Stumbled on a stat about boiler explosions from 1900 to 1920 that shook me

I was reading an old safety manual my grandpa left me, and it said there were over 1,300 boiler explosions in the U.S. just between 1900 and 1920. That's like one every five or six days back then. Found out most were from poor riveting and lack of water gauges. Really made me appreciate the standards we have now. Anyone else ever dig up old accident numbers that changed how you see the job?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas1056d ago

That bit about "lack of water gauges" really gets me... It's like how people forget to check the oil in their car until the engine seizes, except back then it was literal explosions.

pat_park6d ago

71 Fatalities in the Titanic sinking prove @thomas105's gauge theory is just hindsight bias.