ANNUAL MEETING OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS. The annual meeting of the National Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions was held in Seattle September 30 to October 2, 1915. This association was organized "to bring into closer relation with one another the various boards and commissions administering compensation laws of the United States, and to effect so far as possible uniformity of legislation and administration of such laws and to encourage and give effect to all measures looking toward the prevention of accidents and the safeguarding of plants and machinery." Attendance at the meeting included representatives of 12 States and the Province of Ontario. A large part of the time of the meeting was devoted to the discussion of medical topics connected with the administration of workmen's compensation laws. Two sessions were devoted to the discussion of accident prevention. An important part of the program was the presentation of the report of a committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost, appointed at the Chicago meeting of January 12 and 13, 1915. The committee's report included a new classification of industries for the purpose of workmen's compensation insurance. The report was adopted unanimously, and is reproduced at the end of this article. The purpose of the committee was to work out a classification suitable for use in any of the States and thus promote the movement toward uniformity in statistical reports dealing with industrial accidents and workmen's compensation. The meeting unanimously voted to adopt the definition of a tabulatable accident as formulated and adopted at the conference on standardization of accident reports and tabulations held in Chicago October 12 and 13, 1914. This definition is as follows: "All accidents causing death, permanent disability, or loss of time other than the balance of the day, turn, or shift on which the accident occurred, shall be classified as tabulatable accidents, and the report of all such accidents to some State or national authority shall be required." The association elected as officers for the coming year, president, Floyd L. Daggett, chairman, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission; vice president, Wallace D. Yaple, chairman, Ohio Industrial Commission; secretary-treasurer, L. A. Tarrell, chief examiner, Wisconsin Industrial Commission. Columbus, Ohio, was selected as the next meeting place, the meeting to be held some time in April, 1916. The name of the association was changed from National to International in order to admit Canadian Provinces. Following is a list of those in attendance at the meeting: Will J. French, commissioner, California Industrial Accident Commission. John E. Kinnane, president, chairman, Michigan Industrial Accident Board. Dr. Raphael Lewy, chief medical examiner, New York Industrial Board. Carle Abrams, commissioner, Oregon Industrial Accident Commission. Dr. Frederick H. Thompson, chief medical adviser, Oregon Industrial Accident Robert W. Simonds, chairman, Vermont Industrial Accident Board. A. G. Anderson, auditor, Spokane District, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission. T. H. Boyd, chief adjuster, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission. A. S. Brown, auditor in charge, Seattle District, Washington Industrial Insurance Floyd L. Daggett, chairman, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission. R. J. Hoage, statistician, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission. F. I. Mattingly, auditor, Tacoma District, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission. Dr. J. W. Mowell, chief medical adviser, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission. Clarence Parker, commissioner, Washington Industrial Insurance Commission. Dr. J. H. McCulloch, chief medical examiner to West Virginia commissioner. Lee Ott, commissioner, West Virginia compensation. L. A. Tarrell, chief examiner, Wisconsin Industrial Commission. F. M. Wilcox, member, Wisconsin Industrial Commission. Herman B. Gates, Wyoming, treasurer, ex-officio compensation commissioner. Hugh S. Hanna, special agent, United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. George A. Kingston, commissioner, Ontario Workmen's Compensation Board. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS AND COMPENSATION INSURANCE COST AND UNIFORM CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIES. PART I. September 25, 1915. The committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost begs to submit the following report: At a meeting of the National Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions held at Chicago on January 12 and 13, 1915 the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost was created, and the following were elected members: E. H. Downey, chairman, chief statistician, Wisconsin Industrial Commission, Robert K. Orr, secretary, manager State Accident Fund, Lansing, Mich. W. N. Magoun, chief of Workmen's Compensation Bureau, Massachusetts Insurance H. E. Ryan, associate actuary, New York Insurance Department, 165 Broadway, New York City. Floyd L. Daggett, chairman, Industrial Insurance Commission, Olympia, Wash. Fred C. Croxton, chief statistician, Industrial Commission, Columbus, Ohio. At the same meeting the following vote was passed: "That it is the sense of this meeting that the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost prepare as expeditiously as possible the following reports: (1) Uniform tables for the establishment of compensation costs. (2) Uniform classification of industries. (3) Uniform classification of causes of injuries. (4) Uniform classification of nature of injuries. That the committee is directed without further authority to send a copy of this report to each member of this organization, and make final report at the regular meeting in September, 1915." The committee felt that a far more satisfactory result would be accomplished in the time at its disposal, prior to the annual meeting, if it investigated one of the above subjects and presented a complete report thereof, than would be attained by a preliminary survey of all four subjects with no definite conclusions in respect to any. The committee therefore has devoted its entire attention to the uniform classification of industries, believing this to be the most important subject assigned to it. THE UNIFORM CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIES. In all tabulations of industrial accident statistics the most important factor is the classification of industries, as to this all other items relate. For example, the number of accidents of a certain nature, such as the loss of an arm, must be assigned to the industries in which such accidents occur, and similarly the number of accidents attributable to a specific cause, such as the lack of a proper safeguard, must be distributed by industries. Uniformity in the classification of industries is therefore of first importance and is absolutely essential if the data prepared by the various States are to be comparable. The task undertaken by the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost is to prepare a logical arrangement of all the various industries of the United States according to the "nature of the business." Dr. Royal Meeker, United States Commissioner of Labor Statistics, in 1914 appointed a committee which prepared a series of primary and secondary headings for the standard classification of industries. This committee consisted of E. H. Downey, chairman, chief statistician, Wisconsin Industrial Commission. F. C. Croxton, chief statistician, Ohio Industrial Commission. L. W. Hatch, chief statistician, Industrial Commission of New York. W. N. Magoun, head of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau, Massachusetts Insurance Department. Dr. A. M. Edwards, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C. C. E. Scattergood, chairman of the statistical committee, Workmen's Compensation Service Bureau, New York. W. J. Meyers, statistician, Interstate Commerce Commission, Washington, D. C. (For an account of its proceedings see Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 157, March, 1915.) COMMITTEE MEETINGS. The committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost met at Chicago on January 13, 1915, following the meeting of the association and discussed the scope of its work. It decided to adopt the primary and secondary headings prepared by the committee appointed by Dr. Meeker above mentioned. The chairman of the committee called a meeting at Columbus, Ohio, on July 21, 1915. The purpose of this meeting was to consider the work so far accomplished by the committee and its individual members and to advance the work sufficiently so that a definite report might be made to the association at its annual meeting. The committee held three full days' sessions at Columbus at the offices of the Ohio Industrial Commission-on Wednesday, July 21, Thursday, July 22, and Friday, July 23, the attendance at this meeting being as follows: Members of the committee: E. H. Downey, chairman, chief statistician, Wisconsin Industrial Commission. H. E. Ryan, associate actuary, New York Insurance Department. F. C. Croxton, chief statistician, Ohio Industrial Commission. C. H. Verrill, representing Dr. Royal Meeker, United States Commissioner of Labet Statistics. W. N. Magoun, head of Workmen's Compensation Bureau, Massachusetts Insurance Department. By invitation: I. M. Rubinow, president, Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Society of America. L. W. Hatch, chief statistician, Industrial Commission of New York. THE TABLE OF CLASSIFICATION GROUPINGS. The committee after very careful consideration adopted a grouping of industries covering all of the classifications used by insurance companies for writing workmen's compensation risks in this country. In order that statistics pertaining to industrial accidents may be comparable, it is obviously essential that they shall be on the sam basis. The accident data now being rapidly accumulated by indu |