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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
BULLETIN

OF

THE

WOMEN'S

BUREAU,

NO. 81

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
TO MEN AND WOMEN




[Public—No. 259—66th Congress]
[H. R. 13229]

An Aot To establish in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the
Women’s Bureau

Be it evaded by the Senate and House oj Representatives of the
Vlnited States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be
established in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the
Women’s Bureau.
,
.
Sec. 2. That the said bureau shall be in charge of a director, a
woman, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, who shall receive an annual compensation of
$5,000. It shall be the duty of said bureau to formulate standards
and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women,
improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and ad­
vance their opportunities for profitable employment. The said
bureau shall have authority to investigate and report to the said de­
partment upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of women in
industry. The director of said bureau may from time to time publish
the results of these investigations in such a manner and to such
extent as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe.
_
Sec. 3. That there shall be in said bureau an assistant director,
to be appointed by the Secretary of Labor, who shall receive an
annual compensation of $3,500 and shall perform such duties as
shall be prescribed by the director and approved by the Secretary
of Labor.
Sec. 4. That there is hereby authorized to be employed by said
bureau a chief clerk and such special agents, assistants, clerks, and
other employees at such rates of compensation and in such numbers
as Congress may from time to time provide by appropriations.
Sec. 5. That the Secretary of Labor is hereby directed to furnish
sufficient quarters, office furniture, and equipment for the work of
this bureau.
.
Sec. 6. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and
after its passage.
Approved, June 5, 1920.




U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS, SECRETARY

WOMEN’S BUREAU
MARY ANDERSON, Director

BULLETIN

OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU, NO. 81

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS
TO MEN AND WOMEN
By EMILY C. BROWN

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1930

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. G.




Price IS cents




TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I. Introduction
Sources______________________
Standardization of statistics
Summary
12
Inadequacy of reports
12
Accidents to men and women
13
II. Analysis of reports of accidents to men and women_____________
Character of data
14
Accidents by sex in 21 States_________________ ________
Age of person injured_____________________ ____________
Extent of disability_____
Industries in which accidents occur____________________
Causes of accidents
33
III. Accident prevention
40
Prohibition of employment of young persons in dangerous
occupations
40
.
Accident-prevention programs of the StatesI
Appendix—State reports in which accident statistics by sex are obtain­
able, 1920 to 1927, used in Tables 1 to 10

1
2
g

14
15
20
23
32

42
46

TEXT TABLES
Table 1. Industrial accidents tabulated by sex by 21 States, in 1927 or
most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927; per cent of women
among the injured persons reported and among the gainfully
occupied in 1920; and per cent in manufacturing of all women
gainfully occupied in 1920
2. Distribution of accidents to men and women by age of injured, in
1927 or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927, in 11
States
21
3. Distribution of accidents to men and women by extent of dis­
ability, in 1927 or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927,
in seven States
24
4. Distribution of accidents to men and women by age group and
extent of disability, in four States, 1927_____________________
5. Distribution of temporary total disabilities of men and women
_
by weeks of disability, cases closed in 1925, Illinois_________
6. Number of weeks of disability of adults and minors, by sex—
cases of compensated accidents closed in year ending June 30.
1927, New York
30
7. Industrial distribution of all cases, and weeks of disability of
temporary and permanent partial cases, by sex—cases of com­
pensated accidents closed in year ending June 30, 1927, New
York
31
8. Industrial distribution of accidents to men and women, in 1927
or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927, in five States. Facing
9. Distribution of accidents to men and women by cause, in 1927
or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927, in five States..
10. Distribution of accidents to men and women by cause and age
group, in New Jersey, 1927, New York, 1927, and Pennsyl­
vania, 1924

17

27
30

32
34
36

CHARTS
Chart I. Extent of the information on accidents to women published in the
period 1920 to 1927 by the 21 States that reported the sex of
injured persons
3
II. Character of accidents tabulated in the 21 States that reported
the sex of injured persons in 1927 or most recent year of the
period 1920 to 1927-______________________ ______ ______ Facing 14




m

—




LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
United States Department of Labor,
Women’s Bureau,

Washington, June 26, 1930.
I have the honor to submit the first of a series of reports by this
bureau on the subject of industrial accidents to men and women,
undertaken to learn what accident data reported by sex are available
in State publications and to call attention to the slightness of such
material and the seriousness of its not being reported more fully.
The study was made by Emily C. Brown while associate industrial
economist in this bureau.
Only 21 States at any time during the period 1920 to 1927 published
accident data for men and women separately. The States reporting
in any one year ranged only from 10 to 14 in number. Some made
only one such report and others published figures for each of the eight
years.
Besides being fragmentary, the data made public are strikingly
noncomparable, so that a contrasting of conditions in various States
and industries, something highly desirable in the interests of accident
prevention, is far from satisfactory. As a basis for such prevention,
complete and comparable data, classified by sex, age, industry and
occupation, cause, nature and location of injury, and extent of dis­
ability, would appear to be the minimum requirements.
•
VT',V
fact that every year many thousands of women suffer
industrial accidents—New York State alone reported about 7,400
compensated cases in the fiscal year 1927, to say nothing of the large
number not compensable because the time loss did not exceed a week—•
information concerning them should not be a matter of indifference.
Grateful acknowledgment is made of the cooperation extended by
the various State officials and of the courtesy of the United States
Bureau of Labor Statistics, of Mr. Walter 0. Stack, and of Dr.
Leonard W. Hatch in reading the completed report.
Respectfully submitted.
Mary Anderson, Director.
Hon. James J. Davis,
Secretary of Labor.
Sir:




v

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND
WOMEN
PART I
INTRODUCTION
Industrial accidents in the United States levy an appalling toll on
wage earners and industry every year. There can be no doubt as to
the serious character of this problem; with our present knowledge this
toll can only be approximated, since exact and complete statistics are
lacking. When it is possible to estimate that each year there are from
15,000 to 25,000 fatal industrial accidents, more than 100,000 accidents
causing permanent disability, and at least 2,500,000 causing temporary
disability of one day or more, with a total loss of working time of
perhaps 250,000,000 days in a year,1 a suggestion is had of the cost of
accidents in terms of human suffering and of the loss to individuals
and to industry.
Accident prevention is the end toward which all study of accidents
leads. Alleviation of the effects of injury through workmen’s com­
pensation also needs a basis of statistical knowledge for effective ad­
ministration of the laws, but to prevent an accident is infinitely better
than to compensate after the injury has occurred. Knowledge about
accidents sufficient to help forward the work of accident prevention
is, therefore, the principal object of a study of accidents occurring in
industry.
Data on industrial accidents—accurate, comparable, and carefully
compiled and analyzed—are the principal need of the accident-pre­
vention program. Facts regarding the number of accidents, the sex
and age of the workers injured, the industries and occupations in
which accidents occur, and the cause, nature, and cost of each acci­
dent are vitally needed. Such facts are available here and there, and
of late to a slightly increasing extent, but the incompleteness of the
data is almost more conspicuous than are those parts of the field that
are adequately covered.
The Women’s Bureau is charged with definite duties in regard to
the work problems of women, and as the matter of accidents to em­
ployed women is one of great importance, this inquiry was under­
taken to ascertain what data were available on accidents to men and
women separately.
It became apparent that much the greater proportion of the accident
statistics obtainable were not analyzed by sex. As the bureau believes,
i Woodbury Robert Morse.
Co., New York, 1927.

Workers’ Health and Safety: A statistical program, pp. 6-7.

Macmillan

^Uft t0 tl3e fatal and the permanent-disability cases, which,
according to the standards worked out by the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost of
the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, are responsible for about 85
per cent of the loss of working time as here estimated.
y
out 60




1

2

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

however, that many pertinent facts that can contribute to the under­
standing needed for accident prevention may emerge from a compara­
tive study of industrial accidents to men and women, such data as
are available in published form in a recent year have been assembled
and analyzed for the purpose of learning the extent of present knowledge
concerning industrial accidents to men and women and ascertaining
what light such facts may throw on the incidence, character, cause,
and means of prevention of accidents and on fruitful questions for
further study.
...
.
It seems to the bureau that thepublicationin one volume of informa­
tion on the accident experience of employed women in comparison
with that of employed men in one year is of importance to the women
themselves, to employers, to officials of State departments of labor,,
and to the public. It ventures the hope that such a publication is a
contribution in the field of accident statistics.
Sources.
The sources of information on industrial accidents by sex are the
reports issued by the various States, in most cases by the agency
that administers the workmen’s compensation act—the industrial
commission, the industrial accident board, or whatever it may be
called.
Chart I lists the States that have published any accident data,
classified by sex in the eight years 1920 to 1927 and shows how
incomplete and inadequately analyzed is the material.




Chart I.—Extent of the information on accidents to women published in the period 1920 to 1927 by the 21 States that reported the sex of injured

08 — of f l Z

persons
Type of information
about women 1

Number injured.

to

Number
of States
publish­
ing1
21

State

First quadrennial report of Workmen’s Compensation Commission, 1919-1922.
Annual reports of Industrial Accident Commission, July 1, 1920, to June 30, 1921,
and July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922.
Reports of Industrial Commission: Fourth, Dec. 1, 1919, to Nov. 30, 1920, to tenth,
1919-20 to 1926-27................................
Colorado_____
Dec. 1, 1926, to Nov. 30, 1928.
Seventh and eighth annual reports of Industrial Commission, Jan. 1, 1927, to Dec.
1927-28................................................... .
Georgia______
31, 1928.
1919-20 to 1921-22; 1C22-1924 to 1926­ Biennial reports of Industrial Accident Board: Second, Oct. 31, 1918, to Nov. 1,
Idaho...... .........
1220, to sixth, Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. "1, 1928.
1928.
1920 to 1927................................................. Annual report of Industrial Commission, year ended June 30, 1921; annual reports
Illinois..............
of Department of Labor: Fifth, July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922, to eleventh, July 1,
1 27, to June 30, 1928; and Labor Bulletin of Department of Labor, June, 1928.
1919-20 to 1926-27...................................... Annual reports of Industrial Board, years ended Sept. 30, 1920 to 1927.
Indiana............
Biennial report of Bureau of Labor Statistics, period ended June 30, 1926.
Iowa..............
1919-20 to 1926-27. "JrI’. Annual reports of Workmen’s Compensation Board, years ended June 30, 1920 to 1927.
Kentucky____
1919-20 to 1926-27 (1922, 1923, and 1924, Annual reports of State Industrial Accident Commission: Sixth, Nov. 1, 1919, to
Maryland____
Oct. 31, 1920, to thirteenth, Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1927.
incomplete periods)---------------------Annual reports of Department of Industrial Accidents, years ended June 30, 1920
1919-20 to 1926-27.................................
Massachusetts
to 1927.
1919-20 to 1923-24..................................... Seventeenth biennial report of Department of Labor and Industries, 1919-1920;
Minnesota----Biennial reports of Industrial Commission: First, 1921-1922, and second, 1923-1924.
1927 (period incomplete)........................ First annual report of Workmen’s Compensation Commission, Jan. 9, 1927, to Dec.
Missouri_____
31 1927.
Biennial report of Department of Labor for period ended Dee. 31, 1927.
Nebraska..
1927.........................
Industrial Bulletin of Department of Labor, vol. 2, No. 9, September, 1928.
New Jersey.
1927...... .......... .......
Special bulletins of Department of Labor: No. 126, September, 1924, Analysis of
1919-20 to 1926-27
New York.
workmen's compensation cases closed July 1,1922, to June 30, 1923; No. 142, March,
1626, Compensation awards year ended June 30, 1924; Compensated accidents,
July, 1914, to June, 1922; No. 144, June, 1926, Some recent figures on accidents to
women and minors; No. 140, July, 1926, Accidents compensated in year ended
June 30,1925, Cost of compensation; No. 148, January, 1927, Compensation statistics
year ended June 30, 1926; No. 157, August, 1928, Compensation statistics year
ended June 30, 1927; and Industrial Bulletin of Department of Labor, vol. 6, No. 7,
April, 1927; vol. 7, No. 7, April, 1928; and vol. 7, No. 9, June, 1928.
Beport of Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation, 1920; Special bulletin of Department
Pennsylvania... 1920, 1921, 1924
of Labor and Industry, No. 17, 1926, An analysis of compensated accidents to
minors for the year 1924; Labor and Industry, Monthly bulletin of Department
of Labor and Industry, November, 1922, December, 1926.
Alabama_____
California____

1920 to 1922............................................ .
1920 to 1921............................................

INTRODUCTION

1 Type of accidents tabulated varies in different States and in some States from year to year.
5 Does not Include Kansas. See F, in note following.




Source

Period covered by published reports

See Table 1.
CO

Chart I.-—Extent of the information on accidents to women published in the period 1920 to 1927 by the 21 States that reported the sex of injured

persons—Continued
Type of information
about women

9

Age....................................

11

Extent of disability___

11




State

Tennessee..........

Period covered by published reports

Source

1926-27.......................................................... Report of Commissioner of Labor for the year 1927.
1919-20.......................................................... Eighth annual report of Bureau of Workshop and Factory Inspection, Jan. 1 to
Dec. 31, 1920.
1919-20 and 1920-21; 1921-1923 and Annual reports of Industrial Comm’vsion: Second, 1920, and third, 1921; Biennial
1923-1925. (Figures for 1920-21 in­
reports of Industrial Commission, 1922-1923 and 1924-1925.
clude nonfatal cases only; 1921-1923
and 1923-1925, temporary total dis­
abilities only.)
1923 to 1927 (1923, 1924, 1925 cover in- Wisconsin Labor Statistics, Vol. II, Nos. 1 and 2, January-February, 1924; Vol. Ill,
juries by machinery only).
Nos. 1 and 2, January-February, 1925; Vol. IV, Nos. 4 and 5, April-May, 1926.

1920 to 1922.................................................. Same as for number injured.
1927-28................................................
Do.
1920 to 1927.........................................
Annual report of Industrial Commission, year ended June 30, 1921; Annual reports
of Department of Labor; Fifth, July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922, to eleventh, July 1,
1927, to June 30, 1928.
1919-20 to 1920-21; 1925-26 to 1926-27
Annual reports of Industrial Board, years ended Sept. 30, 1920, 1921, 1926, and 1927.
1924-25 to 1926-27 and incomplete re­ Annual reports of State Industrial Accident Commission: Ninth, Nov. 1, 1922, to
ports for 1923 and 1924
Oct. 31, 1923, to thirteenth, Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1927.
1919-20 to 1926-27.................................... Same as for number injured.
1919-20 to 1923-24......................................
Do.
1927........ .............. ....................
Do.
1919-20 to 1926-27...................... ................ Special bulletins of Department of Labor: No. 126, September, 1924, Analysis of
workmen’s compensation cases closed July 1,1922, to June 30, 1923; No. 142, March,
1926, Compensation awards year ended June 30, 1924; Compensated accidents,
July, 1914, to June, 1922; No. 144, June, 1926, Some recent figures on accidents to
women and minors; No. 146, July, 1926, Accidents compensated in year ended
June 30, 1925, Cost of compensation; No. 148, January, 1927, Compensation sta­
tistics year ended June 30, 1926; No. 157, August, 1928, Compensation statistics
year ended June 30, 1927; and Industrial Bulletin of Department of Labor, vol.
6, No. 7, April, 1927, and vol. 7, No. 9, June, 1928.
1924................................................................ Special bulletin of Department of Labor and Industry, No. 17, 1926, An analysis of
compensated accidents to minors for the year 1924.
Rhode Island... 1926-27....................................................... Same as for number injured.
1920 to 1922...

Do.

1919-20 to 1921-22; 1922-1924 to 1926­
1928.

Do.

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Number injured—Con.

Number
of States
publish­
ing

*•

1920 to 1927 (1926 fatal and permanent
cases only).
Iowa.....................

Annual report of Industrial Commission, year ended June 30, 1921; annual reports
of Department of Labor: Fifth, July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922, to ninth, July 1, 1925,
to June 30, 1926; Eleventh, July 1, 1927, to June 30, 1928; and Labor Bulletin of
Department of Labor, J une, 1928.
Same as for number injured.

Cause.

5

1919-20 to 1920-21; 1925-26 to 1926-27.. Same as for age.
Same as for number injured.
1925-26....
Do.
1927...............................................................
Special bulletin of Department of Labor, No. 144, June, 1926, Some recent figures on
1924-25 to 1926- 7
.. __________
accidents to women and minors; and In ’ustrial Bulletin of Department of Labor,
vol. 6, No. 7, April, 1927; and vol. 7, No. 9, June, 1928.
Pennsylvania__ 1924................................................................ Labor and Industry, Monthly bulletin of Department of Labor and Industry, Decem­
ber, 1926.

Industry.

7

1920 to 1921.............. ..................................
1919-20 to 1920-21; 1925-26 to 1926-27...
1919-20_________ ________ _
1927...............................................................
1924-25 to 1926-27.......................................
Pennsylvania... 1920, 1924......................................................

