IC 6558 The Importance of Discipline in Mine Safety

We Americans fondly believe that ours is the greatest , most progressive and most civilized country in the world , but the cold statistical facts reveal that we apparently have little appreciation for the lives of those whose efforts of various kinds give us whatever greatness we have . The latest available statistics indicate that the annual death rate per 100,000 persons , from accidents is nearly 80 , or far higher than that of any other country in the world ; it is more than double the rate in Denmark , Belgium, Netherlands , France , Sweden , Italy , Ireland , Germany , Norway, and Austria; it is practically double the rate in England and Wales and in Japan , and is from 25 to 60 per cent higher than the corresponding rate in Scotland , New Zealand , Australia, Switzerland , and Canada . And added to this is the fact that of the main industries of the United States mining has by far the worst accident record , viewed from either the frequency or the severity basis . The National Safety Council's latest figures for 27 of the country's main industries give mining the highest or worst accident frequency rate, 74.43 in 1929 ; meat packing comes next with 55.94 , and construction third with 50.41 . In accident severity in 1929 mining also was the worst offender , with a rate of 9.99 ; quarrying is second with 6.11 , and construction third with 4.62 . Metal mining's frequency rate in 1929 was 52.16 , as against 69.25 for bituminous coal mining ,99.68 for anthracite mining, and 74.43 for the entire mining industry ; accident severity for metal mining in 1929 was 5.99 , as against 11.69 for bituminous coal mining , 10.87 for anthracite mining , and 9.99 for the mining industry as a whole . Although this figure indicated that metal mining is on a much safer plane than either bituminous or anthracite coal mining, the frequency rate of 52.16 for metal mining was higher in 1929 than the frequency rate of all but one of the other 26 industries about which data are available ; the metal mining severity rate of 5.99 , while much better