The number of accidents reported and the number compensated for the period 1890 to 1907 is shown in the following table: NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS REPORTED AND NUMBER COMPENSATED, 1890 TO 1907. [Source: Amtliche Nachrichten betr. Unfall- und Krankenversicherung, 1905-1909.] The number of accidents reported shows a continuous increase since 1890, largely due, according to the official reports, to improvements in the system of reporting accidents. The number of accidents compensated is naturally much smaller than the number reported, principally because the number compensated includes only those causing disability for more than four weeks. The number of accidents reported per 10,000 full-time workers insured has increased since 1890 with a stationary period in the years 1899, 1900, and 1901. The number of accidents compensated per 10,000 full-time workers also shows an increase since 1890. It is to be expected that as the insured persons become more familiar with the operations of the law, they would report accidents more carefully and thereby succeed in securing compensation for a larger proportion of cases. The increase in the number of accidents compensated is shown by fatal and nonfatal accidents in the following table: NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS AND NUMBER PER 10,000 FULL-TIME WORKERS, 1890 TO 1907. [Source: Amtliche Nachrichten betr. Unfall- und Krankenversicherung, 1907-1909.] The number of fatal accidents per 10,000 full-time workers has remained practically unchanged since 1890; the number of nonfatal accidents per 10,000 full-time workmen, causing disability for more than four weeks, has, with but one exception, the year 1903, increased each year since the inauguration of the insurance system. The cause already mentioned-that of increasing familiarity with the law and of consequent ability of the insured persons to assert their rights under the law more fully-while accounting for part of the increase in the accident rate, still leaves at least part of the increase unexplained. As the same increase has occurred in other countries, it must be concluded that the actual number of accidents has increased since 1890 and this increase must be regarded as due to modern industrial methods, such as the speeding up of machinery, greater complexity of organization, etc. The table following, showing the distribution of the accidents into three classes, those resulting in temporary disability, permanent disability, and death, is given for the purpose of comparing the relative increase in the number of injuries causing temporary disability with that of those causing permanent disability during the period 1890 to 1907. NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS REPORTED PER 10,000 FULL-TIME WORKERS, BY RESULTS OF ACCIDENTS, 1890 TO 1907. [Source: Amtliche Nachrichten betr. Unfall- und Krankenversicherung, 1894-1909.] a Including accidents resulting in permanent disability. As already stated, the accidents resulting in death have remained practically constant during the period 1890 to 1907. The accidents resulting in permanent disability were 19.3 per 10,000 full-time workers in 1890 and increased each year up to 1896, when they were 42.1 per 10,000. In the eight years following 1896 the permanent disablements were as low as 35.0 and as high as 42.8 per 10,000 full-time workers, but may be said to have been fairly constant during this period with an average of somewhat less than 40 per 10,000 full-time workers. In other words, during the ten years ending 1904, there was no increase either in the number of accidents per 10,000 full-time workers resulting in death or in the number causing permanent disability. The increase in the accidents above referred to has occurred, therefore, in the number of accidents causing temporary disability of over four weeks. In 1890 the number of such accidents was 55.9 per 10,000 full-time workers; in 1895 it was 87.4, and since that year has shown an increase in each year except 1904, when there was a slight decrease from 1903. The number of accidents causing temporary disability has therefore increased 37.5 per 10,000 full-time workers during the period 1895 to 1904. In addition to the number of accidents resulting in permanent disability, it is of importance to know the degree of disability which each accident has caused. The table following shows the degree of disability in such cases. LOSS OF EARNING POWER SUSTAINED BY PERSONS PERMANENTLY DISABLED, 1890 TO 1907. [Source: Amtliche Nachrichten betr. Unfall- und Krankenversicherung, 1892–1909.] Per cent of total cases of permanent disability in which the loss of earning power was 1905. 17.7 (a) 20.7 62.9 (a) 18.9 14.4 (a) 7.2 6. 1 (a) 23.0 10.8 (a) 30.2 5.8 14.9 (a) 9.9 6.7 (a) 21.2 9.6 (a) 21.3 4.5 7.5 11.2 20.5 11.8 11.7 69.2 28.5 65.9 a Not separately reported. The lowest degree of disability, loss of earning power of two-sixths or less, comprises the largest number of cases of permanent disablement, the proportion for all the institutions being 49.6 per cent in 1890 and 71.6 per cent in 1907. The separate figures given for the years 1901 to 1907 show that the territorial institutions in 1907 had 75.2 per cent of all permanent cases in this class; the railroad cases have a smaller proportion than the other and are responsible for reducing the general average; a general increase in the proportion of cases with loss of earning power of two-sixths or less is therefore shown by the table, though in 1894 the proportion was nearly as high as it was in 1907. Corresponding to this movement, the other grades of disability show decreases during the period in question. The proportion of all cases of total disability shows a tendency to be slightly less than 5 per cent in the last few years, though during the years 1893, 1894, and 1896 the proportion was 3.6, 2.9, and 3.8 per cent, respectively. All of the five classes of disability indicate that the disability resulting in the case of railway employees entails a higher average loss of earning power than in the case of the persons engaged in other industries and insured in the territorial institutions. The table following shows the number of accidents per 10,000 fulltime workers, by groups of industries, for the period 1894 to 1907. For the industries included in the insurance by the law of 1894, the first year for which data are available is 1895. |