INTRODUCTION

1925-26. (Report shows number of
accidents to women and number of
fatal cases.)
Maryland
1924-25 and incomplete reports for
Do.
1923 and 1924.
Massachusetts __ 1919-20 to 1926-27.......................................
Do.
1919-20....................................................... Seventeenth biennial report of Department of Labor and Industries, 1919-1920.
New Jersey......... 1927. (Fatal and permanent total Same as for number injured.
disabilities only.)
1919-20 to 1926-27._ ______ ______ Special bulletins of Department of Labor: No. 126, September, 1924, Analysis of work­
men’s compensation cases closed July 1, 1922, to June 30, 1923; No. 142, March, 1926,
Compensation awards year ended June 30, 1924; Compensated accidents, July,
1914, to June, 1922; No. 146, July, 1926, Accidents compensated in year ended June
30,1925, Cost of compensation: No. 148, January, 1927, Compensation statistics year
ended June 30,1926; No. 157, August, 1928,Compensation statistics year ended June
30, 1927; and Industrial Bulletin of Department of Labor, vol. 6, No. 7, April, 1927,
and vol. 7, No. 9, June, 1928.
Pennsylvania__ 1920 to 1921................................................. Report of Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation, 1920; Labor and Industry, Novem­
ber, 1922.
Virginia............... 1919-20 and 1920-21; 1921-1923 and Same as for number injured.
1923-1925. (Figures for 1919-20 in­
clude fatal and temporary cases;
1920-21, nonfatal cases only; 1921—
1923 and 1923-1925, temporary total
disabilities only.)

Same as for number injured.
Same as for age.
Annual report of Workmen’s Compensation Board, June 30, 1919, to June 30, 1920.
Same as for number injured.
Same as for cause.
Report of Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation, 1920; Labor and Industry, Monthly
bulletin of Department of Labor and Industry, December, 1926.
Tennessee 3......... 1919-20.......................................................... Same as for number injured.
• Tennessee classified occupations with industries




Indiana.............

Ox

Chart I.—Extent of the information on accidents to women published in the period 1920 to 1927 by the 21 States that reported the sex of injured

persons—Continued

Type of information
about women

4

State

Period covered by published reports

Illinois.

1920 to 1924, 1926.

Indiana...
Nebraska.
New York.

1919-20 to 1926-27.
1927____________
1919-20 to 1926-27.

1920 to 1922..................................................
1925...............................................................
1926-27...------- --------- --------------------1921-1923 and 1923-1925. (Temporary
total disabilities only.)

Source

Annual report of Industrial Commission, year ended June 30,1921; Annual reports of
Department of Labor: Fifth, July 1,1921, to June 30, 1922, to eighth, July 1,1924, to
June 39, 1925; Tenth, July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927.
Same as for number injured.
Special bulletins of Department of Labor: No. 126, September, 1924, Analysis of work­
men’s compensation cases closed July 1,1922, to June 30,1923; No. 142, March, 1926,
Compensation awards year ended June 30, 1924; Compensated accidents, July,
1914, to June, 1922; No. 146, July, 1926, Accidents compensated in year ended June
30, 1925, Cost of compensation; No. 148, January, 1927, Compensation statistics
year ended June 30,1926; No. 157, August, 1928, Compensation statistics year ended
June 30, 1927.
Same as for number injured.
Ninth annual report Department of Labor, July 1, 1925, to June 30, 1926.
Industrial Bulletin of Department of Labor, vol. 7, No. 9, June, 1928.
Biennial reports of Industrial Commission, 1922-1923 to 1926-1927.

Time lost

4

Alabama..
Illinois___
New York.
Virginia...

Nature of injury.

3

Indiana.............. 1919-20 to 1920-21; 1925-26 to 1926-27... Same as for age.
1927..___________________ ____ -......... Same as for number injured.
Nebraska
Pennsylvania— 1920, 1924 (1924, fatal only)...................... Report of Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation, 1920; Labor and Industry, May, 1925.

Conjugal condition.

6

Georgia...
Maryland.

Frequency rate.

2

New York_____ 1925-26.
Pennsylvania__ 1924....




Same as for number injured.
Annual reports of State Industrial-Accident Commission: Sixth, 1919-20 to eighth,
1921-22.
1927 (incomplete)..................................... Same as for number injured.
Missouri
Do.
1927................... ...................... — ................
Nebraska
Pennsylvania__ 1920----------------------------------------------- Report of Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation, 1920.
Virginia----------- 1919-20 and 1920-21; 1921-1923. (Fig­ Annual reports of Industrial Commission: Second, 1920, and third, 1921; Biennial
report of Industrial Commission, 1922-1923.
ures for 1919-20 include fatal and
temporary cases; 1920-21, nonfatal
cases only; 1921-1923, temporary
total disabilities only.)
1927-28...................
1919-20 to 1921-22.

Industrial Bulletin of Department of Labor, vol. 7, No. 7, April, 1928.
Special bulletin of Department of Labor and Industry, No. 17, 1926, An analysis of
compensated accidents to minors for the year 1924.

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Wage.

Number
of States
publish­
ing

Note.—This chart does not include the following published data on women injured:
A. Location of injury. In annual reports of Industrial Board, Indiana, years ended Sept. 30, 1920, 1921, 1926, and 1927.
B. Compensation per disability for eye, arm, hand, foot, and leg losses. In report of Workmen’s Compensation Bureau, Pennsylvania, 1920.
C. Machine accidents analyzed according to cities and counties in the State. Wisconsin Labor Statistics, Vol. II, Nos. 1 and 2, January-February, 1924; Vol. Ill, Nos. 1 and 2.
January-February, 1925; Vol. IV, Nos. 4 and 5, April, 1926.
D. Fatal accidents classified by industry, conjugal condition, and part of body injured; also blood-poison cases. In report of Workmen’s Compensation Bureau, Pennsylvania,
1920; fatal accidents by industry, cause, and nature of injury, 1924. In Labor and Industry, monthly bulletin of Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, May, 1925; fatal
accidents by cause and nature of injuo', 1926. Ibid., April, 1926.
E. Fatal cases classified by conjugal condition and number of dependents, 1919-20. In second annual report of Industrial Commission of Virginia, 1920.
31 i924SpeC'al study °* 102 accidents t0 women classified by industry and cause of injury, 1924. In fifth annual report of Court of Industrial Relations, Kansas, year ended Dec.
Q. Special reports—New York Department of Labor: Some social and economic effects of work accidents to women. A study of five hundred women compensated for perma­
nent partial injuries, 1918-20. Classified according to age, wage, occupation, industry, nature of injury, location of injury, cause of accident, manner of occurrence of machine acci­
dents, extent of disability, degree of impairment, proportion of infections, present earning capacity, ability to speak English, schooling, change of employer, experience on machines
and length of time machine operators had been on accident job Special Bui. 127, November, 1924. An analysis of one hundred accidents on power punch presses, 1923-24, Classi­
fied by number of establishments, prodtict of plant, and nature and location of injury. Special Bui. 131.
H. Special study—Cases of anthrax, by industry and extent of disability, 1922 to 1926. In Labor and Industry, monthly bulletin of Pennsylvania Department of Labor and
Industry, June, 1927.

I n t r o d u c t io n




8

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Only 21 States have published accident data by sex at any time
from 1920 to 1927. Of the 21 States only 7 have reported numbers
for the entire period. Of these, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Massachusetts, and New York report numbers of men and women
each year; Idaho reports yearly for 1920, 1921, and 1922, and bien­
nially thereafter. Six of the 21 States have published no information
by sex since 1925.
_
When it is considered how incomplete are the data made public,
their inadequacy as an aid to accident prevention becomes more
apparent. During the period covered—1920-to 1927—the reports of
only 11 States give age data separately for women. Eight of these
and 3 others furnish information by sex as to the extent of disability.
Seven of the 21 show for each sex the industry in which the accident
occurred; 5, the cause of the accident; and 2, the frequency rates.
In the 8-year period only 1 State, New York, published data on all
these factors for one year’s accidents, and New York published such
figures for the one year only, dropping the significant figure of the
frequency rate the year following. No State has had an adequate
program of publishing accident data that has been followed con­
tinuously and consistently throughout the eight years.
_
The States vary greatly in the amount of information on accidents
that they collect, as well as in the type of information they publish.
Differences in the provisions of the laws and in the administrative
practices naturally result in the basic information being much less
adequate in some States than in others.2
Besides the inadequacy of accident statistics in most of the States,
the data published are, to a surprising extent, unstandardized and
noncomparable. Differences in definition, in the scope of the acci­
dents and employments covered, and in methods of tabulation make
impracticable, without very careful differentiation and qualification,
a compilation and comparison of data from the various States. Only
very cautious generalizations, if any, may be made from such nonhomogeneous material.
In determining the character of their accident reports, the States
necessarily are actuated by their own immediate needs in the admin­
istration of the workmen’s compensation laws. Furthermore, the
funds available rarely are adequate for a detailed analysis of the
figures. In spite of various limitations and the fact that the scope of
reports is influenced by the character of the accident-reporting and
workmen’s compensation laws, much greater uniformity among them
than prevailed at the time this study was made is not only possible
but extremely desirable. While each State must consider first its
own conditions and problems, a comparison of experience would be to
the advantage of all, and a standardized system of accident reporting
would not interfere in any way with meeting the peculiar needs of a
State. Tables and analyses within the framework of the standard
system may be made adequate for State needs and for comparisons
among localities and a record for the country as a whole.
Standardization of statistics.
A uniform method of collecting, classifying, analyzing, and publish­
ing statistics of industrial accidents has been worked out by the Inter-*
* See Monthly Labor Review, April, 1929, pp. 115-116.
as of January 1, 1929.




Workmen’s Compensation in the United States

INTRODUCTION

9

national Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions
and is recommended to its members, the State agencies engaged in
administering the workmen’s compensation laws.
This standard system is the result of several years’ work, from 1915
to 1919, of a very important committee of the association, the com­
mittee on statistics and compensation insurance cost. Published in
1920 as Bulletin 276 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics
and entitled Standardization of Industrial Accident Statistics, it is
generally accepted as the authority on the subject.
Changes in industrial conditions since 1919 have made it necessary
that there be revisions in the plan as then approved. Accordingly,
by action of the International Association of Industrial Accident
Boards and Commissions in 1926, revision was undertaken by that
association jointly with the National Safety Council and the National
Council on Workmen’s Compensation Insurance, under the auspices of
the American Standards Association (formerly the American Engineer­
ing Standards Committee). The association recommended that the
existing system should be followed until the revision was ready, since
the new plan would be coordinated with the old in such way that
the continuity of the figures need not be broken.3
The proposed plan for the overcoming of lack of uniformity and
comparability among accident reports has several essential parts:
1. Standardization of definitions and of accident reporting.
2. Standard classification of (a) industries, (b) causes of accidents,
and (c) accidents by location and nature of injury and extent of dis­
ability.
3. Standard tables for the presentation of statistics.
4. Standard methods of computing frequency and severity rates
and compensation insurance costs.
All these steps toward uniformity have been strongly recommended
and have to greater or less degree made their way into general prac­
tice. Nevertheless, much of the volume of present-day statistics is
unstandardized and noncomparable. Many States have failed to
recognize the value of the standard classifications and table forms that
admit of expansion or contraction to meet the needs of a particular
situation. Consequently, much less can be done than otherwise
would be the case in bringing together statistics from various States
to get a broad view of conditions as regards industrial hazards. For
example, of the 21 States that at any time in the period 1920 to 1927
have published some data on accidents to women, only 11 have re­
ported the age of the injured and even these reveal a lack of uniform­
ity in the age classifications. Of the 11 reporting, only Illinois,
Massachusetts, and New York have used throughout the period the
form recommended'for presenting extent of disability by sex and age.
Maryland, Alabama, and Minnesota used the standard method for
some of the time, and Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Rhode
Island reported sex and age but did not correlate these data with the
extent of disability as is recommended. New Jersey reported age
and extent of disability in classifications different from those recom­
mended by the International Association of Accident Boards and
Commissions.
Ml. S. Bureau ol Labor Statistics.




Monthly Labor Review, November, 1938, p. 21; and Bui. 432, pp.

10

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Furthermore, of the five States that have reported separately for
men and women on the important subject of cause of accidents, only
three—New Jersey, New' York, and Pennsylvania—have followed the
standard classification of causes. Indiana and Iowa have given an
unstandardized list of causes that must be reclassified, with results
dubious at best, before any comparison with other States can be
made.
_
_
Similarly, on the question of the industries in which accidents
occurred, seven States have given, at least once during the eight years,
some data on this subject, but only New York and Pennsylvania have
followed the standard industry classification in most of its detail.
New Jersey and California abbreviated it considerably, and Indiana,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, though reporting accidents by sex and by
industry or occupation in detail, used an unstandardized form that
only with the greatest difficulty and uncertainty could be combined
with the reports of other States.
The Women’s Bureau feels that those States that do not present
their accident statistics in harmony with the standard plan recom­
mended by the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards
and Commissions should give earnest consideration to the advis­
ability of doing so. The difficulties of comparing and combining
material from the various States w'hen uniformity of method is lacking
are almost insurmountable. The problems that emerged in this study
are strong evidence of the need of standardization. The proposed
form can be contracted or expanded to admit of greater or less detail
according to State requirements. But, as before stated, it is of the
greatest importance that special inquiries or analyses to meet the
needs of the State should be within the framework of the standard
system so that any one State may compare its experience with that
of other States and aggregations of statistics from all States may be
made; and, furthermore, that at least the basic figures should be
tabulated by sex.
.
.
The standard presentation by all States of data on industrial acci­
dents by sex, age, and extent of disability, by industry, and by cause,
including work conditions that contribute to their occurrence, is
urgently needed. Especially should tables on industry and cause be
presented by sex and in accordance with the proposed standard, be­
cause of the help given to the work of accident prevention by such
detailed analysis. In fact, each State must collect data in regard
to conditions that bring about accidents if it is to be hoped ever to
lessen their number, to say nothing of preventing their occurrence.
A type of information greatly needed is accident rates, in terms of
frequency and severity. For these rates it is necessary to have
figures on employment—the pay-roll exposure—to correlate with
accidents. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has made
a start in compiling accident rates, but the States have done little.
This is a fruitful field for investigation by the States, and it is to be
hoped that other studies of accident rates for representative groups
of firms may be made. Where it is possible to separate the data by
sex and show the comparative accident rates for men and women in
various occupations and industries, the analysis will throw light on
specific hazards and the points at wflich accident prevention is most
needed.




INTRODUCTION

11

Compensation laws do not lay down specific regulations for the
classification and form of publication of accident reports. Nor do
they require that information on costs of administration be supplied
to the exclusion of information on human problems. In short, the
failure of 22 of the 43 States that in 1927 had compensation laws to
report by sex on industrial accidents must be attributed in the main
to indifference on the part of the public, which does not demand more
explicit and useful information because it does not realize the magni­
tude of the accident problem. The human and economic costs of
accidents should be of concern to every community, and therefore
should create a demand for the information needed for the prevention
of accidents.
Although it is true that the failure of States to separate accident
material by sex and to publish sufficient and comparable material on
so important a subject is due largely to indifference on the part of the
public, it is influenced by inadequacy of appropriation, and some of
the lack can be charged directly to administrative practices. If
States are to compile reliable data in regard to sex and age of in­
jured, cause and nature of accident, and the work-time lost, the
officials in charge must take certain preparatory steps to make this
possible. They must—
Set up a satisfactory form for reporting accidents.
Demand prompt and complete reports on the details called for.
Edit and audit reports and return the report blank for data omitted
or apparently incorrect.
In some cases make detailed inspections immediately after the
accident occurs, to ascertain what factors, in addition to the most
apparent cause, contributed to the accident.
Obviously, sufficient money must be available to employ persons
qualified to do this work. Inadequacy of appropriation is a very
serious handicap to those who administer compensation laws.
There can be no question of the necessity of greater effort to pre­
vent accidents. And there can be little question as to the first steps
to be taken in such a program, namely, adequate safety laws; an
adequate inspection service for the prevention of accidents; the col­
lection of reliable and comparable information on accidents; the an­
alyzing of accident information, classified accurately and in standard
form, so as to permit of correlations and comparisons of related
phases of the question.
Can anyone question the need for each State to know the relation
of the ages of the workers to the frequency rates of accidents of a
specified type; the relation between working conditions and acci­
dents in specified occupations and industries, and their importance
in regard to frequency rates; or the paramount importance of analyz­
ing accident data in respect to the nature and extent of the injuries
and the amount of time lost?
The public should urge much greater attention by the States
to the collection of scientific and usable information on accidents in
order that the work of accident prevention may make more rapid
progress.
2744°—30------ 3




12

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

SUMMARY
INADEQUACY OF REPORTS

Reports on industrial accidents to men and women by the various
States are inadequate and unsatisfactory except in a very few cases.
To have an adequate basis for the work of accident prevention,
more facts are needed, and these should be compiled and analyzed in
the standard form recommended by the International Association of
Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, the unrevised draft
of which (see footnote 3 and the lines to which it refers) is available
in Bulletin 276 of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Analysis of accidents by cause and industry, for men and women
separately, is a very important step toward the detailed knowledge
necessary to direct accident prevention to the points where it is most
needed.
The lack of comparability in the statistics reported by the various
States is partly the result of differences in the laws. For example,
the term “accident” is defined in several ways; the employments
covered differ considerably; the minimum period of disability ranges
from no time at all, where every accident must be reported, to as
much as two weeks; and certain laws are compulsory while others are
elective.
On the other hand, ignorance of or indifference to the tremendous
advantages of standardized reporting—the impetus it would give to
cooperative efforts for accident prevention—is responsible for certain
other inconsistencies and irregularities that make quite impossible
the combining and the comparing of the figures of several States.
Inadequacy of appropriation and clerical staff also has its influence.
Only 21 States at any time during the period 1920 to 1927 pub­
lished accident data for men and women separately.
Only 7 of the 21 States published even the number of accidents for
each of the eight years.
Only 11 reported on age, 11 on extent of disability, 7 on industry,
5 on cause, and 2 on frequency rates of accidents to the two sexes
separately at any time within this period.
The accident data published ranged from the number of “com­
pensable cases,” variously defined, to “all cases reported.” In 8
States occupational diseases were included.
Employments included varied in different States from all employ­
ments to all except nonhazardous occupations, all except agriculture,
domestic service, and casual labor, or all except those in the smaller
establishments employing less than a certain number, ranging from 4
to as many as 16.
....
.
The minimum period of disability included in the reports ranged
from none, in a State that called for reports on all accidents, through
one week, the most usual period, to two weeks.
For those States that have reported on age, cause, industry, and
extent of disability, only occasionally was the standard classification
and form of presentation of the figures used.
To sum up: It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be certain
of the comparability of the statistics from any 2 States of the 21
reporting at some time in the period 1920 to 1927, an unfortunate
condition in view of the fact that by comparing the experiences of the
various States and by making an aggregation for the country as a
whole a very helpful statistical background could be secured for an



