1961, 1962, and 1963. But, when spring and summer came, instead of declining by 9.6 percent as in the earlier period, the rate, in 1964, rose by over 4 percent. It is true that the weather has an effect on accidents and accident rates. But the weather did not cause the enormous increase in accidents which resulted from the removal of firemen from locomotives in freight and yard service with the effectuation of the award of Arbitration Board 282.

VI. Train accidents classified by the Interstate Commerce Commission as "other accidents."-The Interstate Commerce Commission classifies train accidents in three major groupings collisions, derailments, and "other train accidents." In his testimony before this committee, Commissioner Bush also stated that there was a possible relationship between "crew consist" and "other train accidents" as classified under the Commission's rules."

"Other train accidents" in the Commission's reporting system include any accidents causing the specified amount of damage to the train and roadway but not involving train collisions or derailments of equipment. The largest single group in this class are highway grade-crossing accidents where the locomotive and train are not derailed. In the year 1963-the last period for which these details are available—there were 159 accidents where locomotives or cars struck motor vehicles without derailing the railroad equipment. Many grade-crossing accidents, of course, are unavoidable since a fast moving train cannot always be stopped in time to avoid the collision with a motor vehicle. But some accidents of this kind in switching operations and in slower freight operations are avoidable if the engine crew is aware of the danger in time. Here, as in the case of railroad collisons discussed above, the presence of an additional pair of eyes could be very important.

Another class of "other train accidents" where the presence or absence of a fireman could be critical includes those attributed to locomotive failures such as crankcase and air box explosions, traction motor failures and other electrical failures. In 1963, there were about 60 such accidents. Here the firemen might avert the accident by discovering the defective condition before the accident

occurs.

There are many causes of so-called other train accidents which have no relationship to the presence or absence of the fireman and it is not to be expected that the removal of firemen would have had as great an effect in increasing these accidents as in the case of collisions. However, the average experience of the months since firemen were removed shows a substantial increase in other train accidents over the same periods of past years. Data showing the totals of other train accidents are on page 32 and the accident rates are on pages 33 and 34. (The rates on p. 33 are computed from train-miles based on engineer miles and hours, those on p. 34 are computed from carrier witness Greer's train-miles data; there is no substantial difference in the trends shown on the two tables.)

Referring to page 33, the accident rate for the last 8 months of the year 1964 following removal of firemen under arbitration award 282 was 0.77 per million locomotive and motor train-miles. This was 16.7 percent above the 1963 rate, and 26 percent above the average of the same period in the 3 years, 1961-63. Although there has been some variation in this accident rate from month to month over the years shown, the general experience beginning in May of 1964 was substantially worse than for the comparable months of earlier years.

INJURY-FREQUENCY RATE AS DEFINED BY THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Injury-frequency rates.-Injury-frequency rates are the primary measures of the incidence of work injuries. They indicate the relative level of injury occurrence prevailing in different establishments, operations, or industries during a specified period of time, and provide a means of determining trends in injury occurrence or of progress in accident prevention.

The standard injury-frequency rate is defined as the average number of disabling work injuries for each million employee-hours worked. The lack of comparability inherent in simple injury totals, arising from variations in employment and operating time, is thus overcome by expressing the injuries in terms of a standard unit of exposure.

A disabling injury is defined as any injury incurred in the course of and arising out of employment, which (1) results in death or in any degree of permanent physical impairment, or (2) renders the injured person unable to perform any See p. 10 of Commissioner Bush's prepared statement.

regularly established job, which is open and available to him, during the entire
time interval corresponding to the hours of his regula. shift on any one or more
days after the day of injury (including Sundays, holidays, and days on which their
plant is shut down). Under this definition, the reportability of an injury for
injury-statistics purposes is in no way related to the eligibility of the injured
person for workmen's compensation payments. In case of doubt as to whether
or not an injured person is able to work, the attending physician's decision is final.

1963 injury rates, reporters to National Safety Council

Source: The National Safety Council, Accident Facts, 1964 Edition.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 1168, "Techniques of Pre-
paring Major BLS Statistical Series," p. 34.

Change in wage and material costs, class I line-haul railways, 1961-64

1 Labor expenditures do not include that portion of payroll chargeable to capital account.

2 Estimated by Bureau of Railway Economics, Association of American Railroads.

Source of basic data: Association of American Railroads, Railroad Transportation, p. 20, and Indexes of Railroad Material Prices and Wage Rates, Apr. 27, 1965; Interstate Commerce Commission, statement M-400.