Causes of Death by Occupation
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR JAMES J. DAVIS, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS ETHELBERT STEWART, Commissioner BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES \ lkT r- A7 BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS/........... NO. DU# INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS AND HYGIENE SERIES CAUSES OF DEATH BY OCCUPATION OCCUPATIONAL MORTALITY EXPERIENCE OF THE METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENT 1922-1924 : BY LOUIS I. DUBLIN, PH. D. AND ROBERT J . VANE, JR. [• Tf 38 I I oiX FEBRUARY, 1930 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE r WASHINGTON : 1930 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. - - Price 25 cents Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Contents Page Introduction___________________________________________________________________ 1 C hapter 1.— The group as a whole_________________________________________ 3 C hapter 2.— Mortality according to occupation___________________________ 15 Bakers____________________________________________________________________ 20 Blacksmiths_______________________________________________________________ 22 Carpenters________________________________________________________________ 24 Chauffeurs__________________________________________ ___________________ 25 Cigar makers and tobacco workers_____________________________________ 27 Clerks, bookkeepers, and office assistants_____ _______________________ 29 Coal miners (underground)______________________________________________ 32 Compositors, printers, and pressmen___________________________________ 35 Electricians_________________ , ___________________________ ________________ 37 Farmers and farm laborers______________________________________________ 39 Fishermen, oystermen, sailors, and marine workers___________________ 42 Furniture and other wood workers_____________________________________ 44 Iron and steel mill workers______________________________________________ 46 Iron foundry workers______________________ __________________ 48 Janitors and building employees______ ___________________ 51 Laborers______________________________ ________________ 52 Longshoremen and stevedores___________________________________________ 55 Machinists___________________________________ ___________________________ 57 Masons and bricklayers____________________________ _____________________ 59 Merchants and storekeepers________________________ ____________________ 61 Painters, paper hangers, and varnishers__ ------------------------------------ 63 Plumbers, gas fitters, and steam fitters___ ___________________ 66 Policemen___________________________________ ___________________ 68 Railway enginemen and trainmen_________ _ ________ _____________ 71 Railway track and yard workers________________________________________ 75 Saloon keepers and bartenders__________________________________________ 77 Shoe factory workers_________________________________________________ — 78 Stationary engineers and firemen---------------- ------------------------------------------- 79 Store clerks and salesmen________________________________________________ 81 Tailors and other clothing workers_____________________________________ 83 Teamsters and drivers___________________________________________________ 86 Textile mill workers______________________________________________________ 88 Watchmen and guards___________________________________________________ 91 Chapter 3.— Principal causes of death______________________________________ 93 Typhoid fever____________________________________________________________ 93 Influenza___________________________________________- — *--------------------------- 95 Pneumonia (all forms)___________________________________________________ 97 Other diseases of the respiratory system_______________________________ 99 Tuberculosis of the respiratory system_________________________________ 101 Cancer (all forms)________________________________________________________ 107 Diabetes__________________________________________________________________ 108 Cirrhosis of the liver_____________________________________________________ 110 in Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis IV CONTENTS C h a p t e r 3 .— Principal causes of death— Continued. Page Cerebral hemorrhage, apoplexy, and paralysis_________________________ 112 Other diseases of the heart______________________________________________ 114 Nephritis (acute and chronic)________________________ ___________________ 116 Accidental or undefined violence________________________________________ 118 Homicide (all forms)____________________________________________________ 122 Occupational diseases____________________________________________________ 123 C h a p t e r 4.— Concluding statement________________________________________ 127 List of references______________________________________________________________ 129 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis BULLETIN OF THE U. S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS No. 507 WASHINGTON F e b r u a r y , 1930 CAUSES OF DEATH, BY OCCUPATION INTRODUCTION UR first monograph entitled “ Causes of Death, by Occupation,” O which was based on the occupational mortality experience of in dustrial policyholders insured with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., was published by the United States Department of Labor. This pamphlet, known as Bulletin No. 207 of the Bureau of Labor Statis tics, analyzed the causes of death (among the 2,000,000 then insured) of 94,269 white males 15 years of age and older who died during the three years 1911 to 1913. The data contained in this bulletin have been favorably received, widely reprinted, and extensively used by agencies engaged in the practical improvement of industrial con ditions. Highly gratifying has been the influence this publication has exerted in the settlement of labor difficulties and in the general improvement in industrial hygiene. It has been quoted in labor arbitrations in various industries, especially in the printing and publishing trades and in the clothing and textile industries; and it has been employed in the solution of problems of industrial relations in the railroad field. Such favorable response has been coupled with an insistent demand for more recent statistics. Our mortality data are illustrative of the changing health of the wage earners of the Nation. Improve ments in machinery, changes in industrial processes, new findings regarding the sanitation of factories, reductions in the hours of labor, increases in wages, and the extensive welfare activities characteristic of modern industry have profoundly influenced the health of workers. The betterment of living conditions and improved standards of living have made their impress very definitely upon the longevity and vitality of wage earners and have been immediately reflected in lower' death rates. To-day workers 20 years of age may expect to live, on the average, five years longer than similar workers could in 1912. It is for these reasons that we have thought it desirable to bring our report up to date; for only by the widespread dissemination of such facts can we arrive at a sound means of bettering working con ditions and raising still further the level of industry. Tuberculosis has always been the predominating scourge of the American workman; but since 1912 tuberculosis of the respiratory system alone has declined over 50 per cent. Other causes of death 1 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 2 CAUSES OF DEATH, BY OCCUPATION have decreased in varying amounts. Only a few conditions, like cancer, have shown a rising death rate. Consequently, it now seems desirable to extend our previous analysis of occupational mortality. The present bulletin is based upon a far larger experience than the earlier one. It now covers 3,250,000 white male policyholders insured in the industrial department of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Of this exposure, 112,364 died during the years 1922, 1923, and 1924. Our aim is to provide reliable, recent, and useful information regarding a typical cross section of the wTage- earning population. Industrial physicians, health officers, and pri vate practitioners will be in a position to discover from what diseases these workers died and at what ages. Labor arbitrators and others interested in the improvement of working conditions will learn about some of the less satisfactory aspects of the present indus trial situation and, having this knowledge, will be in a far better position to find a solution for their problems. The method of analysis has been in general the same as that used in the previous study. As we do not know the number of insured persons in each occupation, we have been compelled to use the method of proportionate mortality; that is, to find out for each occupation the part that any cause of death has played in the total mortality, taking into account the factor of age. There can no longer be any doubt as to the utility of this method in working out practical problems of industrial hygiene. Certain safeguards,, to be sure, have to be thrown around our discussion, since we lack accurate knowledge of the occupational status of living policyholders; but we are espe cially fortunate in having at our disposal the actual death rates for the group as a whole and in the light of this information, differences in the proportionate mortality take on added significance.