The Insurance Industry and Asbestos

System and Tables of Life Insurance 1880s

As mentioned in the blog entry, The Life Insurance Examiner 1888, a book written by Dr. Charles Stillman, an examining surgeon for the Travelers Insurance Company, includes in the appendix, statistical charts taken from a treatise entitled, System and Tables of Life Insurance, A Treatise Developed from the Experience and Records of Thirty American Life Offices, Under the Direction of a Committee of Actuaries. The treatise was authored by Levi Meech, the actuary in charge of the endeavor.

The thirty insurance companies include, Aetna Life Insurance, Continental Insurance Company of New York, and the Travelers.

According to the preface of the Treatise, the origin of the collection of the statistics dates from the re-organization of the Chamber of Life Insurance in 1873. A circular dated March 16, 1875 was sent to all life insurance companies in the United States and stated in part that, “The Chamber of Life Insurance has, through its Executive Committee, appointed the undersigned a Committee upon Mortality Experience, with instructions to procure from every American Company willing to furnish it, their experience in full up to a recent period.”

The statistical topics include, “the general mortality among insured lives” and “a classification of the causes of death, in general, by locality, and such other special relations as may be deemed advisable hereafter.”

The preface concludes with this statement, “The work has been nearly six years in progress, under a single direction of large experience; and with favorable conditions, has thus resulted in an authentic standard for reference.”

The Treatise is divided in two parts, Part First, Elementary Observations and Tables includes a division entitled Medical Statistics. The Part Second, Life Annuities and Insurances includes a section entitled, “Probable Life in Europe.”

This insurance industry collaboration was published in 1881 and revised in 1886.

International Claim Association

The International Claim Association was founded in 1909 and exists to this day. Charter members include Aetna Life Insurance Company, Employers' Liability, Maryland Casualty Company, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, and the United States Casualty Company.

The Association's constitution stated in part that:

"The object and purpose of this Association are declared to be as follows: To promote good will, harmony, confidence and co-operation generally between companies, and to devise and give effect to measures for the protection of their common interests, especially in matters for relating to claims; and the observance of the amenities that should exist between companies and associations."

By the 1930s, members included Aetna Life Insurance Company, Continental Casualty Company, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, Indemnity Insurance Company of North America, Maryland Casualty Company, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Prudential Insurance Company of America, Sun Indemnity Company of New York (today's Chubb Indemnity), United States Casualty Company and the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company.

In 1939 at the 30th annual convention held at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, Mr. A. G. Fankhauser of the Continental Casualty Company said in part that " A few years ago when the Program Committee went to considerable trouble to get an expression of opinion from the member companies and their representatives as to what subjects they would like to have talked about there was a large demand for a talk on pulmonary diseases, diseases of the respiratory tract."

Mr. Fankhauser then introduced Dr. Edgar Mayer of New York City who made a presentation to the Association on the topic of "Diseases of the Lungs." Dr. Mayer said, in part, "I should like to discuss certain problems of pulmonary disease which are of particular importance and interest to the Claims Division of insurance companies." During his presentation Doctor Mayer showed slides illustrating the x-ray appearance of some chest diseases including silicosis.

Representatives of several insurance companies were present for Dr. Mayer's presentation including individuals from Aetna Life Insurance Company, Colonial Life Insurance Company of America, Indemnity Insurance Company of North America and United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company.

Advisory Committee of Five on Occupational Diseases 1934

A committee known as the Advisory Committee of Five on Occupational Diseases of the Association of Casualty and Surety Executives, which included representatives from Aetna Life Insurance Company (Mr. E. C. Higgins and Mr. Robert Hall), Maryland Casualty Company (Mr. Thomas Bartlett), The Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York (Mr. Raymond N. Caverly), and the Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation, Ltd. (Mr. Gay Gleason), authored a paper entitled "For Occupational Diseases." Here is some of what the committee reported:

"The subject of occupational diseases is increasing in gravity daily. For months past it has been the subject of intensive study by the undersigned committee. At the moment, the outstanding occupational disease with which industry is confronted is silicosis. Briefly, silicosis may be described as a fibrotic condition of the lungs due to prolonged inhalation of an inorganic dust. It is not a novel disease; but it has increased alarmingly during recent years through exposures incident to the use of modern machinery."

