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Show lii WORK ; 8! INDUSTRIAL COipiRS Important Career Faced by Board Created by Last Legislature Under Workmen's Work-men's Compensation. SAFETY FIRST RULES ARE SENT BROADCAST Employers Co-operating With Commission to Promulgate Pro-mulgate Orders for Better Bet-ter Conditions. Already having accomplished a vast amount of work since it came into existence ex-istence under the provisions of the workmen's compensation, law, the state industrial commission has before it one of the most important careVrs of anv of tho Utah commissions. An idea of the scope of work assigned as-signed to tho industrial commission may be obtained in the following brief outline culled from the law which brought it into existence, and from which its duties are summarized thus: To administer and enforce all laws for the protection of life, health, safety and welfare of employees. em-ployees. To ascertain and fix - such reasonable rea-sonable standards as may be deemed necessary to enforce and fulfill the intent of all laws and lawful orders relative to the protection pro-tection of life, health, safety and welfare of men and women employed em-ployed in the state. To ascertain, fix and order such reasonable standards for construction, construc-tion, repair and maintenance of places of employment as shall render ren-der them safe. To classify such persons, employments employ-ments and places of employment as mav be necessary to carry out the provisions of the act. Promote Arbitration. To do all in its power to promote - the voluntary arbitration, mediation media-tion and conciliation of disputes between employers and employees. To establish free employment agencies and to supervise the" work of private employment agencies, and to do what it can to bring the ' laborer and the job together. To collate and publish statistics with regard to labor and other matters. mat-ters. To conduct hearings upon petition peti-tion by anv person or on it s own motion with regard to . the safety ! or any deployment or place of employment, em-ployment, and tu i.--ue orders in ac'jordanv with its findings to rcuK-dy the situation, j To take over t h e d u t i c s of the com in; dinner of immigration, la- bor and Mati-tics, the slate mine j inpeciiuu of coal and hydrocarbon mine and the state board of con-j con-j cilia tion and arbitration. 1 Any commissioner or deputy of the commission may enter anv place of em-I em-I pluynient for tne purpose ol cudecting 1 liicts and statistics, examining the provisions pro-visions iiiaui' tor the health, safety and ; weltare of the employees therein, ana bring to the attention of every cm-j cm-j pioyer any law, or any order of the I commission, and any failure on t he part of such employer to comply therewith. there-with. No employ r shail refuse to admit ad-mit any commissioner or deputy of the commission to his place of employment. Commission Named. Under the law specifying these mul-tifarious mul-tifarious duties, Governor Simon Bamberger Bam-berger appointed the following to the commission: Preston A. Thatcher ot Logau, chairman; Harrison F. Jenkins of Salt Lake City and William Knerr of the same place. The com-j com-j mission chose F. D. Brown as its secretary. secre-tary. To iMr. Thatcher was assigned the safety department; to Mr. JeiiKins the insurance division, and to Air. Knerr the compensation and arbitration arbitra-tion work. Appointees of the commission are: Kobert Howard, coal mine inspector; ' John H. Cook, factory inspector; Byron j D. Nebeker, referee; Mrs. Zina 11. 1 Smoot, inspector; Charles A. Caine, un- , derwnter ; Lorin J. Hatch, auditor; George B. Spahr. schedule rating inspector; in-spector; Dr. C F. Wilcox, medical examiner. ex-aminer. After numerous consultations with manufacturers, mine operators, factory proprietors, labor representatives and managers of various industrial organi- : nations, a set of rules for safety of , employees was adopted and ' promulgated promul-gated as the beginning of a "safety first" campaign, which was intended to embrace every workshop in tho, state. Up to the present time these rules are very generally observed, and by co-operation' between the commission commis-sion and employers, the factories and shops and other institutions in which men and women are employed are daily becoming more safe by the installation installa-tion of known devices for protection. Realize Benefits. Generally, speaking, employers have been quick to realize benefits accruing accru-ing to them from the work along safety lines, it is stated by members of the commission. They have co-operated heartily in the surety campaign, as well as in complying with the- orders and various minor requirements promulgated promul-gated by the commission. Some em- : plovers have gone beyond given re- j quirements and have installed devices ; and adopted rules in their places of employment which are gratifyingly superior su-perior as precautionary measures. There are approximately 4000 employers em-ployers in Utah who come under the purview of the workmen ?s compensation compensa-tion law. In the matter of insurance for employees, an employer of four or more persons is amenable to this law. There are between 200 and 300 employers of fewer than- four persons in the state who have voluntarily availed themselves of insurance opportunities oppor-tunities offered by. the state, regarding it. to be more economical to do so than to provide insurance for employees through private companies and corpora-, corpora-, tions. This insurance feature is an important impor-tant one and involves a great deal of work for that department under the commission "s control. It is producing good results, and as time goes on it is thought that there will be fewer employers em-ployers in the state who will prefer to insure with private companies rather than with the state. Must Insure. In the workmen's compensation law it is provided that employers of four or more persons must insure employees against accident occurring during and in pursuit of their employment. At the same time the law takes away from the employee the right to sue the employer em-ployer for damages on account of the accident, except in the case of death. This exception is due to a provision contained m the state constitution. The law . provides compensation in an amount fixed by it or determined by i me commission to ue- paiu to me vic-itim vic-itim of the accident or his dependents, i without reference to the cause for the accident or who was to blame for it. Employers in Utah may themselves ! carry the insurance risks, provided they make to the commission proper showing of responsibility and ability to meet claims, or they may form a mutual company among themselves for insurance insur-ance purposes, but as yet no such com-panv com-panv has been formed in this state. An employer, however, may insure with some nriv'ate company. In the absence of either of the foregoing provisions the employer must insure his employees with the state, the last legislature having hav-ing laid the foundation for an insurance insur-ance fund with an appropriation of $40,000, which to this time has grown to more than $85,000. This will be further increased by the addition on the first. of the new year of 1 per cent of the state's entire payroll. Municipalities, under the law, as well as school districts, must either insure in-sure their employees with the state or carry their own insurance. It is estimated esti-mated that there are not more than about I per cent of employers in the state who are self-insurers. Estimate of Cost. Commissioner Jenkins, who has charge, of the insurance department, estimates that the administration cost of insurance under the state will be not more than 12 per cent of the premium pre-mium paid. This, he claims, compares verv favorably with the usual expense of private corporations, which is around 30 per cent. This fact is probablv responsible re-sponsible for the recent withdrawal of private concerns from the field of compensation com-pensation insurance as competitors of the state. So far there have been reported to the commission 550 accidents, in which thirty deaths occurred or resulted subsequently. sub-sequently. Of great importance to industry has been the work o the department having hav-ing in charge voluntary arbitration, mediation me-diation and conciliation of disputes between be-tween employers and employees. William Wil-liam M. Knerr. who is head of this department, de-partment, has been eminently successful success-ful in bringing about amicable settlement settle-ment of difficulties whieh for a time threatened to impede industrial and manu fae hiring progress iu the state. Notable cases of successful arbitration and settlement are apparent in the work done in Bingham, Park City, Tooele, disputes in mine and smelters; mediation in the troubles of the Salt Lake machine shop men. settlement of several building di-pi:tes and final adjustment ad-justment al Denver of the strike of blaeksmirh' o.- ' f-'--"' iver & Kio Grande rail-Tr' . 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