INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29604, 29 August 1961, Page 10

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS

Rate In N.Z. Deplored

In the United States in 1959 there were 31 industrial injuries among every 1000 workers. Applying this ra’e to New Zealand’s 864,000 labour force in 1959. the number of accidents should be about 26,784. in actual fact, the estimate for that year was 78.000, said Mr R. J. Mardle, research officer for , the Department of Labour, in an address yesterday at the sixth basic industrial safety course being held at the University of Canterbury. “There seems no way to explain this huge discrepancy except by saying that we have not really begun to tackle this problem in New Zealand.” said Mr Mardle. In 1959 in New Zealand the number of industrial accidents totalled 53.313, an 'alarming figure. But that figure represented only the claims for compensation for injury at work reported to the Department, of Statistics by insurance companies and authorised self-insurers. It quite seriously understated the total number of industrial accidents that occurred. Added to the figure of 53,313 could be estimated acicdents not reported by insurance companies. 6750: injured persons carried on the employer’s pay roll. 5000; injuries to selfemployed. 14,000; giving a gross total of 78,750. Mr Mardle said . that although the number of reported accidents had increased from 40,581 in 1954 to 53,313 in 1959, some little headway was being made. There was a decline in the number of serious accidents, and because experience showed that trivial accidents were the easiest to avoid, the relative stability or slight decrease in the number of serious accidents encouraged the belief that in spite of a growing labour force the actual accident rate was at least being held, and might in fact be falling.