INTKOD UCTION

13

intelligent understanding of this problem and for adequate measures
for prevention.
ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

From the published data available on accidents to men and women
in 21 States for the years 1920 to 1927, inclusive, certain facts stand
out:
Accidents to women were actually and relatively fewer than those
to. men. Women were a smaller proportion of the total number
injured than of the total number gainfully occupied.
The number of women injured was large. In the State of New
York, for example, as many as 7,000 women had been compensated
for industrial accidents in one year.
The proportion of injuries to women usually was higher when women
were a substantial proportion of all persons gainfully occupied and
when a large proportion of the women were employed in manufactur­
ing.
A much larger proportion of the women injured than of the men
were under 21 years of age.
Fatalities were a considerably smaller proportion of injuries to
women than to men, although their number was by no means neg­
ligible. The proportions of permanent total disabilities, in the States
for which information is available, were little different for the two
sexes.
Permanent partial disabilities formed larger proportions of the in­
juries to women than of those to men in 3 States, and they were very
high for women and approached the figures for men in 2 other States.
In the 4 States showing extent of disability correlated with age, the
records reveal that many of these dismemberments, disfigurements,
and injuries causing loss of use of a member occurred to workers
under 21.
Reports from New York and Illinois showed an average period of
disability somewhat less for women injured than for men.
In 5 of the 6 States reporting industry classifications for men and
women according to the standard form, more than one-half of the
injuries to women were in manufacturing. Trade and the group
classification hotels, restaurants, and care of buildings also accounted
for many accidents to women.
Food, clothing, textiles, metals, and machinery and vehicles were
chief among the manufacturing industries causing accidents to women.
Machinery was the principal cause of accidents to women in 3 of
the 5 States reporting and falls of persons and handling of objects also
were very important causes. For men the handling of objects'and,
though generally to a much less extent, falls, usually caused more
accidents than did machinery.
Machines caused more accidents relatively and falls fewer accidents
to boys and girls than to men and women. In the 3 States reporting
cause of accident and age of men and women, machine accidents were
approximately one-half of all accidents to women under 21 years of
age.
In the case of New York, sewing machines, power presses, and
food-products machines were the chief types of machines injuring
women.




PART II
ANALYSIS OF REPORTS OF
ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN
In the 8-year period 1920 to 1927, only 21 States have at any time
made a regular annual or biennial report on industrial accidents by
sex. The States reporting in any one year have ranged from 10 to 14
in number; some have made only one such report and others have
published statistics for each of the eight years. The various reports
afford an excellent illustration of the inadequacy and noncompara­
bility so unfortunately prevailing.
Character of data.
Before attempting to analyze the accident reports of the various
States, it is necessary to distinguish the varying definitions of the term
“accident.” Chart II attempts to make clear briefly the character
of the cases tabulated—how they are defined and what accidents are
included.
The chief difference is between those States that report “compen­
sable cases,” or cases subject to compensation under the workmen’s
compensation law, and those that report industrial accidents in
general, “cases reported” or “tabulatable injuries,”4 without regard
to their compensability, the latter including, of course, many more
cases than are covered in the term “compensable cases.” In a few
instances “cases reported” are only in employments subject to the
compensation law, although cases noncompensable because of the
short period of disability are included. Among the States reporting
only compensable cases, some report compensation claims, others
claims allowed, and still others closed cases in which payments have
been completed. In 8 of the 21 States occupational diseases are
included.
. .
A second distinction made clear in Chart II concerns the minimum
period of disability of the accidents tabulated. Missouri, which
tabulates “cases reported,” requires that all accidents be reported;
Nebraska requires, in all compensable employments, reports of all
accidents causing loss of time or incurring any medical expense. In
California and Indiana all accidents causing loss of more than a day
must be reported; in Massachusetts, more than a shift. In Kentucky
the-waiting period is one day, but only compensable employments
are affected. Iowa tabulates accidents when more than two days’
disability is caused, and Maryland its compensable cases that have a
minimum of three days of disability. The more usual waiting period,
one week, determines the reporting of accidents in 10 States, the
majority of those that tabulate only compensable cases. For Colo­
rado and Pennsylvania, at the dates covered by these reports, 10
days was the waiting period. Alabama was alone in reporting only
compensable accidents that caused disability of more than two weeks.* 14
< Tabulatable injuries, according to the standard definition, are injuries arising out of the employment
and resulting in death, permanent disability, or the loss of time other than the remainder of the day, shift,
or turn on which the injury was incurred. See United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bui. 2/6, p. 17.

14




Chart

II.—Character of accidents tabulated in the 21 States that reported the sex of injured persons in 1927 or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Series of reports of compensation laws: Buis. 272, 332, 379, 423, and 496; Monthly Labor Review, January, 1928; and State reports.
Employments covered by accident-reporting law (marked *) or compensation law (where only accidents under compensation law are tabulated)

State

Period covered by figures
tabulated

Accidents lubululbd

Minimum period of disability
of accidents tabulated

1922.....................................................
California................ 1921.....................................................
Dec. 1, 1926, to Nov. 30, 1927___

Longer than day of injury___

Georgia................... Jan. 1, 1927, to Dec. 31, 192?........ Closed compensable cases.

Idaho....................... Nov. 1, 1920, to Oct. 31, 1928___
Illinois.....................

1927..................................................... ........do8.................

Indiana...................

Oct. 1, 1926, to Sept. 30, 1927___

Iowa........ ..............

July 1, 1925, to June 30, 1926........

Public

Private

Cases reported................... .........
........do87......................

Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1927___

Compensation claims allowed-

Massachusetts___ July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927........ Tabulatable injuries 8................ 1 day or 1 shift........ ..............
Minnesota
July 1, 1923, to June 30, 1924........ Closed compensable cases 9___
Missouri.................. Jan. 9, 1927, to Dec. 31, 1927........ Cases reported 10.........................
Nebraska.-........... 1927..................................................... ........do»....................*.................

All except those having less than 16 employees, farm labor, domestic service, common carriers doing
an interstate business while engaged in interstate commerce, and casual employees not in usual
course of employer’s business. Voluntary as to all excepted employments except farm labor.
All except those having regularly less than 4 employees, farm and ranch labor, private domestic
service, and casual employees not in the usual course of employer’s business. Voluntary as to ex­
cepted employments.
All except those having regularly less than 10 employees, common carriers engaged in interstate
[intrastate] trade [or] commerce the motive power of which is steam, farm labor, domestic service,
or employees not in the usual course of employer’s business. Voluntary as to excepted employ­
ments.
All conducted for gain except agricultural pursuits, domestic service, outworkers, casual employment,
and charitable institutions. Voluntary as to excepted employments.
“Extrahazardous” employments as enumerated. 4 Farm labor and persons not in usual course of
# ^employer’s business excepted. Voluntary as to excepted employments.
•All except mines and railway train service.8
All except those having less than three employees, agriculture, domestic service, and common carriers
engaged in interstate commerce. Threshing and hulling grains and seeds are within the act. Vol­
untary as to excepted employments.
“Extrahazardous” employments as enumerated. 4 Casual employees, farm labor, domestic service,
country blacksmiths, wheelwrights, or similar rural employments excepted. Voluntary as to
works not extrahazardous.
•All________ ________________________ _______ ________________ ______________________
All employments except farm labor, domestic service, common carriers by steam railroad, casual
employees not in usual course of employer’s business. Commercial threshing and baling included
in act. Voluntary as to farm labor.
•All................... .................... .........................................................................................................................
All employments except farm labor, household domestic service, railroad companies engaged in
interstate or foreign commerce, outworkers, and casual employees not in usual course of employer’s
business. Voluntary as to excepted employments.

State employees.
employees.

Voluntary as to other public

•All
All except elective officials and National Guard.

Elective or compulsory compensation law (where
only accidents under law are tabulated)

Election presumed in absence of written notice.1 *

Election presumed in absence of written notice.1
Compulsory as to public employees.
Election presumed in absence of written notice. 1 7
Compulsory as to public employees except
public charities.

All except elective officials and those receiving
salary of over $2,400.
All except officials and duly appointed members
of fire departments in cities of 200,000 or more.
•All
•All
All municipal corporations having 3 or more
employees. Voluntary as to others.
All workmen employed for wages and engaged
in extrahazardous employments, including the
State police force and guards of penal institu­
tions. Voluntary as to other employments.
•All
Employees of State, counties, cities, towns,
villages, and school districts, except officials.

Compulsory.

Election in writing by employer and employee Compulsory.

Election presumed in absence of written notice. 1

•All
All employees except officials elected or ap­
pointed for fixed terms.

Election presumed in absence of written notice.
Compulsory as to public employees.

All except elective officials and employees re­
ceiving over $1,200.

Election presumed in absence of written notice.12
Compulsory as to public employees.
Compulsory.

All except those having less than 6 employees, farm labor, domestic service, casual employees, and
employees receiving over $3,000 a year. Voluntary as to excepted employments.

All employees of State, cities, and towns, except
fire and police departments.

Election presumed in absence of written notice. 12
Compulsory as to public employees.
Election in writing by employer, J and presumed
in absence of written notice by employee.
Compulsory as to State employees.

All except those employing less than 11 employees, farm labor, domestic servants, steam railroads,
casual employees, or those not in usual course of employer’s business. Voluntary as to excepted
employments.
Wisconsin........... . 1927-................................................. Closed compensable cases2___ ____ do__................................... All except those having less than 3 employees,18 farm labor, and employees not in usual course of
employer’s business. Voluntary (joint election) as to steam railroads.

All except administrative officers and employees
elected or appointed for definite terms.

Election presumed in absence of written notice.1
Compulsory as to public employees.

New Jersey

1927..................................................... Closed compensable cases 9___

New York..........

July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927........ _

..do>.................. ......................

Pennsylvania......... 1924.................................................... ____ do®........................................ More than 10 days 13..............
Rhode Island____

Oct. 1, 1926, to Sept. 30, 1927___

All enumerated “hazardous” employments,4 and all others having 4 or more workmen, conducted
for gain. Farm labor and domestic service excluded. Voluntary as to other employments.

Tennessee............... July 1, 1919, to July 1, 1920
Virginia

Oct. 1, 1923, to Sept. 30, 1925___

Closed cases, temporary total
disabilities.

i Inducement to election is offered by abrogation of common law defenses where employer rejects the law.
1 Includes occupational diseases.
* Includes occupational diseases in certain occupations.
* The principal industrial employments are included.
5 Reports of accidents to workers in mines or in railway service are not received by the Iowa Bureau of Labor. All industrial accidents are
reported, however, to the compensation commissioner of the State.
8 Only employers subject to compensation act are required to report.
7 Includes injury from gas or smoke in mines or from any gas.
8 Occupational diseases included by court decision.
9 Designated occupational diseases included.




Election presumed as to employers of 3 or more
persons in absence of written notice.18 Com­
pulsory as to public employees.

All injuries are required to be reported.
11 Every accident that causes loss of time or where medical expense is incurred must be reported by employers who come under compensation
act.

12 Common law defenses abrogated regardless of acceptance or rejection of act.
18 In 1927 the minimum period of disability was 1 week.
The accident reporting law of 1913 required reports from the employments listed. “ Reported cases closed,” therefore, includes both closed
compensable cases and noneompensable cases.
is Common law defenses abrogated where employers reject law. Employers of less than 3 persons lose defense of assumed risk if they do not
elect law.
h

2744°—30.

(Face p. 14.)

ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

15

It is apparent, therefore, that any comparison among States must
allow for the great variation in inclusiveness of the reports, some of
which ostensibly include every accident while others include only
those so serious as to have a time loss of at least a week, or of 10 days,
or even of two weeks, as the case may be.
Another serious limitation upon the comparability of the State
reports follows from the differences in the employments covered.
(See Chart II.) The States that report on number of accidents
rather than on compensable cases usually include all employments.
Where compensable cases only are reported, on the other hand,
many employments—most frequently agriculture, domestic service,
and casual work—are excluded. Some States include only “hazard­
ous” or “extrahazardous” employments, although these cover the
principal industrial employments. In many States firms having less
than a certain number of employees are excluded, the number ranging
from 3 in Kentucky and Wisconsin to 16 in Alabama.
A further hindrance to the comparability of the compensable cases
reported is that some compensation laws are compulsory for all em­
ployments covered, while others are elective. Under an elective
law, employer or employee may decide not to be subject to its pro­
visions. Usually an incentive to come under the law is given by the
fact that if an employer rejects the law he loses certain defenses that
in common law are used in defending suits for damages.4 * Election
generally is presumed unless rejection is made in writing.
Except under thecompulsory laws, usually there are some employees
in employments within the law who are not covered and accidents
to whom are not reported. On the other hand, many laws permit
employments not covered by the law to come under its provisions
by voluntary election, and some of the accidents in these employ­
ments therefore appear among the compensable cases reported.
In view of all these factors, it is not possible to be certain of the
comparability of statistics from any two States. Chart II, however,
in summing up the principal points that determine the inclusiveness
of accident reports, makes it possible to decide whether or not the
figures from a given group of States are comparable within a reasonable
margin of error, and this chart must be referred to constantly in
attempting any generalizations from the tables that are to follow.
An illustration will make clear how the chart may be used. If New
Jersey and New York for the year 1927 are to be compared, it may be
learned from the chart that both States reported closed compensable
cases and that to be compensable there had to be loss of time of more
than a week. The New Jersey report included all private employ­
ments except casual employees and all public employees except elec­
tive officials and persons receiving over $1,200; but since for private
employments the law is elective, some might be outside the law. In
New York the law is compulsory, but it is less inclusive as to employ­
ments, as farm labor, domestic service, and nonhazardous employ­
ments 6 having fewer than four workers are not included. The em­
ployments excluded, however, may choose voluntarily to come under
• ^n<?er tbe common law an employee often had to prove that his injury was not due to an ordinary
risk in his employment, nor to an abnormal danger of which he was aware, nor to the carelessness or negli­
gence of a coemployee, nor to his own negligence, before he could be awarded damages. Abrogating these
defenses of the employer makes it easier for a worker to secure damages. See Commons, J. R., and Andrews,
J. B., Principles of Labor Legislation. Harper and Brothers, New York and London, 1927, p. 426 if.
6 In New York the principal industrial employments are included in the list of hazardous employments.




16

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

the law, so some of the accidents tabulated in 1927 probably occurred
there. It is apparent that, though the reports of New jersey and
New York are much more comparable than are those of most of the
States, the greater inclusiveness of the New Jersey report must be
taken into account.
If Massachusetts is to be compared with these States, it must be
remembered that its statistics cover all employments and include
those minor injuries—excluded from the New York and New Jersey
reports—that cause a loss of time of as little as one day or one shift.
It is obvious from the foregoing that, in the present state of knowl­
edge regarding accidents to working men and women as available in
State reports, practically nothing can be said with assurance except
that very little is known of the facts in most States, very uncertain
must be any conclusions based upon comparisons among States, and
very great is the need of accurate, comprehensive, and comparable
accident reports. Analysis of accident data by sex, which is a step
toward the understanding of the incidence and causes of accidents, is
part of a background essential for accident prevention, the real pur­
pose of all studies of accidents.
Accidents by sex in 21 States.—In Table 1 are assembled data on the
industrial accidents occurring to men and to women in 1927, or the
latest year in the period 1920 to 1927, in the 21 States that have pub­
lished some report by sex within this period.




Table 1.—Industrial

accidents tabulated by sex by 21 States in 1927 or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927; per cent of women among the
injured persons reported and among the gainfully occupied in 1920; and per cent in manufacturing of all women gainfully occupied in 1920
[For sources of information, see appendix]

Accidents
State

Period covered

Accidents tabulated

1927....................................................
Jan. 1, 1927, to Dec. 31, 19284 * 6
Nebraska............... 19271________ _____ ____
Nov. 1, 1926, to Ofit.. 31, 1927 ,. . Compensation claims allowed..,.
July 1/1919,'to July 1, 1920..........
1925..1.'........ ....... ......................
Minnesota.............
1921_________ ________________
Oct. 1, 1926, to Sept. 30, 1927___
1927.....................................................
Colorado................ Dec. 1, 1926, to Nov. 30, 1927___
1924 r......... ...................... ..................
Virginia.................. Oct. 1, 1923, to Sept. 30, 1925 *... Closed cases, temporary total
disabilities.
Iowa__................
July 1, 1925, to June 30, 1926........
Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1928 *...
Idaho..................
July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927........
1922..1.,...'...................................... Compensable cases____________
Alabama.......... .

Total

Men

More than 1 week...................

