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Dr. COOPER. I can assure you, Mr. Esch, that the Department is most anxious to cooperate in solving the problem. As I have outlined, our major problem with Federal enforcement legislation is the practicalities of enforcement as a Federal standard and a review, but I will commit ourselves to working with you to help solve the problem.

Mr. ESCH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. DANIELS. Dr. Cooper, I want it clearly understood as far as the Chairman is concerned, and I think I express the sentiments of all members of this committee, that with regard to this legislation we do not desire the Federal Government to preempt the field and take over from the states. It merely is the purpose of the legis lation to prescribe minimum standards. Hopefully all 50 States will follow the leadership of the Federal Government and enact its own legislation in this area, which I believe must be at least comparable to the minimum standards established by HEW.

Now, if all of the States participate, and hopefully they will, because we have an incentive here-the bill provides to give a grant up to 80 percent of their cost. This should be incentive for all of the States to participate. If they do that, then of course HEW does not have to work in this area. But all we want HEW to do is just provide leadership. That is all we want the Federal Government to do.

So I enunciated that to make it clear that I think this is an area that is important to the life and health of 10 million children attending these camps each year and it is very, very important to this country and if we save only one life, I think that is important, too. If we can avoid thousands upon thousands of accidents or illnesses, that is also extremely important.

That is all I have to say and thank you gentlemen for being here today.

Mr. DANIELS. We have a panel consisting of Ms. Charlotte Williams, Dr. Kenneth G. Cook and Dr. Peter J. Verhoven.

I might point out to you people that time is short and the House convenes in about less than 5 minutes and I would like to suggest you submit your statements for the record and, then, summarize your views.

Mr. Escu. In light of some questions we raised earlier and in the situation that we do not have time to go into detail here, I would recommend, without moving, that these three witnesses also be allowed to submit any additional testimony to answer any questions which had come up during the previous panel, if they so care to do, to clarify their position.

I am not certain their testimony, itself, clarifies it and I think we want to be as fair as possible to these three witnesses in light of the fact that many of the questions raised, we may not have time to bring up again to them."

So, maybe we can move along if they wish to submit additional testimony to appear in the record and this goes along with the regular testimony.

Mr. DANIELS. Is there any objection to the motion from the gentleman from Michigan?

Hearing none, it is so ordered, so if you desire to supply the committee with a supplemental statement to that which you have today, it will be perfectly in order. You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF MS. CHARLOTTE WILLIAMS, VICE PRESIDENT, ALPHA II, CONSULTANTS, SOCIAL SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT SACRAMENTO, CALIF.; DR. KENNETH G. COOK, PH. D., CENTURY RESEARCH CORP., ARLINGTON, VA.; AND DR. PETER J. VERHOVEN, NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION, ARLINGTON, VA.

Dr. Cook. Mr. Chairman, my name is Kenneth Cook and I am vice president of the Century Research Corp. and I am licensed as a Psychologist in the State of Virginia.

I was not aware the committee did not have our full report and my statement essentially constituted a summary of that report. I had intended just to submit it for the record. I don't know whether you would like me to read it so that you have some kind of organized summary before you.

Mr. DANIELS. Your report will be printed in the record and, in fact, I make a motion at this time that the statements of all three witnesses be printed in full in the record and I assure you that your statements will be brought to the attention of all of the members of this subcommittee.

Is there any objection to my motion?

Hearing none, it is so ordered.

Dr. Cook, you may proceed to summarize your report, or your

statement.

[The statements referred to follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DR. KENNETH G. COOK, VICE PRESIDENT, CENTURY RESEARCH CORPORATION, ARLINGTON, VA.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Kenneth G. Cook. I am a Vice President of Century Research Corporation of Arlington, Virginia and am licensed as a research psychologist in Virginia.

Century Research Corporation was established in 1952 by Dr. Robert B. Sleight, its current President, to provide research and consulting in the behavioral sciences including human factors engineering, personnel psychology, market research, and consumer psychology. Since its founding 22 years ago, much effort of the organization has concentrated on safety research and we have conducted major projects in air and highway safety and in occupational health and safety.

In the Spring of 1973, Century Research Corporation joined with the National Recreation and Park Association in submitting a proposal to perform studies to assist the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in tasks directed by Congress in Title VI of the Education Amendments of 1972. This was a competitive bid with the award based primarily on the technical merits of the proposal.

The principal method used was a sample survey of youth camps from which reports permitting an estimate of the number and nature of medically attended camping injuries and illnesses for one camping season were obtained. In addition, information was gathered on health and safety conditions and other characteristics of the camps included in the survey sample. The National Recreation and Park Association, as a subcontractor to Century Research Corporation, was given the task of providing information concerning the contributions to camp safety by various agencies and organizations and

the adequacy and effectiveness of State and local laws and regulations pertaining to youth camps.

