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CHAPTER V. 
has risen very rapidly in recent years. Fortunately there is convincing 
evidence that this rise represents mainly an improvement in the reporting 
of accidents. All competent witnesses are agreed upon this point and 
there is substance in the claim of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 
Bengal that the increase in the totals year after year is a measure of the 
increased efficiency of the department in registeringfactories both new and 
long established, and is a result of increased inspection staff and rigour in 
enforcing the provisions of the Act *. The fact that there has been a great 
improvement in the reporting of accidents has been established by investi- 
gation ; it receives independent confirmation from an examination of the 
statistics of accidents. For the incidence of fatal accidents which, by 
common consent, are well reported, has shown little variation. On 
the other hand, the ratio of non-fatal to fatal accidents has risen 
steadily. There has been no cause at work to increase this ratio except 
the improvement in reporting, and the fact that the ratio of non-fatal 
to fatal accidents between 1892 and 1922 was much lower than that 
experienced in other countries indicated that the reporting of the former 
was defective. It seems probable that even now a considerable number 
of minor accidents are unreported, but the standard of reporting has so 
greatly improved that no rise in the figures comparable to that of the last 
decade may be expected in the future. It should be added that, while a 
large measure of credit is due to the inspecting staff for the improvement 
in reporting, other factors have had an influence, particularly the introduc- 
bion of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, which has given the workers 
& more direct interest in seeing that accidents do not pass unnoticed. 
Actual Increase in Accidents. 
Although most of the rise in the incidence of accidents is due to 
better reporting, itis doubtful if it can all be put down to this cause. It is 
dangerous to dogmatise where statistics are faulty, but the evidence 
tends to show that there has been an increase in the risk run by the aver- 
age operative. A considerable part of the increase in the number of 
operatives has been due to the increase in the number of small factories, 
in which the incidence of accidents is usually low. Probably increased 
efficiency has also had some effect, for a rise in the output per operative 
(or, what is the same thing, a fall in the number of operatives per unit 
of output) will in itself increase the incidence of accidents per operative, 
apart from the increased risk which © speeding up ” entails. There is 
reason to believe that the advance in recent years in the complexity 
of machinery and processes has been more rapid than the advance in 
the mentality of the operative. Without seeking to approve the readi- 
ness of a few employers to attribute the great majority of accidents 
to causes for which they are not responsible, we would emphasise the 
fact that too often the operatives have an imperfect realisation of 
the risks they run. This is, in part, due to the fact that the majority 
are brought up without any familiarity with machinery, while the steady 
expansion of industry necessarily involves the employment of a large 
proportion of inexperienced workers. In consequence of these and other 
influences, workers display at times a seeming apathy to danger.