3,985
89, 577
64,167
98,984
25,865
«6; 067
19,054
Hi 521
14, 811
3,595
15, 681
62,273
40, 539
52, 591
5, 751
78, 774
7, 032

3,479
78, 382
58, 217
91' 585
24, 053
5, 653
17, 822
13; 686
14, 043
3, 422
14, 965
59, 529
38, 745
50, 505
5, 566
76, 546
6,832

506
11,031
6,950
7, 399
1,812
414
1,232
835
768
173
716
2,744
1,794
2; 086
185
2,228
200

12.7
12.3
9.3
7.5
7.0
6.8
6.5
5.8
5.2
4.8
4.6
4.4
4.4
4.0
3.2
*2.8
2.8

29.3
18.6
29.1
25.2
22.6
25.6
15.7
22.7
18.3
18.3
18.1
18.9
16.6
20.6
17.1
20.0
18.7

56.2
20.7
43.6
30.9
37.8
10.0
9.9
26.4
14.8
24.9
14. 3
14. 5
24.6
22.7
10.0
32.5
18.2

More than 2 weeks.............

8,910
7, 594
26, 021
5; 769

8,690
7,413
25, 524
5,736

220
181
497
33

2.5
2.4
L9
.6

16. 5
11.4
15.4
24.6

13.0
7.5
19.4
6.7

(3)........................ ......................

(6)................ ...............................

Longer than day of injury...

ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

Rhode Island........ Oct. 1, 1926, to Sept. 30* 1927___
Jan. 9, 1927, to Dec. 31, 1927........
Massachusetts___ July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927........

Minimum period of disabil­
ity of accidents tabulated

Per cent of women
Per cent in
among—
manufac­
turing of
women
Persons all
gainfully
Injured gainfully
Women persons occupied occupied in
reported in 19201 * * 1920*

1 U. S. Census of Occupations, 1920, p. 51, Table 12.
1 U. S. Census of Occupations, 1920, p. 55, Table 14.
1 All injuries are required to be reported.
4 The numbers reported for this 2-year period have been divided by two, to give an estimated number for one year.
* Excludes 104 fatals not classified by sex.
_____
__
6 Every accident that causes loss of time or where medical expense is incurred must be reported by employers who come under compensation act.
* Unpublished data for 1927, furnished by letter, are: Total, 74,881; men, 72,190; women, 2,691; women 3.6 per cent of total number injured.




•<1

18

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

The general impression that women are the victims of industrial
accidents to a less extent than are men is found to be true. On the
other hand, the injured women employees are by no means a negligible
group that may be disregarded, for in New York, for example, in the
year ended June 30, 1927, more than 7,000 women were compensated
for injuries that caused over a week’s disability, and in the same year
in Massachusetts, where all injuries of as much as one day’s disability
are reported, nearly 6,000 women were included in the cases tabu­
lated. Even in the nonindustrial States, substantial numbers of
women are found to have been injured.
The proportion of women among the injured persons reported ranges
from 12.7 per cent in Rhode Island in the year ended September 30,
1927, to less than 1 per cent in Alabama in 1922, the last year for
which there was a separate tabulation for women in the published
reports of that State.
Accidents to women are both absolutely and relatively fewer than
those to men. In each of the 21 States reporting, women were a
much smaller proportion of the total number injured than they were
of the total number of persons gainfully occupied in 1920. Because
of lack of information on numbers of women employed since 1920
and uncertainty as to the numbers of employees in the occupations
included in the accident reports of the States, this analysis can not be
pushed to the point of exact accident rates. It is evident, however,
that in all these States the rates are, in varying degree, much less for
women than for men.7
Three tendencies are discernible in explanation of the varying
proportions of women in the accident reports of States. Striking
exceptions to each will call for explanation, while other variations that
are not susceptible of definite explanation can only be accounted for
on the basis of the lack of uniformity in accident reporting among
the States. In spite of this serious difficulty, these tendencies are
strong enough to appear through the reports:
1. The proportion of accidents to women in the accidents reported
tends to be greatest where the proportion of women among all
gainfully occupied is greatest. Exceptions to this tendency will
find their explanation in the character of occupations predominant
in the States and in the exclusion of certain occupations from the
reports.
2. The proportion of accidents to women tends to be greatest in
States where large proportions of the women gainfully occupied are in
manufacturing. As this tendency is closely related to the one just
stated, exceptions will find their explanation' in the same factors.
3. The proportion of accidents to women tends to be more in agree­
ment with the proportion of women among all persons gainfully
occupied in those States that are without the most striking differences
in the occupations of men and women. To say that those States in
which mining, iron and steel, and other heavy industries are important
have the greatest discrepancies between the accident rates for men
and for women is to restate the same tendency.
In Table 1 the States are arranged in descending order according to
the proportion that accidents to women formed of all accidents re­
7 It is possible that women workers are less well informed than men of their rights under the workmen’s
compensation laws and in some cases do not present claims. Actual accident rates therefore may be some­
what higher than indicated in the reports of accidents.




ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

19

ported. The last two columns, showing the proportion that women
form of the total number of persons gainfully occupied in 1920 and
the proportion that women in manufacturing were of all employed
women, tend, though with exceptions and irregularities, to the same
descending order as that of the column next preceding, on which the
table is arranged. This fact is the basis of the first two tendencies
stated.
A study of the table shows exceptions to these tendencies. In
Missouri the proportion of women in the total number gainfully
occupied in 1920 and the proportion that women in manufacturing
were of all women workers in that year were not so high as in many of
the other States here reported. But the proportion of accidents to
women in Missouri was very high; in fact, two-thirds as high as the
proportion of women among the gainfully occupied. Less discrep­
ancy in the accident rates of men and women is indicated in Missouri
than in any of the other States reported. Several factors explain
this situation. ■ Missouri is without a great amount of mining or other
industries that have the heaviest accident rates for men. Moreover,
all industries and all accidents are included, and therefore there is
not the exclusion of large numbers of women in domestic service and
large numbers of women suffering minor injuries that exists in many
States. But probably the chief explanation of the large proportion
of women among the persons injured in Missouri is that the differ­
ences between the occupations of men and those of women are less
strikingly in the direction of the most hazardous occupations for
men than is true in many States.
In Nebraska the situation is much as it is in Missouri, a relatively
high proportion of women among the injured in spite of a relatively
low proportion of women among the gainfully occupied and in manu­
facturing. Again the explanation may be found in the facts that
minor injuries are included, although certain occupations are ex­
cluded,_ and that the hazardous occupations that so heavily weight
the accident rates for men in some States are not of great importance
in Nebraska.
Georgia shows a relatively high proportion of women both among
those injured and among all gainfully occupied, although a low pro­
portion of the working women are in manufacturing industries. The
large number of women in agriculture and domestic service is not
covered by the compensation law. The women covered, therefore,
are chiefly in manufacturing, and here the textile industries, with
their large numbers of women employees, are most important.
Both Illinois and Pennsylvania have about average proportions of
women among the gainfully occupied (that is, their per cents—
respectively 20.6 and 20—are much like the average for the United
States as a whole, 20.5) and they have higher than average propor­
tions engaged in manufacturing (respectively 22.7 per cent and 32.5
per cent, compared to the United States figure of 22.6 per cent);
but the proportions of their accidents to women are small. These
are States where mining and iron and steel and other heavy manu­
facturing increase the accident rates for men, at the same time that
the large numbers of women in domestic service, and in Illinois in
clerical occupations, are excluded from the calculation.
2744°—30------ 4




20

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Alabama shows very striking exception to the general tendencies
discussed. It has a large proportion of women among the gainfully
employed but a much less proportion than the other States in manu­
facturing, and an almost negligible proportion of the accidents re­
ported are accidents to women. Only compensable accidents are
reported and the compensation law is very narrow in scope. Ex­
cluding farm labor and domestic service, it excludes well over 50 per
cent of the men and 65 per cent of the women reported as gainfully
occupied in 1920.8 Moreover, it excludes employments having fewer
than 16 employees, thus leaving out small factories. At the same
time the number reported does not include accidents for which a
disability of two weeks or less is shown. In view of these exclusions,
except for cases where the compensation law was voluntarily elected,
the accidents reported in 1922 were chiefly in mining and the iron
and steel industries, with their heavy accident rates for men.
Except for such special cases as those noted, in general it holds
true that it is in the industrial States where women are a substantial
proportion of all persons gainfully occupied and where many women
are in the manufacturing industries, that the largest proportions of
women are found among the injured workers. Rhode Island, Mas­
sachusetts, New York, and New Jersey are among the States that
show the largest numbers of women, relatively, among the industrially
injured.
While such data as are presented in Table 1—the number of persons
of both sexes as obtained from the published accident reports of the
various States—have value as an introduction to the study of acci­
dents as they befall men and women, further analysis is needed.
For the adequate understanding necessary to efficient accident-pre­
vention work, it is important to have information for each sex on
age of the injured, extent of disability, causes of accidents, and the
industries in which they occur. For only a few States is this type
of information available for men and women separately.
Age of person injured.—In the period 1920 to 1927, 11 States have
supplied information on the age of the injured persons by sex. (Table
2.) In all 11 States, however lacking the reports are in uniformity
of scope and definition, one striking fact stands out: A much larger
proportion of the women injured than of the men were young.*
* U. S. Bureau of the Census.




Fourteenth Census: 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, pp. 874-876.

Table 2.—Distribution of accidents to men and women by age of injured, in 1927 or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927, in 11 States
[For sources of information, see appendix]
Alabama

Age of injured

Georgia

Illinois

1922 (com­ 1927 (closed 1927 (closed
com­
pensable
pensable compensable
cases)
cases)
cases)

a
®

a

a©
s
is

a

a

a
©

a
is

©a

a

d©
a
is

Indiana

Maryland

Massachusetts

Oct. 1, 1926,
to Sept. 30,
1927 (cases
reported)

Nov. 1, 1926,
to Oct. 31,
1927 (compen­
sation claims
allowed)

July 1, 1926,
to June 30,
1927 (tabulatable in­
juries)

a

g
s
o
is

a

g

ao
is

a

Minnesota

a

©a
o
is

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania Rhode Island

Oct. 1, 1926,
July 1, 1923,
July 1, 1926,
1924 (closed to Sept. 30,
to June 30,
1927 (closed
to June 30,
•1924 (closed compensable 1927 (closed compensable 1927 (closed
compensable
compensable
cases)
compensable
cases)
cases)
cases)
cases)

©

a

g
a
o
is

a

©

a

g
ao
is

a

d©
a
&o

a

g
a
iso

a
B©

©

*

a

5,736

33 5, 653

414 50,505 2,086

38, 745 1,794

13,686

835

58, 217

5,950 14,965

716 24,053

1, 812 91, 585 7,399; 76,546

2,228

3, 479 506

437
Total reporting age... 5,299

3
514
30 5,139

25
16
228
389 50,277 2,070

620
52
38,125 1,742

213
13,473

38
797

58, 217

1, 311
5,950 l£ 654

96
620 24,053

9,657
960.
1, 812 81,928 6,439 76,546

2,228

145 21
3, 334 485

9
635
1, 320
909
651
642
365
408
51 years and over... .
360

1
66
10
813
4 1,017
5
874
3
636
4
569
364
1
1
347
1
453

10
134
63
50
38
29
26
15
24

64
1, 677
2,436
2,119
1, 681
1,651
1, 237
985
1, 623

24
298
136
90
57
56
51
46
39

384
6,420
10,146
8,428
8,525
6, 717
4,982
4,460
8,155

113
1,403 3 1,158
1, 329 2 2, 265
767 2,209
611 1,830
569 1,713
442 1,307
346
989
370 2,183

Total

16 to 20 years

55
4, 038
4 6,100

7
591
4 291

14,487

536

13,044
11, 567
'986

380
253
12

1 2,912
4 13,119

1417
6 632

9,613

317

6, 638
5, 843

215
161

129
26
3 138 2, 478
523
3153 4 21,446 4 1, 263
85
57
55
39
42
51
........ —

cn a
200
3 773 {f
8,263 1,73ir9’197
13, 141 1, 200 4 67,349 4 1, 455
789 ____
12, 746
10, 965
604 ...
10,560
691______
8, 068
476 ............
6,786
377 ...
111 199
512______

28
539
436
435
379
372
317
291
537

10
163
87
48
43
47
25
33
29

PER CENT
Total reporting age:
Number______
Per cent....... .
16 to 20 years............. .

51 years and over




5,299
30 5,139
389 50, 277 2,070
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

38,125 1,742
100.0 100.0

0.3
0.1
8.0 28.6
4 12.1 4 14.1
28.8 25.9

3 7.6 3 23.9

0. 2
12.0
24.9
17.2
12.3
12.1
6.9
7.7
6.8

3.3
33.3
13.3
16.7
10.0
13.3
3.3
3.3
3.3

1.3
l£J
19.8
17.0
12.4
11.1
7. 1
6.8
8.8

2.6
34.4
16.2
12.9
9.8
7.5
6. 7
3.9
6.2

6 34.4 6 36.3

25.9

18.4

25.2

18.2

23.0
2.0

12.2
0.6

17.4
15.3

12.3
.2

3 Under 20 years.
215 to 20 years, 20 to 25 years, etc.
3 Under 21 years.

797
13, 473
100.0 100.0

58, 217
100.0

3.0
37.4
17.1
11.3
7.2
7.0
6.4
5.8
4.9

0.7
11.0
17.4
14.5
14.6
11.5
8.6
7.7
14.0

0.5
12.4
18.1
15.7
12.5
12.3
9.2
7.3
12ToI

5,950 13, 654
620 24, 053
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1.9
23.6
22.3
12.9
10.3
9.6
7.4
5.8
6.2

3 8.5 3 22.3
16.6 24.7
16.2 13.7
9.2
13.4
8.9
12.5
9.6
6.3
7.2
6.8
8.2
16.0

0.5
10.3
4 89. 2

1, 812 81,928 6, 439 76, 546
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

2, 228
100.0

1.4
28.9
4 69. 7

0.8
3 34.7 1r 16.2
4 65. 3
13.1
13.0
11. 4
11.2
9 5
8. 7
16.0

0.2
10.1
16.0
15.6
13.4
12.9
9. 8
8.3
13.7

0. 9 } 312.0
26.9
18. 6 4 88. 0
12. 3
9.4
10. 7
7. 4
5.9
8.0

4 21 to 24 years—remaining classes run 25 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 64, 65 years and over.
4 21 years and over.
4 20 to 30 years—remaining classes run 30 to 40, 40 to 50 years, etc.

ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

NUMBER

3, 334
485
100.0 100.0
2.1
33.6
17.9
9.9
8.9
9.7
6.8
5.9

to

22

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

In New York, for example, 27.8 per cent of the women compen­
sated in the year ended June 30, 1927, but only 10.3 per cent of the
men, were under 21 years. In Massachusetts in the fiscal year
1927, 25.5 per cent of the women injured were under 21, in con­
trast to 11.7 percent of the men. In Illinois in 1927, persons under
21 comprised 28.9 per cent of the women compensated and 8.1 per
cent of the men. In Georgia in 1927, 37 per cent of the closed
compensable cases for women, as compared to 17.1 per cent of those
for men, were reported as under 21 at the time of the accident.
In some of the States the proportion of the women in the next age
group, 21 to 25 years, also was larger than that of the men. In 5 of
the 6 States for which the ages of the men and women injured are
reported in such a way that classification by 5-year periods could be
made, it is found that the greatest concentration of the injuries to
women in any 5-year age group was that of girls of 16 to 20 years,
while for men the groups 21 to 25 and 26 to 30 show the greatest
concentration of injuries.
In absolute terms, much larger numbers of young men than of
young women were injured, although a relatively small proportion of
the accidents to men were to those under 21. This is to be expected
from the fact that the number of males employed is greater than the
number of females, among minors as well as adults. Relative to the
total number of accidents, however, those to young persons were a
greater proportion in the case of women than in the case of men.
The greater relative number of accidents to females under 21 than
to males under 21 follows naturally from the fact that a greater pro­
portion of females than of males gainfully occupied are young. In
1920, of all females 10 years of age and over gainfully occupied in the
United States, 20.6 per cent were under 20 years and 41.7 per cent
were under 25; while of men only 9.9 per cent were under 20 and only
22.3 per cent were under 25.9
Nevertheless it is apparent that a disproportionate number of the
younger women employees are injured. Where comparable figures
are available it is clear that the young women formed larger propor­
tions of the injured than of all gainfully employed women. For
example, in Pennsylvania in 1924 girls under 20 constituted 30.4
per cent of the closed compensable cases reported among women,
though they were only 23.9 per cent of all women gainfully occupied
in 1920; in Minnesota in 1924 they constituted 22.3 per cent of closed
compensable cases of women, though only 18 per cent of all employed
women in 1920; and in Indiana they were 23.9 per cent of all cases of
accidents to women reported in 1927, though they were only 20.5 per
cent of the women gainfully occupied in 1920.10 For other States
figures are not available on injuries to women under 20 for comparison
with the number of occupied women under 20. But a comparison of
the proportion of the injured women who were under 21 with the per
cent of all occupied who were under 20 showed too large a discrepancy
to be accounted for by one year’s difference in age classification.
• U. S. Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census: 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, p. 376.
10 U. S. Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census: 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, pp. 444 and
445; Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Special Bui. 17, 1926, pp. 27 and 91; and Table 2,
p. 2i.




ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

State

Alabama...........................
Georgia. .............................. ............
Illinois........ ........................
Maryland..................................
Massachusetts...........................
New Jersey..........
New York.................
Rhode Island_______________
1 u- s- Bureau of the Census.

