صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

former the settlement must be final, whereas the natives, if they return with the intention of remaining permanently in Norway, enter again into the enjoyment of the pension.

The factory-inspection law of June 27, 1892, imposed upon the factory inspector the duty of controlling the prevention of accidents in industrial establishments. For this purpose all accidents resulting in invalidity of at least eight days' duration were to be reported by the proprietor of the business to the competent local inspector and by him investigated. No provision was made for regular inspection by the insurance institution. However, the insurance institution was authorized by the law of 1894 to cause establishments involving special danger of accidents to be investigated by the factory inspector, or by agents especially appointed for the purpose, and if the dangers alleged were found to exist, to issue the necessary instructions. If the danger could not be avoided, or if the measure taken for the purpose by the institution proved ineffective, the institution. was authorized to list the establishment in a higher risk class or, if it was already in the highest class, to increase its premium to three times the original amount. But no use was made of this provision on account of the lack of inspectors. Indeed, the prevention of accidents is a field of social reform which has been greatly neglected in Norway. Very little has been done by the factory inspector up to the present time. It is an unfortunate circumstance that many of the establishments to which the accident-insurance law applies are not included under the factory-inspection law, which embraces only factories and establishments like factories, together with mines, etc. The King, however, has the right to issue corresponding preventive measures for establishments or branches of industry which involve special dangers, but up to the present time such orders have been issued only for book printing and match factories.

In 1896 the Storting decided to submit the factory law to a thorough revision, with the result that on August 25, 1905, the Government presented a project for the "preparation of a law concerning the inspection of the work in factories," and again on February 14, 1907, presented another project almost identical with the former. In the discussion of the bill the question of turning over the prevention of accidents to the insurance institution by a partial amalgamation of the two organs was considered, but with no result. The Government could not be persuaded of the advisability of such a measure, and was rather of the opinion that the two institutions, the inspection of factories and the insurance institution, have such different problems to solve that they should remain independent of each other. But the Government urged that they cooperate in the prevention of accidents, and for this purpose it was provided in the law of 1906 that the insurance institution, through

its inspectors, must immediately inform the competent local inspectors of all the accidents reported to it, and that the proprietor of the establishment must, as soon as possible, and at the latest within three days, report to the institution of insurance the accidents which occur in his establishments and which result in invalidity of more than three days' duration. If the establishment is not included under accident insurance the duty of making the announcement devolves upon the factory inspector. But this will seldom be the case, so that the organs of accident insurance are really solely responsible for providing the factory inspectors with the information on which they shall base their measures for the prevention of accidents. The bill provides that factory inspection shall be extended to include more establishments than it does under the present law. This is a concession to the demands of the insurance institution.

The bill also includes provisions whereby employees are made responsible for assisting in the prevention of accidents. In the present law the responsibility is thrown entirely upon the employer. It is provided that the workmen shall be represented by one member in each local board of inspectors, and provision is also made for the establishment of a bureau of work under the minister concerned, which shall consist of seven members, namely-a lawyer as president, three employers, and three workmen.

INSURANCE OF SEAMEN.

As has already been noted, the Norwegian law requires shipowners to make definite provision for sick and injured seamen. But this continues for a comparatively short period, at most 12 weeks. This aid is supplemented by the work of several societies and institutions, most of which are very old and have for their object the support of needy seamen and their survivors. These societies fall into three groups:

(a) The five sea department societies established by royal order of April 27, 1811. These are under public control, and have to submit their accounts each year to the minister for the army and navy. They are founded exclusively on voluntary contributions, which have, however, become very slight in recent years, and in the case of some societies have long since ceased. At the close of 1897 their assets amounted to 158,723 crowns ($42,538).

(b) Private support societies with officially approved by-laws. The rise of these societies dates back to the royal order of May 15, 1832, by which a commission was appointed to prepare the requisite provisions. The purpose of the societies is to render support to needy seamen and their survivors. Such support may also be given to nonmembers. Incomes are derived from voluntary contributions. On account of their uncertain nature, no definite pensions or support can

be promised in advance. Of these societies 14 still exist, with a total amount of assets at the close of 1897 of 236,499 crowns ($63,382).

(c) Private-aid associations. Their number seems to be 13, with a total amount of assets at the end of 1897 of 294,683 crowns ($78,975). The contributions which go to make up the assets of these societies come mainly from seamen. It is true of all the societies that voluntary participation in them has largely fallen off, so that, for the most part, they can maintain their existence only by means of the interest on their accumulated capital.

Much more important are the endowments which have been made in the course of time for seamen in the form of legacies and foundations. Of these, 73 were in existence at the end of 1900, with a total capital of 51,080,200 crowns ($13,689,494); but some of them have other objects than the granting of support to seamen.

