APPENDIX 6.-RESPONSE OF BUREAU OF THE BUDGET TO SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS

NOTE.-Mr. Shiskin was asked to respond to supplementary questions following presentation of his statement. These questions and the answers submitted follow:

This is in reply to the supplementary questions asked us following our testimony of June 26, 1969, before your subcommittee.

1. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions, as to action which can be taken to improve the collection and utilization of accidents and injury data by Federal agencies both in the immediate future and in the long run?

2. What is your opinion as to whether or not a single Federal agency should be given basic responsibility for coordinating collection and dissemination of accident and injury data (other than data relating to industrial and transportation accidents) and, if so, which agency might be appropriate for that assignment.

We would like to answer these questions together.

It is our responsibility to assure that all major statistical needs are being met and that there is balance among the many important elements of the overall statistical program. As we stated in our prepared testimony, it is our position, however, that initial responsibility for development of statistical programs, particularly in highly specialized areas, rests with the individual administrative agencies involved. We also said that when significant gaps in information exists it is our responsibility under the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act to take such measures as may be necessary to see that the required data are made available.

Our testimony noted that it would not be easy to develop a completely reliable data base that would provide the detailed kinds of information that would unquestionably be desirable with respect to the incidence, nature, and causes of home accident's. We said that we would, however, explore all alternatives that would provide, to the greatest extent possible, the kinds of information that are needed, accurately and economically.

The Bureau of the Budget has a regular procedure for handling the problems of development and coordination of highly specialized statistics. This is the official designation of a "focal agency." Such a designation does not involve delegation of the powers of the Bureau under the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act but, with its concurrence, places a particular agency in the dominant role. When the designation is made all departments and agencies are notified.

To illustrate the procedure, the following is verbatim from a recent designation with only the words "home accidents and injuries" replacing the particular area that was involved.

"This means that your office will be expected to

"1. Exercise leadership in the development of a coordinated program of statistics on home accidents and injuries and report to the Bureau of the Budget periodically on progress and any outstanding issues.

"2. Develop standard classifications and terminology when appropriate, in consultation with interested Government and private groups.

"3. Advise the Office of Statistical Policy, Budget of the Budget, with respect to any relevant data collection plan, submitted by any Federal agency for approval under the Federal Reports Act, concerning its relationship to the coordinated program.

"4. Secure, to the extent possible, the cooperation of private organizations and State and local governments not already covered.

"5. Assure the assembly, analysis, and publication in a convenient form, statistical information on all aspects of home accidents and injuries in the United States covering all activities of the Federal Government and including to the extent possible, those of other public and of private organizations."

We will consult all of the departments and agencies concerned and decide whether it would be advantageous to designate a "focal agency." Unless we find some strong reasons to the contrary we would consider such a step not only desirable, but necessary.

We believe it is desirable to fix responsibility for leadership in a single agency. The procedure we have outlined would do so. We cannot, however, without further investigation indicate the particular agency. Certainly, the National Center for Health Statistics in the Health Services and Mental Health Administration and some appropriate organizational unit in the Consumer Service and Environmental Health Administration would be among the prime candidates.

APPENDIX 7.-STATEMENT OF BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, PRESENTED BY MAURICE BRESNAHAN, ACTING CHIEF, DIVISION OF INDUSTRIAL SAFETY, OFFICE OF MANPOWER AND LABOR STATISTICS

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, with respect to safety as to other subjects, does not have responsibility for administering any law or regulation but does have a responsibility for providing statistical information. The area covered is work injuries, defined to include occupational illness.

The Bureau conducts an annual survey of work-injury experience in industry. The USA Standard Method of Recording and Measuring Work Injury Experience, Z16.1, is used as the basis of the survey. About 140,000 employer establishments report each year, giving information on man-hours of work and the number and type of disabling work injuries. From this information, frequency and severity rates of work injuries are compiled for about 490 manufacturing and 180 nonmanufacturing industry categories. Agriculture, mining, some transportation, domestic service, and Federal government are not included in the survey, but mining and Federal government data from other agencies are included in the publication. Two smaller and similar surveys are conducted on a contract basis for other agencies. The Bureau has also conducted much more detailed studies of industries with high injury rates, but this activity is suspended at present.

It is impossible to state the manpower and monetary resources devoted to this work. A majority of the reports are collected by 17 State agencies participating in the survey on a cooperative basis. Report forms, postage, and technical guidance are furnished the States, but all other costs, including manpower in the States, is borne by the cooperating State agencies. We do not know what funds or manpower they use. In BLS, the total fund allocation for the annual survey and the two contract surveys is $225,000. Three positions are involved in direction, planning, review, analysis, and publication. About 7 man-years per year are used in collection and editing of the employer reports in the annual survey and five more in the two contract studies.

Reports from which the statistics are prepared are received by mail from the establishments covered. Reports are voluntary and the confidentiality of individual reports is assured. The same form is used for reports, whether direct to BLS or through one of the cooperating State agencies. The basic information requested is the activity of the establishment, the number of man-hours worked (and, therefore, exposed to hazards), the number of disabling injuries classified into several categories, and the days lost for each category.

Statistics for a given industry are not published unless the data meet standards established by the Bureau. For manufacturing, the number of industries meeting these standards is substantial. For many industry groups in nonmanufacturing, however, the data are insufficient for publication of an extensive number of industries.