Proportion
of women
under 20
among all
gainfully
occupied in
19201
Per cent
23.4
25.1
20.9
20.7
17.7
25.0
19.9
22.9

23

Proportion of women under 21 in women's accident
cases made public 2

38.7 per cent of compensable cases, 1922.
37 per cent of closed compensable cases, 1927.
28.9 per cent of closed compensable cases, 1927.
40.4 per cent of compensation claims allowed
1927.
25.5 per cent of tabulatable injuries, 1827.
30.3 per cent of closed compensable cases, 1927.
27.8 per cent of closed compensable cases, 1927.
35.7 per cent of closed compensable cases, 1927.

in

Fourteenth Census: 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, pp. 44i and

1 See Table 2, p, 21.

Since such large proportions of the women employed are young
and the number of accidents to this group indicates that many are
employed in hazardous occupations, special attention to the circum­
stances of their employment, as well as to that of boys under 21, is
needed as a part of any accident-prevention program. Light on these
problems must be sought in further analysis of accidents according to
the industries in which they occur and their causes.
Extent of disability—The relative seriousness of accidents to men
and to women is shown in only a few reports. Seven States, following
the standard classification, have reported the sex of the injured and
classified the accidents as fatals, permanent total disabilities, perma­
nent partial disabilities, and temporary disabilities in at least one
year of the period 1920 to 1927.




Table 3.—Distribution of accidents to men and women by extent of disability, in 1927 or most recent year of the 'period 1920 to 1927,

JjO

in 7 States 1
[For sources of information, see appendix]
Men
Period covered

Accidents tabulated

Perma­ Tempo­
nent
rary
partial

Fatal

Perma­
nent
total

5,736
231
7,413
59
349,603
349
13, 686
104
58, 217
311
12, 325
196
New York...................... July i; 1926, to June 30, 1927___ ____do*........................... .................. 91, 585 1, 012

4
4
24
2
16
7
38

355
327
11, 669
602
1,141
1,137
17, 370

0.1
.1

6.2
4.4
23.5
4.4
2.0
9.2
19.0

Total

Total

Fatal

5,146
7,023
37, 561
12, 978
56, 749
10, 985
73,165

33
181
3 2, 071
835
5, 950
413
7,399

5
1
6
5
30

89.7
94 7
75.7
94.8
97.5
89. 1
79.9

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

Perma­ Perma­ Tempo­
nent
nent
rary
total
partial

NUMBER
1922 _________ ______________
Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1928 12.__
*
1927______ 1_________1________
Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1927___

2
1
3

3
5
411
43
91
39
1,148

30
176
1, 653
791
5,852
369
6,218

9.1
2.8
19.8
5.1
1.5
9.4
15.5

90.9
97.2
79.8
94.7
98.4
89.3
84.0

PER CENT
1922
Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1928 2__.
1927.______ 1_________1................
Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1927. __
July 1,' 1925, to June 30, 1927__
New York...................... . July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927....... ____ do -------------------------*--------

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

4.0
.8
.7
.8
.5
1.6
1.1

«
(4)
.1

0.2
.1
.1
1.2
.4

0.1
w
«

1 Four other States gave less detailed reports on the extent of disability. In Iowa, July 1,1925, to June 30,1926, one of the accidents to women was fatal (0.45 per cent) and 39, or
0.4 per cent, of the accidents to men were fatal. (Iowa Bureau of Labor, Report for biennial period ending June 30, 1926, pp. 11 and 12.) In New Jersey, of the cases compensated
in 1927, fatalities to women were 4, or 0.2 per cent of the total accidents to women; fatalities to men were 230, or 1 per cent of the total; and there were 11 permanent total disabili­
ties among men. (New Jersey, Industrial Bulletin, September, 1928, pp. 43 and 45.) Pennsylvania reported on accidents that caused disability of two days or more, in 1921. Of
136,195 accidents to men, 1,911, or 1.4 per cent, were fatalities; 80,014, or 58.7 per cent, were serious injuries; and 54,270, or 39.8 per cent, were minor injuries resulting in time loss of
not over 10 days. Of 4,002 accidents to women, 13, or 0.3 per cent, were fatalities; 2,373, or 59.3 per cent, were serious; and 1,616, or 40.4 per cent, were minor. (Pennsylvania, Labor
and Industry, November, 1922, pp. 35 and 12.) Virginia reported on cases of temporary total disability disposed of during the 2-year period. The numbers have been divided by
two to get an estimated figure for one year. Of the 7,031 cases of temporary total disabilities estimated for one year, 199, or 2.8 per cent, occurred to women. (Virginia, Biennial
report of the Industrial Commission, 1924-25, p. 12.)
1 The numbers reported for this 2-year period have been divided by two, to give an estimated number for one year.
* Excludes accidents to 902 males and 15 females, extent not classified.
* Less than 0.05 per cent.




INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

State

Women

ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

25

That for men as for women the very great majority of injuries
cause temporary rather than permanent disability and that there are
more serious accidents to men than to women are very apparent from
Table 3. As a rule women are not employed in the most dangerous
industries. The proportion of accidents that culminated fatally was
as much as 4 per cent in the case of males in Alabama, a State where
the compensation law excludes all employments having fewer than
16 employees and all accidents but those whose time loss exceeds two
weeks. Fatalities to men formed 1.6 per cent of the accidents to
men in Minnesota and 1.1 per cent of those to men in New York.
Fatalities to women were a smaller proportion, 1.2 per cent of the
accidents to women in Minnesota and 0.4 per cent of those in New
York and Iowa being the highest proportions in the States reporting,
the tact that the reports quoted in Table 3 show 30 fatal cases in
New York, 13 in Pennsylvania, 6 in Massachusetts, 5 in Minnesota,
5 m Illinois, 4 in New Jersey, and 1 each in Iowa and Maryland proves,
nevertheless, that women are subject to serious employment hazards.
Permanent total disabilities, infrequent to men, were reported in
only a few cases of women; in the reports of 1927 New York showed 3
women, Illinois 2, and Massachusetts 1 to have been the victims of
accidents having this terrible result.
It is significant that in the year for which the last report by sex
was made, permanent partial disabilities—the dismemberments, dis­
figurements, and complete or partial loss of use of members that
handicap workers for life—occurred to women in almost as large
proportions as to men in four States and in larger proportions in
Alabama, Maryland, and Minnesota.
In Illinois and New York, 19.8 per cent and 15.5 per cent, re­
spectively, of the injuries to women, as compared to 23.5 per cent and
19 per cent of those to men, were permanent partials. Injuries of this
extent occur frequently both to men and to women.
The fact is very striking that the reports of Illinois and New York
showed for both men and women a larger proportion of injuries
causing permanent partial disabilities than is true of other States
reporting by sex. In Maryland and Massachusetts, where the in­
juries reported included all those with disability of over three days in
the one case and of as much as a shift in the other, it is understand­
able that temporary disabilities should be a larger proportion of the
total than in those States reporting only disabilities that lasted more
than a week, the minimum period in both Illinois and New York.
On the other hand, Alabama, with a law exclusive as to employments
and with a two weeks' waiting period, reports chiefly the more serious
accidents in mining and heavy industries and accordingly shows a
larger proportion of fatals and permanent total disabilities and a
relatively smaller proportion of temporary disabilities.
The difference between Illinois and New York on the one hand,
with relatively large proportions of permanent partials and proportl0?SA?- temP(,ralT disabilities much below the average, and Idaho
and Minnesota on the other hand, is not susceptible of assured ex­
planation from the facts available. All these States reported closed
compensable cases with a minimum period of disability of more than
one week. In the absence of detailed analysis in all the States, it
appears probable that the reason is found in the prevailing character
of industry. The Idaho and Minnesota reports covered all employ­




26

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

ments except certain occupations commonly excluded. Illinois,
however, with its law applying only to “extrahazardous” occupa­
tions, is less inclusive, while New York excluded also the nonhazardous
employments in which fewer than four persons were employed.
These exclusions apparently weight the accident reports in the
direction of occupations in which permanent partial injuries are more
likely to occur. In Minnesota permanent partial disabilities occurred
in greatest numbers in mining, the metal and wood industries, and
construction, while in New York the metal industries, construction,
and transportation and public utilities were responsible for many
such injuries. The proportion of permanent partials among all
injuries in the various industries, however, ran higher in New York
than in Minnesota. For example, in New York construction caused
a larger proportion of all accidents, and permanent partial disabilities
were a larger proportion of all construction accidents, than was the
case in Minnesota.11 Apparently, conditions in New York and
Illinois industries tend to cause more injuries of a permanent partial
character than are caused by the industries of some other States.
On the other hand, it is possible that a difference in liberality of
administration may compensate as permanent partial disabilities
certain conditions of disfigurement or partial loss of use that would
not be compensated in other States. Without detailed knowledge of
the administration in the different States it can not be said just how
such differences in administration affect the statistics.
11 Minnesota. Seventeenth Biennial Report of the Department of Labor and Industries, 1919-1920,
pp. 36-37; and New York. Department of Labor. Special Bui. 157. pp. 46-54.




Table 4.—Distribution of accidents to men and women by age group and extent of disability, in 4 States, 1927
[For sources of information, see appendix]
Women

Men
State

Period covered

Accidents tabulated
Total

Fatal

Perma­
nent
total

Perma­ Tempo­
nent
rary
partial

Total

Fatal

Perma­ Perma­ Tempo­
nent
nent
rary
partial
total

NUMBER

New York........................ July i, 1926, to June 30, 1927____

132
276

462
1,179

20
22

302
452

i 4,054
i 45,333

19
312

3
21

873
10,724

3,159
34, 276

i 595
i 1,460

1
3

1,741
11, 732

9
92

2

89
507

1, 643
11,131

322
475

1

6,804
51,413

11
300

16

134
1,007

6, 659
50,090

1,516
4,434

2
4

1

8,463
73,465

44
951

1
36

1,287
14,728

7,131
57, 750

1,790
4,649

7
22

3

200
835

1,583
3,789

i 100. 0
i 100.0

0.5
.7

0.1

21.5
23.7

77.9
75.6

i 100.0
i 100.0

0.2
.2

0.1

22.2
18.9

77.6
80.8

100.0
100.0

.5
.8

5.1
4.3

94.4
94.9

100.0
100.0

.2

6.2
4.6

93.8
95.2

100.0
100.0

.2
.6

2.0
2.0

97.9
97.4

100.0
100.0

.1
.1

2.1
1.3

97.8
98.6

100.0
100.0

.5
1.3

15.2
20.0

84.3
78.6

100.0
100.0

.4
.5

11.2
18.0

88.4
81.5

2

32 - 1,482
4, 370
59

PER CENT

21 years and over...
iExcludes accidents not classified by age and extent of disability.
* Less than 0.05 per cent.




w
(>>

.1

ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1927___

28

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

The relative seriousness of the accident's that befall young persons
and adults, both males and females, is indicated in Table 4 for those
States that have reported on the extent of disability by age. In
each of the 4 States reporting, the proportion of accidents that ter­
minated fatally is larger for the persons above than for those below
21 years. Greater seriousness of accidents to older than to younger
persons is by no means conclusively indicated, however, by the
figures on permanent partial disabilities. In Maryland a larger pro­
portion of the accidents both to boys and to girls than of those to
men and to women caused permanent partial disability. In Mas­
sachusetts more of the accidents to girls than of those to women caused
permanent partial disability, but for boys and men the proportions
were the same.
Turning to New York and Illinois, where, as before noted, the pro­
portions of permanent partial disabilities are large even after allowing
for the fact that minor injuries with disability of a week or less are
excluded, a different situation appears. In New York, injuries caus­
ing permanent partial disability were a considerably smaller propor­
tion of the total in the case of boys and girls than in the case of men
and women. In Illinois the proportion was less in the case of boys
though a decidedly larger proportion of the injuries to girls than of
those to women were dismemberments, disfigurements, or other per­
manent partial disabilities. The unfortunate fact must be realized
that, in such industrial States as New York and Illinois, 11.2 per cent
and 22.2 per cent, respectively, of the compensable accidents to women
under 21 years of age, and 15.2 per cent and 21.5 per cent, respectively,
of those to men under 21 years, have left the workers with permanent
injuries, a handicap of greater or less extent for life. In the case of
adultwomen in these States, 18 percent and 18.9 per cent, respectively,
received injuries that resulted in permanent disability to some degree.
The relative frequency of accidents that cause these dismember­
ments, disfigurements, and other permanent partial disabilities points
strongly to the need of accident prevention. In many cases such
accidents are caused by machinery. Machine guarding and the pro­
hibition of the employment of young persons on dangerous machinery
are necessary and obvious steps toward accident prevention. In
States where permanent partial injuries form greater proportions of
the accidents to young persons than of those to adults, the second of
these steps particularly would seem to be indicated.
Accidents causing only temporary disability are in the great
majority in the case of boys and girls, as of men and women. How­
ever liberally the workers may be compensated for these temporary
disabilities, nevertheless the social waste can not be completely
repaired. And that these disabilities can not be disregarded is evident
from records of the National Safety Council and the United States
Bureau of Labor Statistics—the former receiving reports from over
700 industrial establishments and the latter receiving reports for over
700,000 full-year workers—each of which shows a tendency in many
industries to a severity rate of temporary-disability accidents greater
in 1928 than in 1927.12
Although the increased rates may be accounted for partly by
changes in the method of classifying accidents and in the reporting
i* National Safety News, December, 1929, p. 21; Monthly Labor Review, January, 1930, p. 55.




ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

29

groups, they are large enough to indicate a serious trend. Accidents
causing only temporary disability can not be dismissed as of minor
importance when their severity appears to be increasing.
For many minor injuries the time lost is uncompensated, although
it amounts to large proportions. In those States where compensation
does not begin until the passing of a week, 10 days, or two weeks,
there is involved a loss of time that creates a serious problem for the
wage earner.
From a New York report are obtainable the ages of the injured
workers correlated with extent of disability. It is found that here
the more serious injuries tended to occur to older workers. Where
only temporary disability was caused, the median of the ages of the
men was 33 years and that of the women was 26 years; where perma­
nent partial disabilities occurred, the medians were respectively 37
and 33; deaths and permanent total disabilities affected a still older
group, the medians being 41 years for the men and 43 for the women.13
It is a grave matter for workers, men or women, to lose time under
any conditions, and especially so when shock and suffering as well as
increased financial burdens are the result.
The total loss of production from industrial accidents also is a
heavy toll. The human and industrial costs call loudly for further
attention—the ounce of prevention that shall make unnecessary the
pound of cure.
In spite of the importance of this problem to the men and women
involved, the States, on the whole; have neglected to collect and pub­
lish full details on the loss of time m accidents, both major and minor.
In the period 1920 to 1927 only four States published information on
the loss of time from accidents to men and to women.
The Illinois report for the calendar year 1925 and the New York
report for the year ended June 30, 1927, furnish evidence of the some­
what greater relative seriousness of injuries to men than to women
in tabulations showing the number of weeks of temporary total dis­
ability per case.14 In Illinois in 1925 (Table 5) the disability lasted
less than two weeks in 31.2 per cent of the temporary total disability
cases reported for women and in 26.5 per cent of those reported for
men. Two and under four weeks was the time of disability for about
38 per cent both of men and of women. Disability of four weeks or
more was suffered by 30.1 per cent of the women and by 35.6 per cent
of the men.
“New York. Department of Labor. Compensation statistics, year ended June 30, 1927. Special Bui.
157, p. 16.
14 Alabama, 1922 (also in 1920 and 1921), and Virginia, 1925, published information on time lost, but these
figures are not comparable to those of Illinois or New York.




30

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Table

5.—Distribution of temporary total disabilities of men and women by weeks
of disability, cases closed in 1925, Illinois
[For source of information, see appendix]
Number

Per cent

Weeks of disability
Men

Under 2......................................................................................

Women

Men

Women

40,733

1,308

100.0

100.0

10,809
9,979
5,432
14,513

408
319
187
394

26.5
24.5
13.3
35.6

31.2
24.4
14.3
30.1

The figures for New York (Table 6) show, for persons under 21
years and for those 21 years and over, the average number of weeks
awarded in all cases compensated in the year ended June 30, 1927.
In this table the standard weighting of 6,000 days for each death or
permanent total disability was used. The average number of weeks
awarded was 10.8 for women under 21 years and 17.5 for women of
21 years or more; for men under 21 it was 13.9 and for older men
24.8. The average disability thus was considerably less for women
than for men, but a condition of substantial industrial hazard for
women as well as for men nevertheless is very clear.
Table 6.—Number

of weeks of disability of adults and minors, by sex—cases of
compensated accidents closed in year ending June SO, 1927, New York
[For source of information, see appendix|
Weeks of disability
Sex and age group

Women:
21 years and over.................................................................................. ...........
Men:
21 years and over..............................................................................................

Number
of cases

Number 1

Average
per case

1,790
5,609

19,332
98,364

10.8
17.6

8,463
83,122

117,387
2,063,409

13.9
24.8

» The standard weighting of 6,000 days (1,000 weeks) is used for each death and each permanent total
disability.

For New York the analysis is carried further in Table 7, which
gives the industry in which the accident occurred and the average
number of weeks awarded in cases of temporary and permanent
partial disability. Here the average numbers are not weighted by
the fatal and permanent total disability cases, and with these more
serious cases excluded it is found .that, for all industries, the average
number of weeks was only a little less for women than for men—11.5
and 12.5, respectively.




31

ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

Table 7.—Industrial distribution of all cases, and weeks of disability of temporary
and permanent partial cases, by sex—cases of compensated accidents closed in
year ending June SO, 1927, New York
[For sources of information, see appendix]
Men

Women

Weeks of dis­
ability 1

Industry
Number
of cases

Weeks of dis­
ability i
Number
of cases

Number Average
per case
Total..................................................................

Number Average
per case

91,585 1,130,796

12.5

7,399

84,696

Manufacturing..........................................................