I should like to spend a few moments elaborating on the sampling methods to identify the camps which were requested to participate in this study. Government statisticians consulted a number of sources to prepare a list of 5293 youth camps throughout the 48 contiguous states. These were assigned to camp clusters on the basis of their postal zip code. They tried to arrange clusters so that camps in a cluster were no more than 50 miles apart. The country was then partitioned into four geographical areas-Northeast, Southeast, North Central, and West. Five camp clusters were chosen in random fashion for each of the four areas by assigning random five-digit numbers to each cluster, ordering these numerically, and selecting five numbers randomly from within that ordering.

The chosen clusters are identified by referencing them to a community near the center of the cluster. These are: Olympia, WA; Denver, CO; Abilene, TX; Huntsville, TX; Little Rock, AR; St. Louis, MO; Waukesha, WI; Manitowoc, WI; Grand Rapids, MI; Flint, MI; Macon, GA; Savannah, GA; Hampton, SC; Lakeland, FL; Norristown, PA; Somerville, NJ; Monticello, NY; Poughkeepsie, NY; Hillsboro, NH; Portland, ME.

Century Research Corporation employed Field Representatives who in most cases lived near the chosen cluster areas to service the camps in the cluster. Their first task was to make a preliminary check on the camps in the cluster to see if the camps existed and were actually camps as defined by the study, that they were physically located in the cluster area, and that they would be operating in the summer of 1973. The Field Representatives were asked to add the names of any additional camps found in their area that were not on their lists. They eliminated camps which were on their list but were not operating or not in their area. These adjusted camp lists for each cluster were then arranged alphabetically by camp name, each was assigned a random number, and then the camps were ordered numerically by this number. The first 10 camps in each cluster were considered to be the primary sample and were the first to be contacted. If substitutions were required, they were made in order from the camps listed after the first 10.

Of the 200 camps in the primary sample, 128 were surveyed. Only 27 camps refused to participate for various reasons; six other camps were dropped by us when it was found that they were not providing the promised data. Of the remaining 38 camps in the primary sample, 13 were not youth camps within the definition of the study; three could not be located, five were phy sically located outside of the defined cluster area. Eight were closed for the season and five more closed soon after the initial contact and hence we had insufficient data from them. Several camps, either in the primary sample or in the substitution lists, were listed as separate camps but proved to be functionally divisions of camps already considered.

Five survey forms were used for data collection. These were designed by staff in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, reviewed by consultants, field tested briefly by the American Camping Association and revised as necessary.

The camps participating in the survey were mostly large with a median capacity of 165 campers although 22% were under 100 in capacity. More than half of the camps were accredited by some camping association and of the accredited camps, 80% were accredited by the American Camping Association. Most camps were required to have some kind of license or permit, but about one-fifth to one-third of the camps, depending on the section of the country, said they were not required to have permits. Frequently permits are issued which do not require inspection, but about half to three-fourths of the camps did require one; in states with laws specifically regulating camps, nearly all camps said they needed to be inspected before being issued a permit.

In camping, the counselor and specialist positions are important. These are the people who work directly with the campers and are in the position to teach and to enforce safety and health rules. They also have latitude to make decisions on activities that could lead to a potentially dangerous situation. Minimum qualifications for counselors varied greatly but may be summarized as follows:

Four out of ten camps specifically indicated that their counselors and specialists must be 18 years of age or older. Many of these stresed that this was a minimum. In some camps with this minimum, the counselors were all older n this.

A third of the camps require counselors to be college students or graduates. Almost a third of the camps specifically indicated that they require previous counselor or camping experience or training.

A quarter of the camps require experience related to their camp task, for example teaching experience if they are to conduct a class.

About 15% of all camps required a certification in first aid or some other

area.

One-quarter of the camps specified such personal qualities as being responsible, of good moral character, mature, and so forth.

One of six camps indicated that they require the counselors to attend one week or more of pre-camp training.

The most usual arrangement for health care at a camp is to have a registered nurse in residence and a medical doctor on call. Over 90% of the camps had an infirmary; bed capacity was less than 10 in 80% of these camps. There were 4150 injuries reported, but there were only 54 that could be considered "serious" when seriousness is defined by being hospitalized, being sent home, or receiving a partial permanent disability. The overall frequency rate was approximately 5 to 6 per 1000 camper days; the rate for "serious" injuries was less than one per 10,000 camper days. To help understand the rate for the more serious injuries one may consider the implications in some hypothetical situations.

1. In a group of 10 camps having 150 campers and seasons of 10 weeks, 7 of the camps would experience an injury with the seriousness of a fracture or severe laceration.

2. Over a period of 10 years, a camp of 150 campers with a 10 week season would experience an injury of the more severe kind in seven of the years. 3. If the camp's season were only 5 weeks long (which was a more common season length than 10 weeks) then it would take 20 years to experience 7 injuries of the seriousness found in this study.

In considering factors involved in safety, however, one may not be concerned so much about averages which is what this rate is, but with extreme conditions. These average rates are of little meaning if there is a camp which, through lack of proper supervision, poor facilities, or lack of appropriate protective gear or safety equipment, is providing a dangerous situation for the campers.

