The results of injuries are classified in three groups, death, permanent disability, and temporary disability. Combined data for four years, 1899 to 1902, published by the National Accident Insurance Institution, have been used because they afford the advantage of larger numbers, from which the conclusions are somewhat more trustworthy than from other available data. These data are presented in connection with the study of the operations of the national institution. A little more than 1 per cent of the accidents prove fatal, a little over 4 per cent lead to permanent disability, and nearly 95 per cent to temporary disability only. The variations between industrial groups are important. The highest rate of fatal accidents is found in agriculture, 1.69 per cent of all accidents resulting in death; in mining 1.68 per cent of all accidents resulted fatally, and in building and construction 1.44 per cent. The high fatality rate of agricultural accidents is due mainly to the fact that in this industry only persons tending machinery are covered by the compulsory accident insurance law. Besides, the reporting of minor accidents in agriculture is probably not so efficient as in other industries. The lowest fatality rates are found in clothing, paper and printing, brick, earthen and glass ware, machinery, metal working, and textiles. For four years there was not one fatal accident in the clothing industry, and only one in the paper and printing industries combined. A more careful analysis of the results of industrial accidents is possible for 1902. The tables which follow not only divide the accidents into fatal ones and those leading to temporary disability, partial permanent disability, and total permanent disability, but indicate for the cases of temporary disability the duration of such disability, and for cases of partial permanent disability, the degree of disability in percentages. Out of 57,617 accidents, 54,439, or 94.5 per cent, resulted in temporary disability only, and 2,716, or 4.7 per cent in permanent, but only partial disability, leaving only 0.8 of 1 per cent for the fatal cases and total permanent disability cases combined. Of the cases of temporary disability, the vast majority lasted a very short time only. Accidents causing disability of less than six days are not considered. Of the total of 57,617 accidents, 27,666, or 48 per cent, caused disability for only six to fifteen days, and 17,149, or 29.8 per cent, disability for sixteen to thirty days, so that in 77.8 per cent of the cases considered the disability did not last over thirty days, and in 7,356 cases, or 12.8 per cent, from thirtyone to sixty days. Even when permanent disability results from the accidents, the reduction of earning power is very small in the majority of cases. Of the 2,748 cases of permanent disability, in 1,157, or over twofifths of the cases, it destroyed from 5 to 10 per cent of the total earning capacity of the injured, and in 576, or a little more than one-fifth, from 11 to 20 per cent of the earning capacity, so that in more than three-fifths of all the cases of permanent disability such disability does not exceed 20 per cent. The tables show the results of the injuries for each industrial group and also for each cause of accidents. |