35,673

442,299

12.5

4,164

39,345

9.5

Metals and metal goods.................................
Machinery and vehicles..................................
Wood and wood products____ __________
Food products...................................................
Clothing............. .......................... ....................
Laundries-__________________ ..
Textiles. ..............................................................
Chemicals.......... .......................................... ...
Paper and paper goods..................................
Printing_____ _______ _______ __________
Leather, rubber, and composition goods__
Stone, clay, and glass products....................
Miscellaneous.....................................................

7,820
6,458
3,697
4,321
2,193
464
1,337
1,595
2,077
1,530
1,922
1, 686
573

94,570
90,195
53,921
52, 789
17,869
7,549
17,433
19, 962
23, 711
16, 705
19,257
21,757
6, 581

12.2
14.1
14.7
12.3
8.2
16.5
13.1
12.7
11.6
11.0
10.1
13.0
11.5

288
281
69
460
1,422
295
504
89
245
118
263
26
104

3,981
2,925
306
4,270
8, 201
6,197
4,617
1,025
3,041
1,152
2,023
161
1,446

13.8
10.4
4.4
9.3
5.8
21.1
9.2
11.6
12.5
9.8
7.7
6.2
13.9

Construction.............................. ............................. .
Transportation and public utilities................... .
Trade......................................................... ...............

21, 595
16, 596
8, 517

298, 297
182, 453
92, 994

14.0
11.1
11.0

11
70
650

284
1,078
7,470

25.8
15.6
11.5

Clerical and personal service.................................

7,123

89, 846

12.8

2,436

35,807

14.8

Clerical and professional employment........
Hotels, restaurants, and care of buildings..
M iseellaneous............ ..................................... .

802
4, 889
1,432

10,010
57, 473
22, 363

12.8
11.9
16.0

457
1, 933
46

5, 096
29, 981
730

11.2
15.7
15.9

Mining and quarrying............... ............................
Agriculture________ _____ _______
Not otherwise classified...........................................

981
716
384

12, 947
10, 290
1,670

13.7
14.5
4.4

36
32

575
137

16.0
4.3

1 Number of weeks awarded for temporary and permanent partial disability cases only.
Industrial Bulletin, June, 1928, p. 274.

11.5

Figures from

For both men and women the most serious of these injuries,
disregarding the question of frequency, occurred in the laundry
industry, where the average number of weeks per case was 21.1
for women and 16.5 for men. Groups in which considerable numbers
of women were injured and a high average of weeks per case indi­
cated serious consequences were hotels, restaurants, and care of
buildings, with an average number of weeks of disability of 15.7;
the manufacture of metals and metal goods, of paper and paper
goods, and of machinery and vehicles, with 13.8, 12.5, and 10.4
weeks, respectively; trade, with 11.5; and clerical and professional
employment, with 11.2. For men the hazards were most serious,
with considerable numbers of accidents and high averages of weeks
awarded, in construction, the manufacture of wood and wood prod­
ucts, of machinery and vehicles, of textiles, of stone, clay, and glass
products, of food products, and of metals and metal goods, in hotels,
restaurants, and the care of buildings, and in transportation and
public utilities.




32

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Industries in which accidents occur.—To know where accidents
occur—the industry and occupation—and what causes them is
to know where and on what general lines accident-prevention work
is most needed. Four States—Indiana, New Jersey, New York, and
Pennsylvania—have reported recently on accidents to men and
women by industry, and their figures, together with those of Cali­
fornia for 1921, are given in Table 8. Kentucky and Tennessee
also, in 1919-20, reported accidents by sex and industry, but
the classifications used were not comparable with those set up by
the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and
Commissions.
The difference in inclusiveness of the reports, which affects the
distribution of accidents by industry, must be allowed for. The
reports from California and Indiana cover all employments and
all injuries of more than one day’s disability; the other 3 States
report compensable injuries that caused disability of more than a
week. As to employments, New Jersey excludes only casual employ­
ees and public employees receiving over $1,200; Pennsylvania ex­
cludes farm labor, domestic service, casual employees, and out­
workers; and New York excludes farm labor, domestic service,
and nonhazardous employments with fewer than four employees.
The difference in character of the occupations in which women
and men are injured is at once apparent from Table 8. In the
data reported the largest proportions of accidents to men occurred
in manufacturing, construction, transportation and public utilities,
and mining in the States where mining is an important occupation,
but accidents to women were more concentrated in the manufac­
turing group. In all the States here reported except California
more than one-half of the accidents to women were in manufacturing.
Trade (mercantile establishments) was the source of a considerable
proportion of accidents to women, while work in hotels, restaurants,
and the care of buildings also was responsible for large numbers
of accidents—20 per cent of the accidents to women reported in
California and about 26 per cent of the cases compensated in New
York.
Within the manufacturing group the importance of specific indus­
tries as a source of accidents to women varied from State to State.
In California nearly 22 per cent of the women injured were employed
in food manufactures. In Indiana, where two-thirds of the accidents
to women were in manufacturing, 14.3 per cent were in metals,
machinery, and vehicles, 12.4 per cent in food and food products, and
9 per cent in clothing. In New York the clothing industries, with
19.2 per cent of the injured, were second of the classifications included,
hotels, restaurants, and care of buildings being the most important
source of accidents. Metals, machinery, and vehicles followed
clothing, having nearly 8 percent of the injured women; then textiles,
with nearly 7 per cent, and food with 6.2 per cent. In Pennsylvania
textiles led among the manufacturing industries as a source of acci­
dent, with 13per cent of all accidents to women; the clothingindustries,
with 12.3 per cent, were next, and the manufacture of metals, machin­
ery, and vehicles, with 7.6 per cent, was third.
The New York Department of Labor publishes also a separate
tabulation for men and women under 21 years of age in relation to the




Table 8.—Industrial

distribution of accidents to men and women, in 1927 or most recent year of the period 1920 to 1927, in 5 States 1
[For sources of information, see appendix)

1927*
(com­
pensable
cases)

1921
(tabulatable
injuries)

Oct. 1,1926,
to Sept. 30,
1927
(cases
reported)

Total...................................................

59,529

2,744 38,745 1,794 24,053 1,812 91, 585 7,399

72,190 2,691

Manufacturing...........................................

16,163

1,215 21,432 1,198 11,334 1,145 35,673 4,164

25,947 1,446

2, 660
94
146
6,838
4', 488
124

222
162
67
195
61
105

495
732
252
3,075
1,719
'809

92
74
40
73
66
41

Clerical, professional, and personal
service....................................................... * 10,311 * 1,443

748

318

*7,475

8 835

347

101

1,854

55(

354

20$

985

58

4",

{

32
]
51

1,808
2,748
5,664
176
5,878
291

223
39
;

598

4 4,472

< 77

Leather, rubber, and composition

Hotels, restaurants, and care of
Miscellaneous, including domestic

Transportation and public utilities___
Mining, metallurgy, and quarrying-..

3,989

43

1,088
2,652

40
457

(*)
13,194
10, 524
4,360
4,977

(8)

-

4,321
460
2,344
2,193 1,422
420
1,337
504
930
7,820
288 414,457
6,458
281
C‘>
464
295
1,922
2,077
1,530
3,697
1,686
1, 595
573
1,316

481

263
245
118
69
26
89
104

7,123 2,436
802

.......

100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

1927*
(com­
pensable
cases)

66.3

35.9

53.7

12.4
9.0
3.7
10.9
3.4
5.9

4.7
2.4
1.5
8.5
7.1
.5

6.2
19.2
6.8
3.9
3.8
4.0

3.2
.6
1.3
4 20.0

6.2
12.3
13.0
4 7. 6

(#)

«

1.3
1.9
.7
7.9
4.4
2.1

5.1
4. 1
2.2
4.1
3.7
2.3

2.1
2.3
1.7
4.0
1.8
1.7
.6

3.6
3.3
1.6
.9
.4
1.2
1.4

1.0

305 817.3 *52.5

1.9

17.7

7.8

32.9

812.6 * 30.4

.9

5.6

.9

6.2

3.1

20. C

.9

11.6

5. a

26.1

1.C

2.1

.1

.5

1.6

A

(8)
22.2
17.;
7. c
8.4

(■)
1.2
(>)
1.9
.1

4.7
7.1
14.6

12.4
2.2
.2

8.8
.9
.]
.5

15.2
.8

.5
.2

9.3
18.1
23.6
.8
1.1
.4

166
332
349
8 205

1,432

46

124 8, 517
35 16, 596
4 21, 595
22
716
981
38<

650
70
i:
3C
32

378

27.2

44.3

55.3

66.8

6.7

21.8

1 7.5

4 2.8

6.9
.2
.4
17.6
11.6
.3

6. 7

1.6

1.8
4.6

1.5
16.7

00

729
37
(1
8) * 3 * *(*)* *
1,119
123
2,250
23
1.978
50
1,361
15
7 359 7 146
378

100.0 100.0

39.0

457

4,889 1,933

1,434
3,775
5, 216
40(
548

July 1, 1926,
to June 30,
1927
(closed
com­
pensable)

Per cent

Number

3,962

M en

M en

M en

§
a
o
is

M en

M en

M en

Men

o
*

1927
(closed
com­
pensable
cases)

Women

July 1, 1926,
to June 30,
1927
(closed
com­
pensable
cases)

Pennsylvania

M en

1927
(closed
com­
pensable
cases)

W omen

Oct. 1, 1926,
to Sept. 30,
1927
(cases
reported)

M en

1921
(tabulatable
injuries)

1

New Jersey New York

W omen

Indiana

W omen

California

Women

Pennsylvania

W omen

New York

M en

New Jersey

W omen

Indiana *

Women

Industry

California

305

3,084
2,890
8,965

392
55
17

27,047
8 3,874

2
8 474

I

.5

47.1

5.5

6.0
15.7
21.8
1.7
2.3

63.2

26.5

6.8
1.9
.2
1.2
.1

.4

C8)

1.6
3.1
2.7
1.9
15

1.4
«
4.6
.9
1.9
.6
’6.4

.5

11.3

11.3

4.3
4.0
12.4

14.0
2.0
.6

.1
37.5
8 5.4 1 17.6

1 Kentucky and Tennessee also in 1919-20 reported accidents by sex in detailed unclassified lists of industries and occupations.
s Indiana reports accidents in a detailed unclassified list of industries and occupations. For this table the data have been reclassified according to the standard industry classi­
fication. The result is approximately accurate although (a) in a few cases dealers are included with manufacturers, and (6) several cases for which the appropriate classification could
not be determined from the original description of the industry or occupation have been included with miscellaneous occupations.
3 The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industries has published a table giving data in percentages for 1924. The data for 1927 used here are from a typewritten table
furnished by the department.
* Includes all metal and machinery manufacturing.
3 Laundries included with miscellaneous industries.
8 Paper included with printing.
i Tobacco included.
8 Trade is included with clerical and professional service*
• Less than 0.05 per cent.
2744°—30. (Face p. 32.)




ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

33

industries in which the accidents occurred.18 For the women in this
classification, the group hotels, restaurants, and care of buildings
was less important as a source of accidents than it was for all women
injured, while over 75 per cent of all accidents to young women
occurred in manufacturing. The clothing, textile, food, and metal
industries were foremost among these. Many accidents occurred also
to young women engaged in trade.
Causes of accidents.—In the years under review only 5 States have
published data on the causes of accidents to men and to women. Fig­
ures from the reports of Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, and
Pennsylvania are assembled in Table 9. The Indiana and Iowa
data are more inclusive than are those of the other States, for they
cover all accidents reported in all occupations in Indiana and in all
but mines and railway train service in Iowa, when the disability is of
more than one day in Indiana and of more than two days in Iowa.
For New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania the reports are of
compensable cases, with disability of over one week in the first two
of these States and of more than 10 days in Pennsylvania.
J<New York.

Industrial Bulletin, June, 1928, p. 274.




CO

Table 9.—Distribution of accidents to men and women by cause, in 1927 or most recent year of the 'period 1920 to 1927, in 5 States
[For sources of information, see appendix]
Indiana

Oct. 1,1926, to Sept. July 1,1925, to June
30, 1927 (cases re­
30, 1926 (cases re­
ported)
ported)
Men

Women

Men

Women

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

1927 (closed com­
pensable cases)

July 1,1926, to June
30,1927 (closed com­
pensable cases

1924 (closed com­
pensable cases)

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

NUMBER
Total......................................................... -.........................................................

38, 745

1,794

8,690

220

24,053

1,812

91, 585

7,399

76,546

2,228

Machinery....................................................................................................... -.........
Falls of persons...................................................................................... -.............--Handling of objects... ............................ .................... ...........................................

3, 814
4, 732
7,900
4,093
1,653
2,063
6, 365
2,870
'344
305
4,606

391
358
224
277
98
125
84
36
20
2
179

1, 045
1, 344
961

33
44
3

625
136
1,146
171

31
3
12

3,301
3,885
8,489
1,472
0)
1,258
1, 813
2,441
435

585
494
377
108
w
75
53
32
24

785
548
348
181
68
120
70
53

94

959

64

1,990
2,238
1, 084
480
554
272
239
78
42
6
416

10,172
7,884
16, 553
3,171
6,212
4,784
11, 748
13, 793
(!)

3,262

13,995
15, 854
26, 608
4,443
6,946
3,505
6, 002
8,819
1,296
685
3,432

2,229

55

Hand tools___________ _____ _—.................................................................. ...........
Explosions, electricity, heat, etc..............................................................................
Falling objects..................................................... —.......................... -........................

Miscellaneous and indefinite...................................................................................

0

PER CENT
Total.... .......... .......................—.........................................................................

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100 0

Machinery......................................................................... -................ -........................
Falls of persons..............................................................................................................
Handling of objects....... ................................... -............................. -........................

9.8
12.2
20.4
10. 6
4.3
5.3
16.4
7.4
.9
.8
11.9

21.8
20.0
12.5
15.4
5.5
7.0
4.7
2.0
1.1
.1
10.0

12.0
15.5
11.1

15.0
20.0
1.4

7.2
1.6
13.2
2.0

14.1
1.4
5.5

13 7
16.2
35.3
6.1
0
5.2
7. 5
10.1
1.8

32.3
27.3
20.8
6.0
(0
4.1
2.9
1.8
1.3

26.8
30.2
14.7
6. 5
7.5
3.7
3. 2

13.3
10.3
21.6
4. 1
8.1
6.2
15.3
18.0
(>)

35.2
24.6
15. 6
8 1
3.1
5.4
3.1
2.4

37.5

42.7

4.0

3.5

15.3
17.3
29.1
4.9
7.6
3.8
6. 6
9.6
1.4
.7
3.7

2.9

2.5

Hand tools................. ........................................................................................... .
Explosions, electricity, heat, etc.................................................-............................
Falling objects.................................................... ........................................................

Miscellaneous and indefinite....................................................................................




1 Included with handling of objects.

2 Included with explosions, etc.

1.1

.6
.1
5.6

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Cause of accident

Iowa

ANALYSIS or REPORTS

35

A striking difference in the causes of the industrial accidents to
men and to women is seen in the report from each of these States.
For men the heavier and more dangerous character of their occupa­
tions is evident from the fact that the handling of objects is the
greatest cause of accidents in four of the five States, while falls of per­
sons, machinery, and falling objects, in various orders in the different
States, also, are very important as causes. In Pennsylvania, acci­
dents^ from cars and engines in mines make vehicles one of the most
prolific causes of accident, and vehicles likewise cause large numbers
of accidents to men in New York, New Jersey, and Indiana.
Machinery ranks high as the cause of accidents for a large propor­
tion of women in the States reporting. As high as 35.2 per cent of
the compensable accidents to women in Pennsylvania in 1924 were
caused by machinery, as were 32.3 per cent of'those in New Jersey
in the calendar year 1927, and 26.8 per cent of those in New York in
the fiscal year 1927. In Indiana and Iowa, which include more of
the minor injuries than do the other States, 21.8 per cent and 15
per cent, respectively, of the injuries to women were caused by ma­
chinery, which outranked all other causes in Indiana and in Iowa was
exceeded only by falls of persons. Falls of persons were an impor­
tant cause of accidents to women; in New York, as in Iowa, falls caused
more accidents than did machinery. Handling of objects also caused
many accidents to women.
For Kansas, in 1924, a report was made on the causes of industrial
accidents to a small group of women.16 Here, also, machinery was
one of the chief causes of accidents, for it was responsible for 20.6
per cent of the 102 accidents reported. Falls of persons and the
handling of objects, however, each with 21.6 per cent of the acci­
dents, were slightly more important than machinery as a cause of
accidents to women.
For New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania it is possible to
learn the cause of accidents to men and women of the two age groups
21 years or more and under 21. In the data from the reports of these
States, assembled in Table 10, one fact stands out with startling clear­
ness—the greater relative importance of machinery and the lesser
relative importance of falls as a cause of accidents to boys and girls
than to men and women. In New York, for example, falls caused
nearly 18 per cent of the accidents to adult men and only 12.4 per
cent of those to boys, and they caused practically 35 per cent of the
accidents to women of 21 and over and less than 16 per cent of those
to women under 21.17
Kansas. Court of Industrial Relations. Fifth annual report, year ended December 31, 1924, p 99
>7 A New ^ ork study of accidents in the year ended June 30, 1925, gave further details on accidents due
to falls.
Of the accidents to females caused by falls, one-half were due to falls on the level, almost a half
to falls from elevations. Two-thirds of the falls on levels were caused by slipping of the foot, and 14 per
cent by stumbling over loose objects. This suggests correct shoes and cleared aisles and workrooms as
accident preventives.
New York. Department of Labor. Special Bui. 144. Some recent figures on
accidents to women and minors. June, 1926, p. 10.