"It is not immediately or quickly disabling as is usually an "accident" but produces disability slowly with many subtle developments. Consequently, along with other occupational diseases of gradual contraction, it creates novel, legal, medical and engineering problems different from those involved in compensation for accidents."

"From the engineering viewpoint, machinery must now be resorted to intensively in order to mitigate the evils of the diseases which machinery has itself created. As preventative measures, two things are especially requisite at present. One is to remove dust and other hazards from work places to the extreme limit practicable. The other is to remove the worker from exposure to such hazards at the first sign or indication of a disease or of especial susceptibility thereto. It is true that industry in general has made great progress in the improvement of working conditions by the introduction of mechanical equipment and devices designed to control or eliminate hazards to health; but in the light of the flood of claims and suits being presented and instituted on account of silicosis and other diseases, genuine or alleged, it is evident that much yet remains to be done."

"What has been said above about silicosis, applies with equal force to asbestosis - which is a less familiar disease than silicosis and only now coming to be recognized as an occupational disease."

"In conclusion, we would emphasize that the true remedy for occupational diseases is not to be found in 'compensation' and much less in suits for damages for theoretical negligence. The most potent and effective means of dealing with all occupational diseases and more especially silicosis, asbestosis, and kindred dust diseases, is by PREVENTION. The novel and complex problems confronting industry, in which the hazards of silicosis and asbestosis are present, can be solved most successfully only by intensified industrial hygiene and sanitation."

The National Council On Compensation Insurance 2.0

The National Council on Compensation Insurance held their 1938 annual meeting at the NCCI's New York City offices on December 1, 1938. Members present included: Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company, Continental Casualty Company, Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Maryland Casualty Company, and Sun Indemnity Company of New York (today's Chubb Indemnity). At the meeting the NCCI's occupational disease program was discussed. A report on the meeting noted that:

"There has been little change in the status of the occupational disease rates adopted in 1936 by the Special Committee on Occupational Disease." By 1933, the NCCI had a table of occupational disease rates which included asbestosis. An earlier blog entry on the NCCI can be found here.

In addition, a specific NCCI activity in Illinois was noted in the report of the 1938 annual meeting:

"In accordance with the provisions of Section 6 of the Illinois Act relating to the assignment of risks, the National Council, as the designated central agency, has been collecting for future hazard relativity determination purposes, the required engineering and medical data in connection with risks which have been assigned for coverage under the Illinois Uninsured Risk Plan involving the silica and asbestos occupational disease hazards... During the time in which the Council was authorized to collect these data, nine risks came to its attention involving the hazards of silica and asbestos."

The Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors of America 1930s

Founded in 1889, the Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors of America was formed by doctors from 27 insurance companies. The Association's first president was Dr. John Keating, the medical director for the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. Dr. Gurdon Russell of the Aetna Life Insurance Company served as the Association's first vice-president. In 1991, the Association changed its name to the American Academy of Insurance Medicine.

At the 47th annual meeting of the Association in October 1936, a paper was presented by Dr. W. Edward Chamberlain entitled "Pitfalls in X-Ray Diagnosis." In addition to being read at the annual meeting, the paper was published in an abstract of the proceedings. Here are photos of two x-ray views of a man with silicosis that were a part of the presentation. The following commentary accompanied the photographs:

"Pneumonoconiosis (silicosis) simulating neoplasm. This patient was not very greatly inconvenienced by his disease. His exposure to dust was relatively mild and long continued and occured many years before the present roentgenograms [x-rays] were made. The large collection of abnormal density are not due to the inhaled material but to the quantities of fibrous tissue which have been laid down as a result of the injury from the dust."

Insurance Officers and Directors 1930s

Here are some examples from the 1930s of insurance company officers and directors who were also on the board of directors of other insurance companies.

Mr. Morgan Brainard was the president and a director for both the Aetna Life Insurance Company and Aetna Casualty and Surety. At the same time Mr. Brainard was also on the board of directors of the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance Company. 

