Meet the Kafkas

Accident Prevention Rules for Wood Planing Machines had a limited readership in 1910 and not much has changed over a century on. The brochure comes complete with gruesome illustrations of mangled hands purportedly belonging to injured Prague timber machinists and it argues that it is a matter of self-interest for employers to offer a less accident-prone working environment. It was written by Franz Kafka. Since it fell to his employer, the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute, to collect the financial contributions that businesses were compelled to contribute towards their workers’ accident insurance, Kafka was trying to sell a simple idea. The fewer accidents, the lower the premiums.

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Having completed his law studies, Kafka had worked at the institute since 1908. He was well suited to the tasks assigned to him and quickly achieved a series of promotions. By 1911 he was second in charge of an entire department,…