Table 10.—Distribution of accidents to men and women by cause and age group, in New Jersey, 1927, New York, 1927, and
Pennsylvania, 1924

03
^

[For sources of information, see appendix]
New York

Pennsylvania

1927 (closed compensable cases)

July 1, 1926, to June 30, 1927 (closed
compensable cases)

1924 (closed compensable cases)

Cause of accident
Men
21 and
over

Women

Under 21

21 and
over

Women

Men

Under 21

21 and
over

Under 21

21 and
over

Men

Under 21

21 and
over

Women

Under 21

21 and
over

Under 21

NUMBER
Total............ .................. .............................. ............

21,446

2,607

1,263

549

83,122

8, 463

5,609

1, 790

67,349

9,197

1, 455

773

Machinery_____________________ _________ ______
Falls of persons....................................................................
Handling of objects............................................................
Stepping on or striking against objects.............. ...........
Hand tools...................................................... ...................
Explosions, electricity, heat, etc......................................
Falling objects......................... ................ ...........................
Vehicles.............................. ...................... .............................
Harmful substances........... .............................................
Animals........... .................................................. ............... .
Miscellaneous and indefinite________ ______ ______

2,644
3, 579
7, 658
1,313
0)
1,125
1, 699
2,156
390

657
306
831
159

274
73
114
26

114
285
45

311
421
263
82
0)
57
41
22
14

1,195
1,955
836
368
393
226
186
66
34
6
344

8,387
7,169
14, 698
2,712
5,563
4,260
11,015
11,594
(’)

1,785
715
1,855
459
649
524
733
2,199
(»)

375
474
225
129
39
80
58
37
0)

410
74
123
52
29
40
12
16

52

2,125
1, 048
2,314
443
709
300
371
825
87
41
200

795
283
248
112
161
46
53
12
8

77

11, 870
14,806
24,294
4,000
6, 237
3, 205
5,631
7,994
1, 209
644
3,232

72

1,951

278

38




882

0) 133

0)

18
12
10
10
12

<*)

17

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

New Jersey

PER CENT
Total............................................................................

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Machinery___________________ ______ _____ ______
Falls of persons..................................................................Handling of objects________ ____ ______________
Stepping on or striking against objects........................
Hand tools____ ________________ ________________
Explosions, electricity, heat, etc................................ .....
Falling objects................... ...............................................
Vehicles.................................................................................
Harmful substances............................................................

12.3
16.7
35.7
6.1
«
5.2
7.9
10.1
1.8

25.2
11.7
31.9
6.1
w
5.1
4.4
10.9
1.7

24.6
33.3
20.8
6.5
(0
4.5
3.2
1.7
1.1

49.9
13.3
20.8
4.7
o
3.3
2.2
1.8
L8

19.4
7.8
20.2
5.0
7.1
5.7
8.0
23.9

25.8
32.6
15.5
8.9
2.7
5.5
4.0
2.5
«

3.0

4.1

2.2

21.3
34.9
14.9
6.6
7.0
4.0
3.3
1.2
.6
.1
6.1

12.5
10.6
21.8
4.0
8.3
6.3
16.4
17.2
<>)

4.1

25.2
12.4
27.3
5.2
8.4
3.5
4.4
9.7
1.0
.5
2.4

44.4
15.8
13.9
6.3
9.0
2.6
3.0
.7
.4

Miscellaneous and indefinite.......... .................................

14.3
17.8
29.2
4.8
7.5
3.9
6.8
9.6
1.5
.8
3.9

4.0

2.9

3.0

2.6




(>)

53.0
9.6
15.9
6.7
3.8
5.2
1.6
2.1
2.2

ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

1 Included with handling of objects.
•Included wi^h explosions, etc.

100

CO
•<1

38

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Turning to machine accidents, the differences are equally strik­
ing. In each of the three States reported in this table, machine acci­
dents constituted less than 15 per cent of all accidents to adult men,
but they were 25.2 per cent of those to men under 21 in New Jersey
and New York and 19.4 per cent of those to the younger group in
Pennsylvania. Machine accidents were from 21.3 per cent to 25.8
per cent of all accidents to adult women in these States, but they
comprised approximately half of all accidents to women under 21­
in New Jersey 49.9 per cent, in New York 44.4 per cent, and in
Pennsylvania 53 per cent. Expressed differently, the condition is
clear in this statement:
Per cent under 21 years of age among—
women
All women All
injured by
injured
machinery

24. 2
30. 3
34. 7

39. 9
46. 8
52. 2

All men
injured

All men
injured by
machinery

9. 2
10. 8
12. 0

15. 2
19. 9
17. 5

From such figures it may be realized how important is machinery in
its toll of injuries to young people and how rich a field for accident
prevention is found in the machine industries.
A study by the Women’s Bureau of industrial accidents to women
in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin from July 1, 1919, to June 30,
1920, had similar findings. Comments of the report on these points
may be quoted:18
_
“The age element in accident causation is an important factor in
a program for the prevention of industrial injury. A study of the
material recorded on this point indicates that certain causes operate
with more serious effect in some age groups than in others, which
fact points to one potent method for reducing industrial injury;
that is, the need of prohibiting the employment of very young persons
on certain types of work.
“Of the 3,095 women injured for whom age was reported, 46.4 per
cent were injured by machinery. The steady decrease in the num­
ber of injuries due to machinery with increase in age * * * indi­
cates in general that a larger number of injuries occurred in the
younger age groups. Twenty-seven per cent of all the injured
women reporting age "were under 20, while 37 per cent of those
injured by machinery were under 20.
“A glance at the nonmachine accidents reveals that falls of persons,
which next to machinery were by far the most serious cause of injury
numerically, show just the opposite curve; that is, the number of
injuries increases with a fair degree of continuity as the age of the
injured woman increases. Forty-four per cent of the injuries caused
in this way occurred to women of 40 and over and only 12 per cent
were to women under 20. Furthermore, of all accidents to women
of 40 or more, 43 per cent were falls; of those to women of under 20,
less than 10 per cent were falls. The women injured by handling
objects, which as a cause of accident was third in numerical impor­
tance, were fairly evenly dispersed among the various age groups.”
»»XJ. S. Department of Labor. Women’s Bureau. Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio,
and Wisconsin. Bui. 60, 1927, pp. 127 and 130.




ANALYSIS OF REPORTS

39

The New York State Department of Labor has published further
analyses of accidents by cause. In a report covering compensable
accidents to women and minors for the year ended June 30, 1927, the
kinds of machines on which accidents occurred are reported. This
information is shown for males and females under 21 years and is
compared with figures for the group of adult women whose injuries
were due to machinery.19 It was found that textile and textileproducts machines and metal-working machines were responsible for
almost three-fifths (58.5 per cent) of the machine accidents to girls
under 21, sewing machines and power presses accounting for the ma­
jority. Among older women, sewing machines and food-products
machines were the chief types causing accidents. Among boys under
21, for whom machinery was the cause of accidents, metal-working
machines were the most dangerous (37.7 per cent of all), with power
presses responsible for almost two-fifths of the accidents of this char­
acter.20 Saws and printing presses also injured many boys. It is
significant that accidents to boys and girls engaged in metals and
metal-goods manufacturing were shown to be considerably more
serious than the average, judging by the number of weeks of dis­
ability per case.
A report from Pennsylvania in analyzing machine accidents shows
that these were 19.4 per cent of all accidents to boys, 53 per cent of
all to girls, and 25.8 per cent of the total number to adult women.21
Power-working machines caused 84.5 per cent of all machine acci­
dents to workers under 21 (81.5 per cent of those to boys and 97.8 per
cent of those to girls), 93.8 per cent of those to adult women, but only
69.3 per cent of those to adult men. The metals and metal-products
industries were responsible for more than a third (36.1 per cent) of
the injuries to minors on power-working machines.
Specific knowledge of the sort given in the reports referred to, con­
cerning the industries in which accidents occur in greatest numbers and
the most common causes of accidents, is of the utmost value in direct­
ing attention to the industries and occupations where accident pre­
vention is most needed. The New York State Department of Labor
gives further aid in practical means of preventing accidents by a very
valuable series of bulletins on the causes of accidents occurring in
various industries. The purpose of these bulletins is “to acquaint
employers and employees with the different ways in which accidents
occur in an industry and to give suggestions as to their prevention
with the hope that with this information they will be able to prevent
the occurrence of similar accidents in their individual factories.” 22
These studies, with their accounts of accidents and pictures of
machines both unguarded and with suitable and practical guards,
have the greatest educational value in promoting safe practices.
Other States might well follow the lead of New York by similar
specific studies of the problems that appear to offer the greatest
hazards in their own States.
19 New York. Department of Labor. Industrial Bulletin, June, 1928, pp. 274-276.
20 Power presses caused 269 of the 707 metal-working-machine accidents to boys under 21 and 96 of the 170
metal-working-machine accidents to girls under 21.
Pennsylvania. Department of Labor and Industry. Special Bui. 17. An Analysis of Compensated
Accidents to Minors for the year 1924, pp. 39, 40, 90, and 91.
22 New York. State Department of Labor. Special bulletin: An analysis of 300 accidents in plants manu­
facturing or preparing food products with suggestions as to safe practice and suitable machine guards, p. 3.
See also: Special Bui. 139, An analysis of 300 accidents in wood-working factories with suggestions as to safe
practice and suitable machine guards, and special Bui. 131, An analysis of 100 accidents on power punch
presses with suggestions as to the installation of suitable guards on such machines.




FART 111
ACCIDENT PREVENTION
The analysis in Part II of the information available on accidents
by sex pointed out certain striking facts in regard to the questions as
to what workers, in what industries, and from what causes, do indus­
trial accidents occur in the greatest numbers. Such information has
one chief purpose: To direct attention to the points where accident
prevention is most needed.
_
_
Part III is not a complete discussion of the problem of accident
prevention. It attempts rather to do two things: First, to point
out briefly a type of preventive work that is clearly called for by the
facts shown in this study; and second, as examples of State accidentprevention programs, to quote reports from several industrial States.
The prevention of accidents is one of the most difficult problems
of industry. The various States attack the problem by inspection
of work conditions, enforcement of safety regulations, general safety
campaigns, orders to promote safe practice by the use of suitable
machine guards, and finally by prohibiting the employment of young
persons below certain ages in specified dangerous occupations.
The importance of factory inspection as a means of preventing and
reducing accidents can not be too strongly emphasized. The employ­
ment of inspectors who are qualified to recommend where safety
equipment is needed and to advise regarding adjustments and repairs
that will further the protection of the workers, is a long stride toward
the prevention of accidents. No State can materially reduce the
occurrence of accidents until it provides competent inspection of
work places and efficient enforcement of safety regulations. Unfor­
tunately, only a few States provide sufficient personnel for an adequate
inspection service, though the cost is an investment that will bring
returns in large measure.
Prohibition of employment of young persons in dangerous occupations.
Machine accidents furnish one of the useful points of attack for
prevention of accidents. It has been seen how important is machin­
ery among the causes of accidents to women, and particularly to
women under 21, while to young men also machines are the cause of
great numbers of accidents. Remembering how large a number of
the accidents to women occur to those under 21, who are so dispro­
portionately the victims of machine accidents, and that several times
as many boys as girls are injured by machinery, the importance of
machine hazards in their toll of young workers is seen. The prohibi­
tion of employment of young persons in dangerous occupations is an
important way of meeting this problem.
The age limits set for young persons and the employments pro­
hibited to them vary from State to State. The larger part of the
prohibitions, however, apply only to boys and girls under 16.23 Among
as See child labor laws of various States. For example, New York State Labor Law, with amendments,
additions, and annotations to Aug. 1, 1928, pp. 33-35; Wisconsin Child Labor Law, 1925, Bulletin of
Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, pp. 2-5 apd 10-11; Massachusetts Labor Law Bulletin No. 9, pp.
12-14.

40




ACCIDENT PREVENTION

41

the dangerous machines frequently listed in child-labor laws as ones
on which minors under 16 may not be employed are some of those
that cause many accidentsfor example, power punches or shears,
drill presses, stamping machines, and certain laundry, food-products,
and wood-working machines. Adjusting belts and oiling or cleaning
machinery in motion commonly are prohibited, and in some cases
any such work even when the machinery is at rest. In addition,
varying lists of other dangerous occupations are prohibited to chil­
dren under 16, often including certain building-trades work, the manu­
facture of paints, poisons, or tobacco products, and work in or about
mines or quarries or in occupations causing dusts in injurious quan­
tities.
In many States certain occupations are prohibited to minors under
18. These include some of the heavy occupations into which women
do not go, such as work in or about blast furnaces, in or about wharves
and docks, and sometimes certain employments on railroads and ves­
sels. Furthermore, in some States children under 18 may not operate
elevators nor be employed in the manufacture of explosives, or liquors,
or matches. The oiling or cleaning of dangerous machinery in motion
is in some cases prohibited up to the age of 18.
In New \ ork, additional safeguards to young machine workers are
given by two rules adopted by the industrial board in 1928.24 The
employment of children under 16 is prohibited on all other machines
than those specifically prohibited unless all moving parts other than
keys, levers, or handles moved by the operator are safely covered;
and minors between 16 and 18 are permitted to work on dangerous
machines only when the machine is equipped at the point of operation
with a guard described in the industrial-code rules.
Notwithstanding the prohibitions referred to, in most States the
restrictions for minors of 16, 17, and 18 years are comparatively few
and to a large extent boys and girls from 16 to 18 are employed on
punch presses and other machines that are known to cause many
accidents, with no more restrictions than are made for the safety of
workers in general.
The large number of accidents, particularly machine accidents,
indicates that insufficient protection to young workers is given by
present standards. As long as youth is careless and venturesome
accidents will occur unless safeguarding is more complete than seems
necessary or possible in the case of adults. Figures on the ages of
injured persons, from whatever State, give sufficient argument for
the greater protection of minors either by adding to the lists of em­
ployments prohibited or by raising the age below which minors may
not be employed in dangerous occupations, or by both these precau­
tions. Further provision for the protection of young workers is an
urgent need.25 Such action undoubtedly would reduce the number
of accidents that occur to young men and women in industry. This
is a particularly important field for the prevention of accidents to
women, since so considerable a proportion of accidents to women are
to those under 21.
“ New York. Department ol Labor. Industrial Bulletin, May, 1928, p. 239.
FmnUu^vr1™11011- wf 152, P' 8. Department of Labor, Children's Bureiu. Industrial Accidents to
Employed Minors tn Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, pp. 117-U9,




42

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

Accident-prevention programs of the States.
Accident prevention is among the important functions of the State
departments of labor. Laws and regulations for the promotion of
safety are the first step. Factory inspection is a very important part
of the program to insure that the regulations are followed and to
educate employers to the value of safe practices. In addition, some
States accomplish much by general safety education. Safety com­
mittees in the plants are encouraged, safety bulletins are issued,
meetings are held, and safety contests staged, in the effort to arouse
the active interest and cooperation of employers and employees.
Safety museums are a useful part of the program in some cases.
From the reports of a few industrial States may be seen in more
detail how the work of accident prevention is carried on.
PENNSYLVANIA 28
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry inaugurated, in Janu­
ary, 1929, a state-wide no-aceident campaign throughout the industries of Penn­
sylvania. The inspectors of the department call upon employers in their
respective jurisdictions and tell them of the plan to hold such a campaign and
enlist their interest and support. The formation of a safety organization and
the keeping of accident records is stressed. These employers are then asked if
they will bring the matter to the attention of their employees and ask them to
sign individual pledges 20» as an indication of their interest in the movement.
The accident reports received from various employers are tabulated monthly
for the individual establishments and such records then referred to the respective
supervising districts for the attention of the local inspectors. These inspectors
then call upon the plants, refer to the accidents that have occurred m the estab­
lishment during the past month, and recommend the proper steps to be taken to
prevent recurrences.
_ ,,
.
. ,
.
In addition, members of the department staff address service clubs m the
State, also groups of foremen, or groups of employees in individual establishments
whenever the opportunity is available. Talks on accident prevention are being
given by members of the department over radio stations in the State at stated
intervals. Slides and motion picture trailers have been prepared and are being
shown in theaters calling attention to the campaign and urging every person to
PainCaddition to the above work, which pertains particularly to the no-accident
campaigns, all accident reports sent to the department are carefully scrutinized
for the purpose of following up those in which it seemed corrective measures were
necessary or would prove beneficial. All fatal accidents and a great majority of
the nonfatal accidents reported to the department, that seem to involve illegal
employment, unsafe practices, lack of proper safeguards, or defective equipment
are sent out by the Harrisburg office for investigation by the local inspectors.
The purpose of such investigation is to determine the cause and fix the responsi­
bility for such accidents. Proper corrective recommendations are then given by
our inspectors to employers. In cases of flagrant violations of law the offenders
are prosecuted.
._ . ,
,
, ,
,
Where investigations show that machinery accidents have been caused by such
machines not having been provided with proper safeguards by the manufacturers
building these machines, information is sent to them and they are asked to remedy
such conditions with respect to machines manufactured by them in the future.
We have never before had the interest aroused throughout the State as it is at
the present time in accident-prevention work. More than two-and-one-half mil­
lions of individual pledge cards have been signed by employees in this State.28*
These employees thus pledged their interest and effort to prevent accidents to
themselves and their fellow employees.
.
The response, by both employer and employee, in the no-accident campaign
this year has been remarkable. This, coupled with the fact that our inspection
activities are concentrated on plants reporting accidents, makes us believe that
by the end of the year results will be self-evident.__
a Circular and letter from Peter Gliek, Secretary of Labor and Industry, Pennsylvania. June 20, 1920.
20a The individual pledge card reads as follows: I pledge myself to do my best in Pennsylvania s safety
campaign, to be responsible for no accidents to myself or to anyone so that life may be happier and labor
more profitable for me and my fellowmen.




