Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the ..session of the Legislature of the State of California . helarger hazards, it is apparent that the testimony of 25,000 cases is moretrustworthy than that of one-fiftieth of that number. The 291 death cases bear witness to the fact that the unusual or theextremely simple cause is the rule rather than the exception. Forinstance, death rarely occurs in the common field of injuries, such asbruises, contusions and abrasions resulting from petty machine acci-dents or simple conditions of hand labor, that number 6,753. Deathhappens in places
Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the ..session of the Legislature of the State of California . helarger hazards, it is apparent that the testimony of 25,000 cases is moretrustworthy than that of one-fiftieth of that number. The 291 death cases bear witness to the fact that the unusual or theextremely simple cause is the rule rather than the exception. Forinstance, death rarely occurs in the common field of injuries, such asbruises, contusions and abrasions resulting from petty machine acci-dents or simple conditions of hand labor, that number 6,753. Deathhappens in places where the hazard is common knowledge, and every-one who accepts the conditions realizes the chance taken in couplingcars, switcning, scaling beams 300 feet in mid air, sitting in mines withfaulty timbers that prop loose slate, or smoking a cigarette over a boxof dynamite caps. That these causes of serious accidents are simpleand sure is patent to everyone, and there is little to be gained from theirstudy. The frequency of such accidents only serves to accentuate the 60 REPORT OP INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT Fig. VII. REPORT OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT COMMISSION. 61 need for the exercise of ordinary judgment and care on the part of allconcerned: but the consistent recurrence of accidents in similar indus-tries under similar circumstances that cause 25,000 men to lose in ahalf-year period the equivalent of 784 years for one man, or 784 menfor one years time, furnishes vast opportunity for industry to squareitself with a rational economy. Therefore, it is of value to know that7,572 or per cent of the 25,000 injured men received their injurieswhile at some form of hand labor, and that 1,330 or per cent wereinjured while working at power-driven machinery. A comparison ofthe causes of fatalities reveals a similar but not altogether reliablecondition, where hand labor is responsible for approximately 23 per centof the deaths, while machinery is responsible for per cent
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