. has just been published as Bulletin 201 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.2 This report is signed by the members of the com- mittee, who were as follows :

E. H. Downey, chairman, special deputy, Pennsylvania insurance department, Harrisburg, Pa.

Royal Meeker, Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Washington. D. G

Robert K. Orr, manager State accident fund, Lansing, Mich. W. N. Magoun, general manager Pennsylvania compensation rating

and inspection bureau, Philadelphia, Pa.

i The first report of the committee was printed in full in the November, 1915, issue of the Monthly Review, pp. 28-37. * Report of committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost of tne interna- tional Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 201. Washington, 1916. 128 pp.

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44 MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OP LABOR STATISTICS.

H. E. Evan, associate actuary, State insurance department, New York City.

Floyd L. Daggett, chairman, industrial insurance commission, Olympia, Wash.

Fred C. Croxton, chief statistician, industrial commission, Colum- bus, Ohio.

L. W. Hatch, chief statistician, industrial commission, Albany, N. Y.

E. E. Watson, actuary, industrial commission, Columbus, Ohio. In its work the committee had the benefit of the cooperation of

the Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Society of America and the Workmen's Compensation Service Bureau. This latter organiza- tion has done much to bring about uniform classification of indus- tries, and the original classification issued by it was taken as the basis by the committee in working out a classification of industrial processes.

The wor.k of the committee was guided by the accepted principle that statistics of industrial accidents should serve for accident pre- vention, for the due administration and intelligent revision of work- men's compensation laws, and for the computation of compensation insurance rates. To this end the committee recommends that acci- dent statistics be analyzed by industries, by cause of accident, and by nature and location of injury, and the extent of disability, and cross analyzed so as to show the correlation of each of these sets of facts with each other.

After the approval of the first report of the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost by the association in its annual meeting at Seattle, in 1915, there remained for the committee the preparation of the final subdivisions of classifications under each of the various industry groups, the preparation of classifications of causes of accidents and of nature of injuries and the drafting of uniform tables for the presentation of accident and compensation statistics. All of these subjects, except the drafting of uniform

tables, in which the committee is now engaged, are covered in the

report under review. It is believed that these classifications, necessarily the result of

compromise, will serve the most important needs of industrial acci- dent statistics. They are the fruit of much thought and discus- sion by experienced statisticians. They have made use of what- ever was best and applicable to American conditions in the official classifications of the United States and Europe. All are designed to admit of contraction or expansion according to the varied needs and facilities of the different administrative boards.

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MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS. 45

The industry classifications are presented under seven principal divisions or primary headings, including (A) Agriculture, (B) Mining and quarrying, (C) Manufacturing, (D) Construction, (E) Transportation and public utilities, (F) Trade, (G) Service. The 7 divisions are divided into 43 schedules, these secondary head- ings explaining the details into which the primary headings are separated. For example, the primary heading " Manufacturing" is divided into 18 schedules, such as lumber and wood, leather, tex- tiles, chemicals, paper, etc. The group headings, of which there are 272, are the most important in the series, and show a refinement of the secondary headings. Each group heading is intended to be significant of the industries covered under it. The final subdivi- sion consists of the classifications of industries appearing in the manuals used by insurance companies in connection with their writ- ing of workmen's compensation insurance. These final subdivi- sions are of special value to industrial accident boards and com- missions, serving as an index to show what industries are intended to be covered by the respective groups. Opposite each industrial process is printed the Workmen's Compensation Manual code num- ber given to that process in the manual, in order to facilitate the work of translation and comparison of accident statistics recorded under the classification of the Committee on Statistics and Com- pensation Insurance Cost with those of the Workmen's Compensation Service Bureau, since it was impossible for the latter to make this classification conform exactly with the classification adopted by the committee.

The whole purpose of a classification of accidents by causes is accident prevention. The committee recommends that for the sake of uniformity accidents be assigned to the proximate cause, namely, "to that condition or circumstance the absence of which would have prevented the accident; but if there be more than one such condition or circumstance, then to the one most easily prevented."

The causes of accidents have been grouped into 12 divisions, as follows: I. Machinery; II. Boilers and steam-pressure apparatus; III. Vehicles; IV. Explosives, electricity, fires, and hot and corro- sive substances; V. Poisonous substances; VI. Falls of persons; VII. Stepping on or striking against objects: VIII. Falling objects; IX. Objects being handled; X. Hand tools; XI. Animals: XII. Mis- cellaneous causes. These, again, have been subdivided into general classes. Machinery, for instance, is divided into prime movers, power-transmission apparatus, power-working machinery, hoisting apparatus and conveyors, and miscellaneous machinery. A detailed analysis of machine accidents by manner of occurrence and by part of machine on which the accident occurred is recommended. Inas-

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46 MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

much as experience has shown that both in the United States and abroad machinery of all descriptions accounts for not more than one- fourth of the industrial accidents, the committee gives consid- erable attention to nonmachine accidents.

The committee has recommended four classifications of accidental injuries, as distinguished from the accidents themselves, namely, the location of injury or part of body injured, the nature of injury, the extent of disability, and, as a subdivision of the last, the degree of partial disability. In assignment of the location of injury, the committee has followed the common anatomical divisions, beginning with the head and ending with the feet. Special provision has been made for injuries involving two or more parts. The nature of injury classification is confined to the injuries sustained at the time of the accident, and is designated by popular rather than technical medical terms. Special provision is recommended for infections, so that the infection shall be correlated with the nature of injury and also with the extent of disability. With respect to extent of disability, injuries are divided into the generally recognized classes of fatali- ties, permanent total disabilities, permanent partial disabilities, tem- porary total disabilities, and temporary partial disabilities. Perma- nent disabilities are further divided into dismemberment and others.

The report includes appendixes briefly setting forth the resolutions in regard to accident and workmen's compensation adopted by the National Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commis- sions at Chicago, January 12 and 13, 1915; resolutions adopted at the joint conference on standardization of accident reports and tabu- lations, held at Chicago, October 12 and 13, 1914 ; and definitions of injuries and methods of tabulating the various kinds of injuries and compensation payments in use by the Workmen's Compensation Serv- ice Bureau.

The report includes a comprehensive and exhaustive index with cross references to facilitate the work of finding a desired classifica- tion.

PREVENTION OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS.

The safety movement is in a state of constant evolution. As new machinery is devised and new methods are adopted to meet the demands of an era of unparalleled industrial progress accident haz- ards are multiplied and the necessity for protecting the men who toil presents a problem of considerable magnitude which must be met adequately and conclusively if industry is to be freed of the large proportion of the preventable accidents which have heretofore been charged againsťit. To this end the safety-first movement has

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