From the reports received, a number of statistics are prepared by industry. The basic measures are the frequency rate (number of disabling injuries per million man-hours worked) and the severity rate (number of days lost-or charged on an established scale for deaths or permanent impairments per million man-hours worked). In addition, the average number of days lost or charged per disabling injury and a distribution of these injuries by fatal, permanent impairment, and temporary disability are included. A limited analysis of trends is included in the publication. A BLS report is published and the rates are included in the Handbook of Labor Statistics. Similar data are published by the State agencies participating in the cooperative survey for their States.

The report is available on request and is sent to about 6,500 persons or organizations asking to be on the mailing list. Publication is intended to be annual within a year of the end of the year of reference. Various difficulties have delayed publication in recent years. Statistics for 1966 and 1967 for industry groups

(2-digit SIC) are included in a press release of March 5, 1969, and detailed industry statistics are now in press for those years. Unpublished data are not released. Three improvements and extensions of the current statistics could be profitably used.

(a) The number of State agencies participating in the cooperative survey should be increased and agencies now participating should be enabled to extend their coverage into additional nonmanufacturing industries. This would permit publication nationally of more industry detail, particularly nonmanufacturing, and would improve the representation of small business. Also, it would generate additional State statistics, now almost nonexistent outside the 17 cooperating States.

(b) The in-depth studies of industries with high frequency rates should be reinstituted. These more detailed studies are required to indicate which occupations, hazards, and operations need specific attention and to suggest directions for efforts in injury prevention.

(c) Assistance should be given for the improvement of workmen's compensation statistics. Workmen's compensation is the oldest American social insurance, but has the least developed statistics. The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions requested some time ago that BLS establish a National Center for Workmen's Compensation Statistics. The center would gather existing statistics, suggest ways of increasing comparability, and give technical consultation to State workmen's compensation commissions on statistics. The result sought would be a system of comparable State and national statistics supporting improved administration of workmen's compensation laws, better service to injured workers, and additional effective accident prevention and rehabilitation work.

APPENDIX 8.- -STATEMENT OF NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

1. Q. Please describe any responsibility or particular concern your department or agency has for—

(a) Regulating hazardous or potentially hazardous products or substances; (b) Promoting the prevention or reduction of accidents or injuries in a particular area, whether due to hazardous products or otherwise?

A. (a) The National Transportation Safety Board is not a regulatory agency and has no responsibility for regulating hazardous or potentially hazardous products.

(b) The Board is charged with a continuing across-the-board review of the general safety picture in all modes of transportation. Under section 5(b) of the Department of Transportation Act, the Board has the responsibility for determining cause or probable cause and reporting the facts, conditions, and circumstances of accidents investigated under authority transferred to the Secretary of Transportation and to review on appeal the suspension, amendment, modification, revocation, or denial of any certificate or license issued by the Secretary of Transportation or by any Administrator of any agency under him. Under section 5(c) of the act, the Board was given the authority to investigate, determine probable cause, and report all aviation accidents, as defined by title VII of the Aviation Act. The Board is also authorized to make such recommendations to the Secretary or Administrators which, in its opinion, will tend to prevent transportation accidents and promote transportation safety and to conduct special studies on matters pertaining to safety in transportation and the prevention of accidents. 2. Q. Please identify any activities in which your department or agency is presently engaged which involve collecting, receiving or analyzing data concerning accidents or injuries. For each such activity, please provide a brief description and an estimate of the total monetary and manpower resources devoted to it.

A. The National Transportation Safety Board has two Safety Bureaus, one for aviation safety and the other for surface transportation safety. The Bureau of Surface Transportation Safety has highway safety, marine safety, and railroad and pipeline safety divisions.

The functions of these two Bureaus are similar regarding the determination of accident causation, but the procedures used are substantially different. Therefore, answers to this and the other questions will be segregated by Bureau.

Bureau of Surface Transportation Safety.-This Bureau presently receives periodic statistics from the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety of FHWA, the Bureau of Railroad Safety of FRA, and the Coast Guard concerning accidents and injuries in transportation. In addition, information is received from the National Highway Safety Bureau of the Federal Highway Administration and published summaries of the National Safety Council were utilized. These statistics have been analyzed to the degree necessary for several safety studies conducted by the Bureau and published by the Safety Board. Examples include a study of collisions of merchant vessels wherein the use of radar was involved and a study of the use of alcohol by operators in several modes of transportation. In addition, a regular function of the Bureau is to review and analyze accident and injury data to determine areas in transportation which appear to be subject to remedial action to reduce such accidents and injuries. It is estimated that 100 man-hours were expended in fiscal year 1969 in connection with receiving and analyzing accident and injury data. The total authorized staff of BSTS is 25 positions. It has no field offices. Its fiscal year 1970 budget request is for $481,000.

Bureau of Aviation Safety. The National Transportation Safety Board is responsible for the investigation, analysis, determination of probable cause, and report of all civil aircraft accidents within the United States, its territories and possessions. In addition, it has certain responsibilities with respect to an aircraft of U.S. civil registry involved in an accident in other areas of the world. In discharging these responsibilities the Board has clearly defined an aircraft accident