BUILDING ACCIDENTS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 88, 8 January 1935, Page 2

BUILDING ACCIDENTS

Great Extent of Frequency

Accidents in the building trade are approximately twice as great in their; frequency and severity as the average of accidents in all industries. Thia fact is brought out by the studies of the International Labour Office at Geneva in the field of industrial safety, Thus the number of accidents per 1000 full-time workers in Germany during the year 1932 was 106 for the building trade and 60 for industry in general, excluding mines. The frequency rate (per 1000 full-time workers) in the United States was 14.56 for the average of all industries, but in the building industry it reached 55.66. The severity rate (days lost per 1000 manhours) was 1.59 for the average of all industries and 5.76 for the building industry. In the French building industry it has been estimated that of 1000 fulltime workers (i.e„ those employed during an average working year of 270. days) there were on the average 0.81 fatal accidents, eight accidents causing permanent invalidity and 220 accidents causing temporary incapacity for work.

In the construction and repair of buildings in Great Britain in 1932 there were 2311 accidents, of which 95 were fatal. There were 1936 accidents, 80 of them beiug fatal, in 1933, Statistics of accident? in other countries reveal a similar position.

Mining, navigation and lumbering are the only industries with higher, accident rates than the building industry, but in these the workers have to contend with natural phenomena that are particularly difficult or quite impossible to control, such as outbursts of gas, movements of the ground, or bad weather.