established. This bureau has headquarters in New York City and is in charge of a general manager whose entire time is given to the collection of statistics and photographs and to the coördination and administration of the safety, sanitation, and welfare work of the Corporation.

Each subsidiary company has its Central Committee of Safety composed of representatives from the department of safety and relief, the legal and the surgical departments, and from the various plants.1 To assist this committee on special problems subcommittees of master mechanics, electrical engineers, blast furnace superintendents, and others, are consulted. Each plant has its own committee, under which are the safety inspector, special committees, department committees, a safety instructor, and committees of foremen and workmen. Each of these units has in charge the work for which it is best adapted and each is connected with the central committee through an unbroken line of responsibility. Frequent meetings are held, inspections are made, and recommendations for improvements are considered, reports on all of these activities being made to the superior committees which take final action.5

Although no one of the methods of accident prevention outlined should be neglected, they are not all of equal importance in their results. Mere safeguarding of machines can accomplish little without education

*The organization of the Illinois Steel Co. will be treated as typical of the methods in vogue in all subsidiary companies.

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For a graphic outline of this organization see the diagram on the opposite page.

of employees and the successful carrying out of any scheme depends largely on the organization behind it. Robert J. Young, Manager of the Department of Safety and Relief of the Illinois Steel Company, has made the following estimate of the relative efficiency of the several methods:

Any such estimate is, of course, not final, but serves as an indication of the relative importance to be attached to various activities in connection with safety work.

Occupational Diseases.-The problem of diseases arising from a workman's occupation is a phase of industrial hazard which has been given less attention than the problem of violent accidents. While less spectacular it is worthy of careful study, and efforts for prevention should take the same direction, with the emphasis on medical care and the prevention of infection.

References at end of Chapter III.

CHAPTER III

THE RESULTS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION

Since the aim of accident prevention is reduction of the losses occasioned by industrial accidents, its results should be measured in terms of saving to those who have experienced such losses. Society is benefited by an increase in general productiveness and a decrease in the expense of caring for the injured and their dependents and of hearing damage suits. The employer gains through increased efficiency due to avoidance of friction and greater permanence of his labor force, as well as through lessened expense for insurance or for defending damage suits and paying claims. The employee receives more wages, loses less time, and both he and his dependents avoid suffering and privation. A considerable body of figures exists showing reduced accident frequency and consequent economic saving due directly to organized accident prevention.

Reduction in Accident Frequency.-Reduction in accident frequency is the most immediate and striking result of safety work. A careful record of the disabling injuries occurring in a large steel plant from 1900 to 1911 shows the effect of a developing safety program. These accidents were reduced from 370 per one thousand 300-day workers in 1900 to 109 per