The New York Times/1918/11/11/Fewer Workers Injured
FEWER WORKERS INJURED.
Industrial Board Points Out Benefits of Compensation Law.
A report by the Bureau of Compensation of the State Industrial Commission says that since employers have had to pay for accidents to their employes the number of accidents in industrial plants have greatly decreased, the average of the last year being a little less than one in each plant. This is explained by the fact that employers are now more careful to safeguard their employes against accidents, and that men and women are not now set to work at machines until they have been fully instructed in the use of them.
Another point made by the commission is that the cost of compensation has conveinced employers that it is cheaper to employ skilled men and women at a higher rate than those who are unskilled at a lesser wage. In 1914, when the compensation law was enacted, the average weekly wages of employes was between $13 and $14 a week. The average is now $20. Commenting on the fact that the Federal Government has appropriated $2,000,000 and enacted a law for the rehabilitation of soldiers, the report says that the soldiers of peace as well as of war need rehabilitation. It adds:
"Industrially who needs to be rehabilitated? The answer is those who have been permanently injured. Therefore the importance of prevention is emphasized, for prevention makes unnecessary compensation and rehabilitation. In this connection it is well for every employer and every citizen to sit down and contemplate the loss from an industrial accident.
"It begins the moment the injured workman leaves his machine. It affects not only the workman himself, but his family, his employer, his possible other employers for whom he might have worked had he not been injured, &c. In fact, it is a case of pure loss, and its burden is borne by somebody somewhere. The value of the preventive measure therefore becomes all the more apparent as the question is considered to its end."