SAFETY AND PRODUCTION 
SECTION 1 
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 
Bv Albert W. Whitney 
IT is now some sixteen years or more since the United States became 
sufficiently aware of the seriousness of. its industrial accident problem 
to begin to take definite steps to solve it. The early period was charac- 
terized by the passage of the first workmen's compensation laws and 
the beginning of the organized safety movement. So far have both 
of these enterprises progressed that there are now forty-three states out 
90 p= 
4 
85 I 
80! 
75 
3, 
X 4 
4 
| 
( 
ie 
1916 1920 1924 
FIG. 1 AcciENT MORTALITY PER 100,000 OF POPULATION IN THE REGISTRATION 
AREA OF THE UNITED STATES. AS REPORTED To THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF 
THE CENSIIS 
65 » ~ 
1900 
——iie 
of forty-eight that have workmen's compensation laws, and the safety 
movement has become a thing of national importance with thousands 
of persons giving their time to it and some millions of dollars going 
into it every year. 
The effect upon the accident situation has been significant. In many 
industrial establishments accidents have been cut a half or three- 
quarters or even more. Comprehensive statistics of industrial accidents 
over this period are lacking, but it is probable that the trend of indus- 
trial accidents has followed the downward trend of the general accident 
mortality rate, as shown in Fig. 1. Credit for much of this good effect 
is due to the organized safety movement; without it we should be in a 
distinctly worse condition than we are at present.