BUREAU OF EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION

In the administration of the Federal workmen's compensation program during 1960, the Bureau of Employees' Compensation received 192,400 reports of injury to employees in employments covered by this program. This represents an increase of nearly 1,500 over the year before. The Bureau of Employees' Compensation is administratively responsible for ascertaining in each case that the injured employee receives immediate and adequate medical care, monetary benefits during disability, and rehabilitation and other services provided by law, and that if he dies as a result of the injury, his dependents receive appropriate monetary payments for their support.

The current upward trend in the aggregate number of injury cases reported by civilian Federal employees is of continuing concern. The 1960 experience is nearly 25 percent above the base period 1947-49. Corrected for increased exposure, the rate of disabling injuries is still 10 percent above that of 5 years ago. The overall frequency rate of injury for private employment subject to Federal workmen's compensation jurisdiction is not known. Although the gross number of injury cases reported during the past 5 years has decreased nearly 14 percent, this is not indicative of a corresponding reduction in the incident of injury in such employment, since the annual total is influenced by the volume of activity in the covered industry.

Payments made during 1960 directly from the Federal employees' compensation fund totaled nearly $60 million for benefits to Federal beneficiaries. Employers paid $17 million in compensation, exclusive of medical cost, in cases closed during the year; they provide for this type of payment through commercial insurance or through carefully supervised self-insurance. Over the past 5 years under the Federal Employees' Act, disability compensation has increased 25 percent, while expenditures for medical treatment and supplies have gone up 32 percent. Nearly 3.5 million workers are presently provided protection in the event of a work injury under the provisions of the Federal workmen's compensation system. It is conservatively estimated that each year 1 of every 18 workers benefits from such coverage. All Federal workmen's compensation acts provide for compulsory coverage, comprehensive occupational disease benefits, unlimited medical care, rehabilitation services for the permanently handicapped, and lifetime awards for permanent total disabilities, as well as lifetime benefits for unremarried widows of fatally injured employees. At the close of the year, there were 27,220 cases being compensated, including 11,058 fatalities.

Federal Employee Work Injuries

The total of 105,065 work injuries reported during 1960 was up 3.5 percent from the year before. This is the largest number of new injuries reported in any year since 1946. The increases in 1960 occurred for the most part in three of the executive departments. The largest numerical increases occurred in the Commerce, Agriculture, and Post Office Departments. Much of the increase was in relatively minor injury cases.

Many employees continue to use their leave privilege to assure themselves of a full-salary rate during their period of disability. Over 20,000 of the 54,000 disabling cases closed during 1960 involved this kind of election. During the year, the Bureau paid compensation in 33,200 cases. Practically all of the nonfatal cases represented injured civilian Federal employees, and almost precisely half of the fatal cases originated from military reservist activities prior to January 1, 1957. Of the $59.9 million expended for direct benefits during the year, death compensation for dependents of fatally injured civilian Federal employees and military reservists accounted for 42 percent; disability compensation amounted to 40 percent; medical treatment and supplies, 15 percent; and the remaining amount was expended for enemy action, civilian war benefit, and other fringe act cases. Research during the year shows that 1 out of 5 disabling injuries to civilian Federal employees requires hospitalization and that hospital confinement in such cases averages 11 to 15 days. Federal Government facilities were utilized in 47 percent of the hospitalized cases. Total expenditures from the Federal employees' compensation fund during 1960 for medical care amounted to $8.7 million, 9.4 percent above that for the previous year.

Awards were made to 386 dependents in 164 fatal cases, and 1,832 schedule awards were granted to permanently injured Federal employees during the year. Current awards for total disability, whether temporary or permanent, are averaging $288 per month. The current award in a fatal case with a widow and two children averages $355 per month. Of the awards for permanent injury, 23 percent represented civilian employees of the Navy Department, 20 percent from the Army, 19 percent from the Air Force, and 15 percent from the Post Office Department. Leg and foot injuries accounted for 42 percent of the $5.8 million total evaluation of the awards, excluding medical cost. The average evaluation per fatal case has increased from $50,798 in 1959 to $53,884 for 1960, or a total of at least $8.8 million for the 164 fatal cases granted awards in 1960. Fully 40 percent of the incurred fatal case losses in recent years originate from accidents related to transportation.