But that all this does not go far to satisfy the needs is very evident if one considers the comparative magnitude of Norway's merchant marine. At the end of 1906 the number of vessels engaged in navigation was as follows:

NUMBER AND TONNAGE OF VESSELS AND NUMBER OF SEAMEN EMPLOYED, 1906. [Source: Die Arbeiter-Versicherung im Auslande, Dr. Zacher, Heft IIIb, 1908, p. 32.]

[blocks in formation]

The population of Norway in 1906 was about 2,300,000; so that the number of seamen employed was about 1.5 per cent of the entire population.

Repeated attempts have been made by organizations of seamen to induce the Government to establish a system of seamen's insurance. As a result a royal order was issued on October 31, 1891, directing the minister of the interior to appoint a committee for the consideration of the measures to be taken for the introduction of sickness and accident insurance and a pension society for seamen, and also for the regulation of sanitary conditions on merchant vessels. On June 21, 1900, this committee submitted to the minister a project for a law concerning the insurance of seamen. This project included sickness, accident, invalidity, old-age, and death insurance. But nothing came of this project.

On July 19, 1907, the minister of commerce, navigation, and industry submitted to the parties interested a project for a law concerning the insurance of seamen against accidents. The minister's

reason for limiting his proposals to accident insurance was that, as special committees were already considering the questions of general insurance against sickness and invalidity, he did not regard it as timely to discuss these forms of insurance with special reference to

seamen.

According to this project the insurance shall comprise the crews (including captains) of all decked Norwegian vessels engaged in: (1) Transportation to foreign countries, fishing or other hunting on the sea, without distinction of tonnage; (2) the coasting trade or in navigation on lakes and rivers, provided these ships have a registered gross tonnage of 30 tons or more; and (3) all men listed in the maritime register.

All the indemnities will be calculated according to the rules issued for the accident insurance of 1894.

All premiums shall be paid by the shipowners.

The insurance shall be administered by the Royal Institution of Workmen's Insurance, and the administration expenses shall be borne by the State.

FISHERMEN'S INSURANCE.

In the fishing industry, one of the most important industries of the Norwegian people, there occur every year a great many fatal accidents. So common are they that only the especially great disasters attract the attention of the outside world. Such a catastrophe occurred in October, 1899, when 136 fishermen perished at one fishing ground during a sudden storm. On this occasion the public contributed 800,000 crowns ($214,400) to the relief of the survivors. After their needs had been provided for, there was left over a sum of 125,091.97 crowns ($33,525) as a fund to be used later. But in the case of ordinary accidents there was, until recently, no special provision for the relief of the victims and their survivors except that afforded by the private aid societies, based on the voluntary contributions of members, and these could do so little that the poor relief had to be depended upon.

It is estimated that the persons engaged in fishing number about 90,000, of whom about 50,000 carry on fishing as their principal occupation and 40,000 as a subsidiary occupation. After the institution of industrial insurance in 1894, there was much agitation for the making of similar provision for fishermen. But many difficulties were in the way, especially the fact that only a minority of the fishermen were in the employ of owners of vessels, most of them being independently engaged in fishing, either individually or in parties. In 1907 the fishing fleet numbered as follows.

NUMBER OF VESSELS OF EACH CLASS ENGAGED IN FISHING IN 1907.
[Source: Die Arbeiter-Versicherung im Auslande, Dr. Zacher, Heft IIIb, 1908, p. 34.]

[blocks in formation]

These vessels employed about 27,000 men. There were also more than 20,000 open boats, whose crews provided their own equipment and fished on shares.

If it is assumed that these decked vessels and steamships all belong to employing owners, so that collective insurance would be possible for the crews, there remain about 63,000 persons for whom individual insurance would be necessary. On account of the poor conditions of life of the fishing population, it was evident that the problem could not be solved by the fishermen themselves but only by the formation of a state organization. The first step in this direction was taken by the minister for commerce, navigation, and industry, who, June 29, 1905, called upon the Fishery Bureau to prepare a statement of the principles of insurance. As a result, memorials were collected by various associations and the competent authorities, and on the basis of these memorials, the director of the Fishery Bureau submitted a proposal for a law concerning accident insurance of fishermen.

On the basis of this proposal, but with considerable modifications, the Government prepared a measure which was presented to the Storting in February, 1908, and resulted in the law of August 8, 1908, concerning the insurance of fishermen against accidents. This law went into effect on January 1, 1909.

The details of the law are in general the same as those of the workmen's accident insurance law of 1894. The principal provisions of the law are as follows:

PROVISIONS OF THE LAW OF AUGUST 8, 1908.

INJURIES COMPENSATED.-Compensation is paid in case of death or permanent disability resulting from an accident at sea while engaged in the occupations mentioned, while traveling on the land in the course of such employment, or while engaged in the preparation and sale of marine products. While such insured persons are on a marine voyage, but not engaged in their usual occupation, they are compensated only in case of death by drowning or accidents due to navigation.

PERSONS INCLUDED.-All persons living in Norway who are engaged in marine fishing or hunting of marine animals, or in the preparation and sale of marine products, either exclusively or in conjunction with

« السابقةمتابعة »