Mr. William Corson was the president and a director for the Hartford Steam Boiler Insurance Company. At the same time Mr. Corson was on the board of directors for Aetna Life and Aetna Casualty and Surety.

Mr. Richard Bissell was the president and a director of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company and the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, and at the same time Mr. Bissell was on the board of directors for Aetna Life, Aetna Casualty and Surety, and the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company.

Mr. Edward Milligan was the president and a director for the Phoenix Insurance Company and Mr. Milligan was a member of the board of directors for Aetna Life, Aetna Casualty and Surety, Hartford Steam Boiler and Connecticut Mutual Life.

The Liability Conference 1896-1905

In 1896, seven insurance companies involved in employer's liability insurance set up the "Liability Conference." The Liability Conference established standard premium rates and adopted standard policy forms. George F. Seward, president of the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, was one of the founders and a stanch supporter of the liability conference. Manuals issued by the liability conference in 1901 and 1904 were based upon the combined experience of the members of the conference. The method of deducing rates from such experience was devised by Mr. Frank E. Law of the Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York, who would later become a vice president of the Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York.

Here is the rating for asbestos manufacturers from the Table of Liability Rates adopted by the Liability conference which took effect January 1, 1905:

 

Here is a sample Manufacturers' Employers' Liability policy for the Aetna Life Insurance Company. A Manufacturers' Employers' Liability policy protected manufacturers against loss on account of bodily injuries, including death, accidentally suffered by an employee while within the factory, shop, or yards and resulting from the business operations of the insured.  

The National Council On Compensation Insurance

The National Council on Compensation Insurance is a group of insurance companies that shares workers' compensation information. The NCCI collects data on workers' compensation claims and policies and uses the information for workers' compensation insurance rate recommendations. The NCCI became operational in 1923 and exists to this day. Here is some Workmen's Compensation Experience data compiled by the NCCI in 1925 as to the classifications asbestos goods manufacturing and asbestos-spinning.

Some members of the NCCI in 1933 included Aetna Life Insurance Company, Continental Casualty Company, Fireman's Fund Indemnity Company, Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Pacific Indemnity Company, and Sun Indemnity Company (now known as Chubb Indemnity Insurance Company). The latter two members are currently part of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. In a 1933 report, the NCCI stated that they had "perfected the Occupational Disease programme, noted in the report of last year as having been begun." Here is the NCCI's 1933 table of occupational disease rates, which includes asbestosis, silicosis, and benzol (benzene).

Aetna Life Insurance Company

The Aetna Life Insurance Company traced its origins to before the Civil War.

Here's an excerpt from an Aetna Life Insurance Company promotional booklet from the mid-1850's, which includes a reference to Gurdon W. Russel (1815-1909) who was Aetna's medical examiner and consulting physician at the time.

By no later than 1913 the Aetna Life Insurance Company knew that in the handling of dangerous material, wherever possible mechanical means should be substituted for manual. "When this is not feasible employees should be equipped with protected clothing, protective guards, and tools and devices which will aid in obviating personal contact with the material."

Specifically as to dusts, gases and fumes, the Atena Life Insurance Company knew that "in operations indoors whose conduct is necessarily accompanied by the creation of dust or noxious gases or fumes every effort should be made, through careful arrangement and mechanical means, to reduce the formation or free discharge of these to a minimum. Much can be accomplished by covering dust making machines, vats and vessels, and by the employment of various ventilating, exhausting, condensing and burning devices. Where these are impractical or insufficient, protective equipment, such as guards or respirators, should be furnished to employees."

Inter Company Conference On Occupational Hazards

In the 1920s and 1930s, insurance companies held joint meetings to discuss occupational health hazards such as the inhaling of silica dust and asbestos dust. Here is a portion of a transcript of a 1931 meeting that took place at the Aetna Life Insurance Company. Transcripts of conferences were sent to insurance companies that did not have attendees present at the meetings. The chairman of the 1931 conference was Walter Pane of the Aetna Life Insurance Company. One of the speakers was Robert Vane, Jr. of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Mr. Vane discussed silicosis among pottery workers. Silicosis is a lung disease from exposure to silica dust.