Continued emphasis has been given to the medical care and rehabilitation of disabled beneficiaries. Medical specialists on the staff of the National Institutes of Health and other Federal agencies have been consulted on special medical problems. Similarly, the services of specialists in private practice have been used where expert medical opinions are required. In this area, special attention has been given to claims based on alleged effects of exposure to ionizing radiation and an increasing number of cases involving staphylococcus infections. With

the cooperation of placement officers in Federal agencies, the Bureau's rehabilitation staff has been successful in returning an increased number of permanently disabled employees to gainful employment. The use of private rehabilitation centers for the complete evaluation of the rehabilitation potential of disabled employees is being explored on a trial basis. This appears to offer certain advantages as a preliminary step to the development of a training program tailored to the needs of the disabled person in selected cases.

Evaluation of operations during the year indicates the significant administrative advantages that might be attained through complete decentralization of the Federal employees' compensation program. Of signal importance is the improvement recorded by the four pilot district offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and New York. A detailed study of a sample of nearly 6,000 case histories for the current year shows a 35 percent difference in favor of the decentralized plan relative to timeliness of claims adjudication. In the field offices there exists, moreover, an opportunity through more personalized contacts with employing establishments to improve this record by more timely submission of claims.

Private Employment Work Injuries

In 1960, for the third consecutive year, there was a decline in the total number of work injuries reported by employees of private industry subject to Federal workmen's compensation jurisdiction. However, the overall decline in 1960 was only 2.3 percent, and it was accompanied by a 3.2 percent increase in the number of injuries that proved disabling. Altogether 87,302 injury cases were reported, including 29,650 disabling injuries, at least 20 percent of which involved some degree of permanent disability.

The stevedoring industry reported 31,359 injuries, or 5.7 percent more than the year before. Disabling injuries increased somewhat more proportionately, rising 6.1 percent-from 10,464 cases in 1959 to 11,102 in 1960. There has been a significant drop each year for the past 3 years in the number of reported injuries to other harbor workers, principally ship repairmen. The 20,143 cases reported during 1960 show a drop of 16.3 percent from the 1959 total, while disabling injuries in this group dropped 12.7 percent. Preliminary evaluation of the compensation amount, exclusive of medical costs, indicates a total of $12.5 million was paid in the 13,426 compensated cases disposed of during the year.

Private industry in the District of Columbia represents an important source of work injuries covered by Federal compensation jurisdiction. The 27,546 injuries reported in 1960 by employees of private enterprise in the District of Columbia constitute 32 percent of the cases received from all Federal compensation laws applicable to private employment. During the year, 5,210 compensated cases were disposed of, with a total evaluation of $1.7 million, exclusive of medical cost. In the past 3 years, the number of disabling injuries reported has increased slightly more than 30 percent. Industrial injuries under other extensions of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act increased 7.3 percent, due principally to activities involving civilian employees of Federal

nonappropriated fund instrumentalities of the Department of Defense which were brought under the Federal compensation law by the act of July 18, 1958.

Research Program

The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions was furnished a special analytical study regarding Federal compensation benefits and rates since 1920. Similar but more current data were furnished the National Safety Council for publication in its annual release "Accident Rates." Wide distribution was made of 22 analytical studies regarding the incidence, severity, cost, and principal characteristics of work injuries arising under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. These studies reached stevedoring and ship repair operators, insurance groups, trade associations, labor unions, and professional safety organizations. The Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University was provided selected data helpful in its project concerning the "post-injury-and-recovery" labor market experience of permanently injured employees. The Federal Safety Council was furnished all of the statistical calculations needed for the selection of recipients of the President's Safety Award. Altogether a total of 1,447 special informational requests requiring statistical or actuarial research were answered and 104 studies completed during the year.