Source 6 | Transcript

Full Transcript source 6

Extract from a newspaper report from 3rd August 1899. It is commenting on the Compensation Act. It also includes details of the number of miners killed and injured in accidents from July 1898 to June 1899 and in the previous twelve months. The newspaper also gives the same information for men working in quarries, factories, and the railway service. Additional (miscellaneous) workers in industries including workshops are also listed.

(Catalogue ref: HO 87/53)

THE COMPENSATION ACT
A YEAR'S WORKING
BIG CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS
SERIOUS INCREASE

FATAL BY 14%: NON-FATAL BY 38%

When the Compensation Act was first mooted "The Daily News," it will be remembered, deprecated the proposed new departure in legislation, on the ground that universal compensation meant general insurance of risks, and general insurance or risks meant increasing accidents, by removing the special incentives to carefulness. This conclusion we based, not on the essential reasonableness of the theory, but upon the experience under the German and Austrian schemes of Universal Compensation for Accidents. Last January, when the Compensation Act had been in operation for six months, we took the trouble to extract the Board of Accident returns, and compare them with the official figures for the corresponding six months of the previous year. The result was a vindication of our warning. It showed that non-fatal accidents had increased by 43%, and fatal accidents by 12¼% during the six months. We expressly recognised, however the shortness of the period for comparative purposes. We now have the opportunity of testing the Act by a full year's working.

Its effect in causing the premature discharge of the more elderly among the workmen we have repeatedly dealt with. All that need now be said upon this point is that this effect will make itself still more visibly felt with the slackening of trade, and the consequent contraction of the demand for labour. At present things are so busy in many industries that even the least efficient pairs of hands are certain of securing full work. Thus the very old and very young as well as those in their prime showing "silver streaks, are getting full employment. We have also dealt, almost daily, with the extraordinary anomalies and ridiculous legal absurdities presented in the interpretation of the Act by the different Judges. Both these aspects of the measure may, therefore be left for the present.

We will now merely glance at the number of accidents taking place in the industries coming within the scope of its operation. The figures are extracted from the "The Labour Gazette" for each of the twelve months since July of last year, when the Act became operative. The following give the monthly returns for the several occupations under which the accidents are separately reported:

Railway service
Month	Number killed in year of Compensation Act	Number killed in previous year	Numbers injured in year of Compensation Act	Numbers injured in previous Year
July	49	50	967	1,230
August	46	42	1,133	1,081
September	54	39	1,174	1,052
October	43	50	1,100	1,188
November	41	36	1,305	1,081
December	55	68	1,231	1,222
January	45	36	1,297	1,030
February	41	42	1285	1,096
March	37	38	1,222	1,195
April	42	44	1,063	900
May	35	25	1,094	873
June	34	35	1,021	889
	---	---	-------	-------
	522	505	13,992	12,837

Mines
Month	Number killed in year of Compensation Act	Number killed in previous year	Numbers injured in year of Compensation Act	Numbers injured in previous Year
July	67	68	325	396
August	82	96	367	373
September	83	70	399	360
October	78	47	400	425
November	46	64	429	463
December	77	82	424	369
January	78	72	357	385
February	88	77	384	315
March	73	63	372	366
April	42	44	343	317
May	90	59	384	322
June	72	64	398	327
	---	---	-------	-------
	908	806	4,582	4,418
Quarries
Month	Number killed in year of Compensation Act	Number killed in previous year	Numbers injured in year of Compensation Act	Numbers injured in previous Year
July	6	11	132	67
August	14	8	147	57
September	5	9	145	63
October	20	9	153	74
November	21	9	142	86
December	8	7	107	102
January	15	5	119	107
February	12	11	113	89
March	14	8	103	114
April	7	8	73	80
May	7	10	97	90
June	6	6	398	327
	---	---	-------	-------
	135	101	1,729	1,256


Factories
Month	Number killed in year of Compensation Act	Number killed in previous year	Numbers injured in year of Compensation Act	Numbers injured in previous Year
July	39	40	4218	2828
August	46	35	4248	2665
September	51	32	4912	3094
October	56	39	5092	3036
November	59	51	5261	3149
December	71	54	5151	3363
January	62	39	4430	2855
February	65	42	4961	3303
March	48	44	5541	3794
April	64	45	4504	3312
May	49	38	4995	3722
June	50	45	5325	3444
	---	---	-------	-------
	660	504	58,628	38,555

Miscellaneous. (Including Workshops under Factory Act, 1895, and Notices of Accident Act, 1894).

Month

Number killed in year of Compensation Act

Number killed in previous year

Numbers injured in year of Compensation Act

Numbers injured in previous Year

July

724

457

August

805

424

September

995

523

October

834

555

November

1009

605

December

1030

556

January

881

553

February

924

559

March

876

588

April

791

597

May

967

606

June

956

653

---

----

238

203

10,892

6,676

TOTAL INJURED

Taking the total of non-fatal accidents for the foregoing set of occupations, we find that the following are the comparative figures:

	Year of Compensation Act	Previous Year
Railway	13,992	12,837
Mines	4,582	4,418
Quarries	1,729	1,266
Factories	58,628	38,555
Miscellaneous	10,892	6,676
	--------	--------
	89,823	63,742
Or an increase of 38 per cent.