Document QXmERD2Kj3mJbXJDpKZVezkm8

Fic 1--7b --Since 1933, death rates per 100,000 workers were at their highest for manufacturing in 1936 and for nonmanufactunng in 1937 Since thoseyears, both rates decreased more than 50 per cent and reached their lowest levels in the past five years These lower rates resulted from deaths declining about one-fourth, and increased numbers of work ers Fic l-7c --The injury frequency rate of NSC reporters declined rapidly to 1932, increased in World War II, then reached a record low in 1962 The 67% increase to 1017 in 1972 from the 610 average of 1961-63 would have been only 37 % to 8 36 if 1972 industry representa tion had been the same as 198163 The seventy rate followed a similar pattern The 1972 decline of 4% from 1981-63 was not af fected by changes in industry rep resentation OCATft flATO YREOUEIICY MATE SEVERITY RATE Safety professionals, unlike designers of a new piece of machinery, cannot look philo sophically upon errors and breakdowns in the experimental stage Since they deal with human lives, human health, and immediate efficiency and productivity, safety professionals must deal with today's problems today On the other hand, they cannot be content to run from emergency to emergency They must consider the long-term effects of their work--the increase of knowledge, the im provement of techniques, the development of organizational forms which will serve them well next year and for many years to come. Since the factors are complex, no simple rating scale can indicate an answer to the ques tion, "What has the safety movement accom plished?" In the absence of such a rating scale, an attempt to answer the question must be made by assembling several lands of data. Statistical evaluation First, the question must be asked, "Has the safety movement, m fact, done anything in the past to prevent accidents'1" To that ques tion can be answered a clear "Yes'" If the annual accidental death rate per thousand of population which held m 1912 had continued, there would have been over 1 5 million more accidental deaths than actu ally occurred Since 1912, the death rate for persons of normal working age--25 to 64 years--declined more than 67 percent while the rate of all ages of the entire population de clined only half that much Medical progress accounts for some of this gam, but the larger part is certainly the product of organized safety work The work accident figures probably under state the progress made in industrial safety. 9