SAFETY IN MINES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 December 1938, Page 7

SAFETY IN MINES

ACCIDENT RISKS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. _ JAPAN HEADS THE' LIST. GENEVA, Dec. An International Labour Office report submitted to a committee of experts that met last month in Geneva to discuss the question of “Safety in Coal Mines,”, discloses that the fatalaccident rate in Japanese coal mines exceeds the rate of any other country.

Emphasising the fact that accident risks in coal mines are far higher than in other industries, the report gives statistics for the leading coal producing nations. These show that between 1927 and 1935 fatalities in Japanese coal mines averaged 4.32 per 1000 man-years of exposure to risk, as compared with 4.27 for the United States; 3.07 for Canada; 2.77 for the Union of South Africa; 2.01 for Poland; 1.70 for New Zealand; 1.61 for Germany (Prussia); 1.34 for Great Britain; 1.18 each for Belgium and India; 1.01 for France; 0.92 for the Netherlands; and 0.84 for Australia. In all but six of the above countries, however, the fatal-accident rate decreased between 1927 and 1935. The six exceptions were: Japan, where there was an increase from 3.80 in 1927 to 5.64 in 1935; Canada, where the increase was from 2.91 to 3.45; the Union of South Africa, from 2.45 to 4.88; Poland, from 1.81 to 2.46; India, from 1.10 to 1.66; and France, from 0.98 to 1.03. In the United States fatal accidents in coal mines decreased from 4.43 in 1927 to 3.67 in 1935; in New Zealand, the decrease was from 1.86 to 0.47; in Germany (Prussia), from 1.80 to 1.15; in Great Britain, from 1.34 to 1.29; in Belgium, from 1.30 to 1.10; in the Netherlands, from 1.09 to 0.92; and in Australia, from 1.03 to 0.69.

Statistics of non-fatal accidents in coal mines contained in the report, are less complete. But they show that between 1930 and 1935 France had the highest average of non-fatal accidents measured in terms of 1000 man years of exposure to risk! The average for France was 422.6 as compared with 414.5 for Japan; 219.2 for the United States; 209.3 for the Netherlands; 199.1 for Great Britain; 182.5 for Poland; 142.6 for Canada; and 141.9 for Germany.

In all these countries the non-fatal accident rate declined during this sixyear period. In France, the decline was from 417.1 in 1930 to 413.4 in 1935; in Japan, from 475.7 to 352.5; in the Netherlands, from 252.0 to 194.8; in the United States, from 251.4 to 193.7; in Great Britain, from 212.4 to 201.1; in Poland, from 190.4 to 183.1; and in Germany (Prussia) from 165.3 to 119.3.