Falls accounted for the greatest number of injury reports in which a type of incident was reported. They were involved in 23% of the "not serious" injuries but in over half of the serious injuries. Falls on the same level outnumbered those from an elevation, but falls for an elevation constituted 40% of the serious injuries and only 8% of all injuries in which an incident was reported. Although there were 10 cases of snake bite, only one was serious. A 15 year old girl was bitten by a copperhead as she stepped out of her tent late at night. The other snake bite incidents involved nonpoisonous snakes usually being kept as pets or in attempts to catch them.

Many of the incidents in which campers stepped on nails, debris, or sharp rocks resulted from no wearing shoes or from improper footwear such as sandals while walking or hiking over rough ground. Similarly, improper footwear accounted for many of the cases of blisters-ill-fitted shoes, lack of socks, wet tennis shoes, and sandals worn in inappropriate situations.

Horses accounted for 12 animal bites and there were eight cases of human bites, ususally sustained in fights or emotional outbursts. Horses also kicked or stepped on 42 campers, but only one of these injuries could be considered serious. These incidents combined with the many falls from horses would indicate a need for care when relatively inexperienced campers are too near horses.

Walking and running and playing in competitive sports were the most frequent activities at the time of injury. However, in the group of serious injuries, the most frequent activity was reported to be horseplay and fighting with just over one-fifth of the serious injuries occurring in this activity.

The frequency rate for illness reports was between 9 and 10 per 1000 camper days. Of over 7000 such reports filed, there were 216 that could be considered more serious because they resulted in hospitalization, going home, or laboratory tests. Most of these involved some form of upper respiratory infection or inflammation. There were a few cases of childhood diseases and three cases of known appendicitis.

Inspections of camps by sanitarians revealed them, for the most part, to be clean and relatively free of hazards. Chief among the items of possible im

provement was the provision of fire protection. Here again, however, it should be pointed out that the average is not so important as the extremely poor and unsanitary camps.

In summary, we believe that the findings of the Century Research Corporation report can be interpreted either for or against Federal legislation of youth camp safety. In part, it depends upon the question asked. When one asks whether State and local laws regulating camp health and safety are adequate and enforced, the answer must be a firm "no" since they are frequently lacking enforcement or do not exist. However, when one asks whether Federal legislation would significantly reduce the frequency and severity of camper injuries or illness, then the answer also seems to be "no" because responsible agencies and organizations and camp operators have for years been improving their own rules and regulations to protect the health and safety of campers.

It may well be that enforcement is not as necessary as is education. Such education may be in direct advice and training in health and safety to camp operators or in college and in-service training subsidies. There would appear to be a need to provide systematic training to counselors and a need to provide materials to promote health and safety among all camp operators, but particularly among operators outside of organizations that already provide such materials.

KENNETH G. COOK

Dr. Cook received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in industrial psychology from the the Pennsylvania State University and the Ph.D. in psychology from the American University in Washington, D.C.

While at the Pennsylvania State University, he designed and conducted a study of community attitudes toward banks, a summary of which was published by the Pennsylvania Bankers Association. He also directed analyses of depth interviews, and has been an interviewer for both structured and motivational type questionnaires. At the Chrysler Corporation, Dr. Cook assisted in establishing a new personnel administration department in the Comptroller's Staff. During army service he was a survey research specialist with the Personnel Management Branch of the Adjutant General's Office, in which capacity he was responsible for all phases of attitude and opinion research from study design through final report writing. Following his army service, he joined the civilian staff of the Personnel Research Branch of the Adjutant General's Office as a statistical research associate, providing advisory services on experimental design and data analysis to research psychologists working in the general area of selection and evaluation problems.

At Century Research Corporation, Dr. Cook has designed sample surveys and attitude assessment techniques for studies of interprofessional relations in medical specialties, lay and clerical relations in administration of church operated hospitals, and studies of aircraft pilot knowledge and beliefs regarding collision threats. He contributed to the design, interviewing, and data analysis of miner health and safety attitudes, has managed the initial stages of a survey of driver licensing practices, and supervised interviewers studying unit pricing in super markets. His own interviewing experience ranges from simple household surveys to in-depth motivational, dynamic interviewing. He has also conducted training sessions for interviewers and provided consultation on interviewer training.

Dr. Cook is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Psi Chi. Eastern Psychological Association, District of Columbia Psychological Association, Human Factors Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Divisions 8 (Personality and Social Psychology), 14 (Industrial and Organizational Psychology) and 21 (The Society of Engineering Psychologists) of the American Psychological Association.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MS. CHARLOTTE WILLIAMS, PROJECT DIRECTOR FOR THE COMPILATION OF STATE AND LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS PERTAINING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY IN YOUTH CAMPS

My name is Charlotte A. Williams. I was employed by the consulting firm of Cordura Corporation as project director for the contract with the U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare to compile state and local laws and regulations pertaining to health and safety in youth camps.

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