ACCIDENT PREVENTION

43

NEW JERSEY27
For State purposes several bureaus, consisting of bureau of structural inspec­
tion, hygiene and sanitation, electrical and mechanical equipment and steamboiler operators, were organized. Each bureau within its jurisdiction has abso­
lute control of the activities that are in its class. To assist in achieving the statu­
tory purpose of the department of labor, 23 factory inspectors (to which may be
added a group of steam-boiler inspectors) make regular visits to our factories,
examine premises and equipment and recommend such orders as may be neces­
sary to correct violations found. Each of the bureaus enumerated above super­
vises the enforcement of the orders coming under its jurisdiction.
In addition to this, a bureau for women and children has been created to give
special consideration to conditions that may affect the labor and welfare of
minors and women.
As a corollary to the above the legislature created a bureau for the promotion
of safety education. It is the purpose of this bureau to encourage plants to
organize and maintain safety committees, hold safety meetings, discuss and
analyze accident causes and take steps to prevent them. In addition, the bureau
encourages the formation of safety councils in the congested industrial centers
and assists in preparing lecture courses and public demonstrations to bring to the
attention of the people of the State the necessity for accident-prevention work.
It has become a practice of the bureau to encourage State-wide inter-plant safety
contests for the purpose of arousing industry to the extreme necessity of careful
supervision in order to prevent accidents.
NEW YORK 22
The prime purpose of the New York State labor law, as expressed in section 28,
is that “all places to which it applies shall be so constructed, equipped, arranged,
operated, and conducted in ali respects as to provide reasonable and adequate
protection to the lives, health, and safety of all persons employed therein, and
frequenting the same.”
The most that workmen’s compensation offers to a worker injured by accident,
or occupational disease, is partial reward for the wage loss suffered. Great as
is this benefit, it is only a palliative after damage has been done. Prevention of
accidents strikes at the root of the evil and avoids the financial loss to the worker
as well as the suffering, loss of members, or enfeebled condition. To the em­
ployer, the compensation payments are saved as well as the greater amounts
occasioned by lost time, labor turnover, wasted materials, and other items of loss.
A direct attack upon accidents is made by this department through the bureau
of inspection. Work places of every sort and description in New York State are
inspected and safety orders are issued. The division of industrial codes formu­
lates detailed rules foi safety to be enforced by inspectors. Aiding by informa­
tion as to what the accidents are, how they may be lessened or eliminated, and
what progress is being made are the bureau of industrial hygiene, bureau of
statistics and information, and the bureau of women in industry.
MASSACHUSETTS 28
Reporting industrial injuries constitutes an integral part of any efficient
system in the work of preventing accidents. It is fundamental to know when,
how, and where accidents happen. * * *
All reports of injuries filed by employers with the department of industrial
accidents are carefully examined by a clerk in the employ of the department of
labor and industries. This clerk selects for the attention of the director accidents
classified as follows: 1. Fatal accidents; 2. Permanent disabling injuries; 3.
Injuries to minors between 14 and 16 years of age; 4. Injuries to minors between
16 and 18 years of age, if the information indicates that the minors are employed
at processes prohibited by law; 5. Occupational diseases; 6. Accidents occurring
in the building-trade line; 7. Accidents occurring in establishments where the
rate is high. This classification of injuries furnishes a basis for systematic
inquiry into the causation of industrial accidents.
a Letter from John Roach, Deputy Commissioner of Labor, New Jersey, June 21, 1929.
!! Letter from Frances Perkins, Industrial Commissioner, New York, July 22, 1929.
14 From memorandum furnished in July, 1929, by John P. Meade, director, division of industrial safety,
Massachusetts Department of Labor and industries.




44

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

The division of industrial safety in the department of labor and
industries follows up these reports with inspection, investigation, and
educational prevention programs.
Through a staff of 40 men and women, each one of whom is assigned to a dis­
trict allotted to his care, the inspection of industrial establishments goes on each
day. These inspectors are persons well trained in this work, some of them having
had extensive training for such duties. Some are experts in sanitation, others
advanced in machinery experience, and 8 of them have had many years’ training
in the trades connected with the construction of buildings.
In 1928, they made a total of 52,252 inspections. There were 44,385 estab­
lishments visited, of which 19,931 were manufacturing or mechanical and 24,454
were mercantile. The number of employees working in these places totaled
904,694—756,913 working in manufacturing establishments and 147,781 in mer­
cantile; 597,988 were males and 306,706 females.
In 1928, 10,742 orders were issued; 809 were outstanding on November 30,
1928. Nearly ail of these were in process of compliance at that time and have
been fully complied with since. They dealt principally with lighting facilities,
safeguarding of machinery, installing equipment for ventilation and sanitation,
and the construction of first-aid rooms. An explanation of orders issued by the
department should be made here:
These are in substance notices forwarded when a condition is found that is
prohibited by the statute or by regulations made by the department. The rela­
tion of the orders issued to the problem of industrial-accident prevention is seen
at once in presenting these facts:
Fifty-one (51) orders were issued when minors were found at prohibited trades;
6,219 required that work places be made safe for employees. These latter
included safeguarding of machinery and compliance with regulations in building
operations to prevent accidents. In the protection of the health of employees,
288 were issued dealing with ventilation, humidity, dust removal, and drinking
water; 448 for lighting; 1,855 with toilet and washing facilities; lockers, 6;
requiring medical chest or first-aid room, 1,033.
Approximately 8,746 industrial injuries have been investigated by inspectors
in the past four years.
Injuries because of contact with machinery have been reduced from 18,490
for the year ending June 30, 1919, to 8,586 for the year ending June 30, 1928.
* * * There has been a slight increase in nonmachinery accidents. Their
number for the year ending June 30, 1919, was 49,740, while”for the year ending
June 30, 1928, a total of 50,190 was recorded. Special attention has been given
to this side of the question.

Other advantages of this combination of inspection and investiga­
tion activities are that:
It stimulates interest in the prevention of accidents and occupational diseases.
Regular visitation by inspectors maintains this interest. * * * Every
accident investigated means a visit of the inspector to the establishment where
it occurs. If an inspection has not been made within six months, one must be
made during the visit. It must be certain that adequate first-aid treatment is
provided and injured employees treated as the law directs. When accidentprevention work was included within the duties of factory inspection work, a
good thing was accomplished. It was the logical thing to do. It was the best
means by which factory hazards might be controlled and conditions for employ­
ment made safe in industry.
An important development in this work has been securing cooperation of
machine manufacturers in equipping their product with safeguards before they
are installed for use in mill and factory. This work is at once beneficial to
employer and workman, in that safety devices are provided more economically
and the period of exposure of workmen to industrial hazards is diminished.

The organization of safety committees and the steady promotion
of accident-prevention educational programs have been other phases
of this work.




ACCIDENT PREVENTION

45

WISCONSIN*0
Our accident prevention activities may be classified under three heads, as
follows: Periodical inspections, special investigation of individual accidents, and
safety education. The State is divided into districts and we have at least one
factory inspector in each district whose duty is to make periodical inspections of
the places of employment in his district. In addition to making the regular
inspections, the deputies are required to investigate all serious accidents and
also all accidents, regardless of how serious they are, the employer’s report of
which indicates that they may have been caused'by violation of a' general safety
order of this commission.
The commission also has a director of safety education, whose duties are to
organize and supervise foreman safety schools and regional safety conferences.
As soon as these schools are better organized he will engage in other educational
activities.*•
*• Statement by Fred M. Wilcox, Chairman, Industrial Commission, Wisconsin, Sept. 19, 1929.




APPENDIX
STATE REPORTS IN WHICH ACCIDENT STATISTICS BY SEX ARE
OBTAINABLE, 1920 TO 1927, USED IN TABLES 1 TO 10
Alabama.—First quadrennial report of Workmen’s Compensation Commissioner,
1919-1922, pp. 226-228.
California.—Report of Industrial Accident Commission, July 1, 1921, to June 30,
1922, pp. 57 and 122.
Colorado.—Tenth report of Industrial Commission for the biennium Dec. 1, 1926,
to Nov. 30, 1928, facing p. 22.
Georgia.—Seventh and eighth annual reports of Industrial Commission, Jan. 1,
1927, to Dec. 31, 1928, pp. 22-23.
Idaho.—Sixth report of Industrial Accident Board, Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1928,
p. 139.
Illinois.—Ninth annual report of Department of Labor, July 1, 1925, to June 30,
1926, pp. 92 and 95-96; eleventh annual report of Department of Labor,
July 1, 1927, to June 30, 1928, pp. 74 and 84-85.
Indiana.—Annual report of Industrial Board, year ended Sept. 30, 1927, pp. 2, 3,
12-23, 33, 58-64, and 70.
Iowa.—Twenty-second report of Bureau of Labor, for biennial period ended
June 30, 1926, pp. 10-12.
Kentucky.—Eleventh annual report of Workmen’s Compensation Board, July 1,
1926, to June 30, 1927, p. 5.
Maryland.—Thirteenth annual report of State Industrial Accident, Commission,
Nov. 1, 1926, to Oct. 31, 1927, pp. 23-24.
Massachusetts.—Annual report of Department of Industrial Accidents for the
year ended June 30, 1927, pp. 2 and 33-34.
Minnesota.—Seventeenth biennial report of Department of Labor and Indus­
tries, 1919-1920, p. 59; second biennial report of Industrial Commission,
1923-1924, p. 51.
Missouri.—First annual report of Workmen’s Compensation Commission, Jan.
9, 1927, to Dec. 31, 1927, pp. 9 and 14.
Nebraska.—Report of Department of Labor for the two years ended Dec. 31,
1927, p. 20. Also letter.
New Jersey.—Industrial Bulletin of Department of Labor, September, 1928, pp.
43 and 45.
New York.—Special bul. 157 of Department of Labor. Compensation statistics,
year ended June 30, 1927, pp. 55-56; Industrial Bulletin, June, 1928, pp.
273-277.
Pennsylvania.—Special bul. 17 of Department of Labor and Industry, An analysis
of compensated accidents to minors for the year 1924, pp. 27 and 91;
Labor and Industry, December, 1926, p. 26. Also letter and manuscript
table.
Rhode Island.—Report of Commissioner of Labor for the year 1927, pp. 5 and
12-13.
Tennessee.—Eighth annual report, Bureau of Workshop and Factory Inspection,
Jan. 1, 1920, to Dec. 31, 1920, pp. 115-120.
Virginia.—Biennial report of Industrial Commission, 1924-1925, p. 12.
Wisconsin.—Wisconsin Labor Statistics, April-May, 1926, pp. 1 and 2.
46




PUBLICATIONS OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU
[Any of these bulletins still available will be sent free of charge upon request]

♦No.
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1. Proposed Employment of Women During the War in the Industries of
Niagara Falls, N. Y. 16 pp. 1918.
2. Labor Laws for Women in Industry in Indiana. 29 pp. 1919.
3. Standards for the-Employment of Women in Industry. 8 pp. Third
ed., 1921.
4. Wages of Candy Makers in Philadelphia in 1919. 46 pp. 1919.
5. The Eight-Hour Day in Federal and State Legislation. 19 pp. 1919.
6. The Employment of Women in Hazardous Industries in the United
States. 8 pp. 1921.
7. Night-Work Laws in the United States. (1919) 4 pp. 1920.
8. Women in the Government Service. 37 pp. 1920.
9. Home Work in Bridgeport, Conn. 35 pp. 1920.
10. Hours and Conditions of Work for Women in Industry in Virginia.
32 pp. 1920.
11. Women Street Car Conductors and Ticket Agents. 90 pp. 1921.
12. The New Position of Women in American Industry. 158 pp. 1920.
13. Industrial Opportunities and Training for Women and Girls. 48
pp. 1921.
14. A Physiological Basis for the Shorter Working Day for Women. 20
pp. 1921.
15. Some Effects of Legislation Limiting Hours of Work for Women. 26
pp. 1921.
16. (See Bulletin 63.)
17. Women’s Wages in Kansas. 104 pp. 1921.
18. Health Problems of Women in Industry. 11 pp. 1921.
19. Iowa Women in Industry. 73 pp. 1922.
20. Negro Women in Industry. 65 pp. 1922.
21. Women in Rhode Island Industries. 73 pp. 1922.
22. Women in Georgia Industries. 89 pp. 1922.
23. The Family Status of Breadwinning Women. 43 pp. 1922.
24. Women in Maryland Industries. 96 pp. 1922.
25. Women in the Candy Industry in Chicago and St. Louis. 72 pp. 1923.
26. Women in Arkansas Industries. 86 pp. 1923.
27. The Occupational Progress of Women. 37 pp. 1922.
28. Women’s Contributions in the Field of Invention. 51 pp. 1923.
29. Women in Kentucky Industries. 114 pp. 1923.
30. The Share of Wage-Earning Women in Family Support. 170 pp.
1923.
31. What Industry Means to Women Workers. 10 pp. 1923.
32. Women in South Carolina Industries. 128 pp. 1923.
33. Proceedings of the Women’s Industrial Conference. 190 pp. 1923.
34. Women in Alabama Industries. 86 pp. 1924.
35. Women in Missouri Industries. 127 pp. 1924.
36. Radio Talks on Women in Industry. 34 pp. 1924.
37. Women in New Jersey Industries. 99 pp. 1924.
38. Married Women in Industry. 8 pp. 1924.
39. Domestic Workers and Their Employment Relations. 87 pp. 1924.
40. (See Bulletin 63.)
41. Family Status of Breadwinning Women in Four Selected Cities. 145
pp. 1925.
42. List of References on Minimum Wage for Women in the United States
and Canada. 42 pp. 1925.
43. Standard and Scheduled Hours of Work for Women in Industry.
68 pp. 1925.
44. Women in Ohio Industries. 137 pp. 1925.

Supply exhausted.




47

48

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MEN AND WOMEN

No. 45. Home Environment and Employment Opportunities of Women in
Coal-Mine Workers’ Families. 61 pp. 1925.
No. 46. Facts about Working Women—A Graphic Presentation Based on
Census Statistics. 64 pp. 1925.
No. 47. Women in the Fruit-Growing and Canning Industries in the State of
Washington. 223 pp. 1926.
*No. 48. Women in Oklahoma Industries. 118 pp. 1926.
No. 49. Women Workers and Family Support. 10 pp. 1925.
No. 50. Effects of Applied Research upon the Employment Opportunities of
American Women. 54 pp. 1926.
No. 61. Women in Illinois Industries. 108 pp. 1926.
No. 52. Lost Time and Labor Turnover in CottonMills. 203 pp. 1926.
No. 53. The Status ofWomen in the Government Service
in 1925. 103 pp.
1926.
*
No. 54. Changing Jobs. 12 pp. 1926.
No. 55. Women in Mississippi Industries. 89 pp. 1926.
No. 56. Women in Tennessee Industries. 120 pp. 1927.
No. 57. Women Workers and Industrial Poisons. 5 pp. 1926.
No. 58. Women in Delaware Industries. 156 pp. 1927.
No. 59. Short Talks About Working Women. 24 pp. 1927.
No. 60. Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
316 pp. 1927.
No. 61. The Development of Minimum-Wage Laws in the United States, 1912
to 1927. 635 pp. 1928.
No. 62. Women’s Employment in Vegetable Canneries in Delaware. 47 pp.
1927.
No. 63. State Laws Affecting Working Women. 51 pp. 1927. (Revision of
Bulletins 16 and 40.)
No. 64. The Employment of Women at Night. 86 pp. 1928.
*No. 65. The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of
Women. 498 pp. 1928.
No. 66. History of Labor Legislation for Women in Three States; Chronological
Development of Labor Legislation for Women in the United States.
288 pp. 1929.
No. 67. Women Workers in Flint, Mich. 80 pp. 1929.
No. 68. Summary: The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Oppor­
tunities of Women. (Reprint of Chapter 2 of Bulletin 65.) 22 pp.
1928.
No. 69. Causes of Absence for Men and for Women in Four Cotton Mills. 24
pp. 1929.
No. 70. Negro Women in Industry in 15 States. 74 pp. 1929.
No. 71. Selected References on the Health of Women in Industry. 8 pp. 1929.
No. 72. Conditions of Work in Spin Rooms. 41 pp. 1929.
No. 73. Variations in Employment Trends of Women and Men. 143 pp. 1930.
No. 74. The Immigrant Woman and Her Job. 179 pp. 1930.
No. 75. What the Wage-Earning Woman Contributes to Family Support.
20 pp. 1929.
No. 76. Women in 5-and-10-Cent Stores and Limited-Price Chain Department
Stores. 58 pp. 1930.
No. 77. A study of Two Groups of Denver Married Women Applying for
Jobs. 10 pp. 1929.
No. 78. A Survey of Laundries and Their Women Workers in 23 Cities. 166
pp. 1930.
No. 79. Industrial Home Work. 18 pp. 1930.
No. 80. Women in Florida Industries. 115 pp. 1930.
No. 81. Industrial Accidents to Men and Women. 48 pp. 1930.
No. 82. The Employment of Women in the Pineapple Canneries of Hawaii.
(In press.)
No. 83. Fluctuation of Employment in the Radio Industry. (In press.)
Annual Reports of the Director, 1919*, 1920*, 1921*, 1922, 1923, 1924*, 1925,
1926, 1927*, 1928*, 1929, 1930.
, • Supply exhausted.




O