INTRODUCTION TO PART THREE In a progressive society, education, science and invention steadily work together to narrow the possibilities of chance adversities and to extend those of foresight. But there remain certain misfortunes which cannot be eliminated and these give rise to a need for a form of foresight and cooperation known as "insurance." Without insurance, misfortune falls on individuals who may be ruined but, with insurance, pecuniary losses are distributed over the masses and are little felt. Insurance involves a sense of community-a recognition of the fact that exposure to loss is common. The burden imposed upon the employer by employers' liability and workmen's compensation legislation creates an insurance problem. From the standpoint of the individual employer the liability which he incurs as the result of injuries to his employees involves serious possibilities: One accident may kill a large number of persons requiring compensation payments aggregating many thousands of dollars; the injury record of his plant may be without violent fluctuations for a period of years and then, because of abnormal,industrial conditions, may suddenly develop startling inconsistencies. These are only random examples of the uncertainty which may threaten the financial status of an employer. Failure to secure adequate protection under these circumstances would be reckless in the extreme. It is an essential consideration and one which touches the very foundation of business for, without some means of eliminating the serious uncertainties arising from the occurrence of industrial injuries, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to conduct our industries and commerce upon a stable basis. The chapters which follow will describe the processes through which the individual employer secures insurance protection against the legal liability created by the occurrence of industrial injuries. As a background, the principles of insurance will te examined and a survey will be made of the insurance business in general. This will serve to explain the universal procedure which underlies all forms of insurance and will also indicate the relationship of workmen's compensation and employer's liability insurance to other forms comprising the casualty insurance group and, in turn, to place casualty insurance in its proper perspective with reference to the entire field of insurance. The details of workmen's compensation and employers' liability insurance will then receive consideration, not from an extremely technical point of view but with the idea of presenting a picture of the situation which the layman may appreciate and understand. There is no good reason why insurance should have acquired, as it has, the reputation of being an intricate and unreasonably complicated process; it is simple in essentials and, if some of the practices may seem involved, it is only because they have not been properly interpreted to the insuring public. |