Document 15bGpR5K786w78G9Exz8Qzrqm

i93i TRANSACTIONS National Safety Council Incorporated TWENTIETH ANNUAL SAFETY CONGRESS Chicago October 12 to October 16, 1931 The Hotel Stevens Copyright, 1932, Xationol Safety Council, hie. SCF-ALLF-00180 CONTENTS PAGE Council Officers and Directors ................................................................................. 3 Council Purposes and Policies ................................................................................ 7 General Sessions-- Annual Meeting of Members............................................................................ 9 Annual Banquet .................................................................................................... 31 Advanced Safety Engineering ........................................................................... 47 Foremen's Forum ................................................................................................ 63 General Round Table.......................................................................................... 87 Fire Prevention .................................................................................................... 123 Industrial Health Section.................................................................................... 151 Industrial Nursing Section ................................................................................. 215 Community Safety................................................................................................ 237 Psychology and Safety...........................................................................................253 Accident Prevention Equipment Manufacturers*. Section.......................... 297 Aeronautical Section ................................................................................................ 301 - A. S. S. E.--Engineering Section.................................................................. -- 333 Automotive and Machine Shop Section............................................................... 265 Cement Section ............................................................................................................ 409 Chemical Section............................................................................................................ 473 Construction Section ........................................... 557 Delivery, Taxicab and Bus Section........................................................................ 601 Electric Railway Section .................................................................................. 645 Employees* Publication Section .............................................................................. 701 **^ Index .............................................................................................................................. 821 The Council is not responsible for the views expressed in the Papers submitted at the Congress nor in the discussions thereon. These mani festly are the product of individual opinion. NOTE Volume III of these Transactions, containing the Street and Highway Traffic sessions. Traffic School. Child Education Section, Home Safety, and Statistics Section, is being mailed automatically to members who are believed to be interested. Any other member of the Council may receive a copy of Voiome III by requesting it. National Safety Council Incorporated 20 N Drth Wacker Drive, Chicago HONORARY MEMBERS Association of Iron am* Steel Elf.ctrkai. P.NV.iNF.Kit? Robert VV. Cammxt. Officers (1931-1932) C. \Y. Utk'VjmsT. President. J. I. Panash, Vice-President lor Pittance. .1. 1l CfLUNtv, Vice-President lor Enjrinecrmj:. Edwaiu. I.iaxa, Vice-President for Public Safety. Huwako it. Ponha. Vice-President i>r Mvm1ershi|. G. T. llELLMirnt, Vice-President ior business Administration. John E. Lose. Vice-President for Division m' Safety Cotmci!.. Arthur M. Tone, Vice-President for Industrial Safety. A. W, Whitney, Vice-President ior Education. Dr. C-E. A. Winslow, Vice-President ior Health. U'h.l Cowax. Treasurer. \Y. II. Cameron, Managing Director and Secretary. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (1931-1932) M. S. Ackerman. Jr.. Lehigh Valley Safety Council. Wm. F. Akmikx, Safety Division. Milwaukee Association of Commerce. C. It. Arm.. Past President. J. I. Panash. Cotisulihtg Engineer. Ernest \V. Peck, United States Kuldicr Company. C. \Y. PtKCjri?T. Western Electric Company. \V. 11. Cameron. National Safety Council. K. W. Camit.W.l. Past President. Uohkkt 1. Catun. Aetna Lite insurance Company. C. L. Ct.osi:, United States Steel Corporation. Wjli. CnorER. Steven? Hotel. G. \L Cke?s. Ma?on City Safety Council. J. L. O'llinkv. Pethlchem Steel Corjmration. . Euwarh Dana. Poston Elected Railway. I. Ktvis A. DkBu.is. Past President. G. A. )>*r.u.Fji. Public Utilities Section. Mawts A. Dow, Past President. Howam* P. J-oNiiA. Burroughs Wellcoim- & Co. (U. S. A. ) Inc. Harry Gi'ilhert, The Pullman Company. G. T. Hr.i.LMUTH, Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee R- R. Co. Walter G. King. Past President. Prank 1. Eanahax. Port Pin Malleable Iron Company. Prank A. J.avekman. Metals Section. Dr. M. (1. Li-nyp, ASSE-Enginecring Section. J. E. Long. The Delaware & Hudson Railroad Corp. H. W. Lormor. Cleveland Saictv Council. Arthur 7. Morey. Past President. 11* Ttwentieth Congress--Xaliunal Safety Council |iany. 1< ii pusfil>lc tliat the average citizen still h<ilds the ancient idea that an acci dent "i* a visitatiun of die Lord?" While this awful record lus been climbing up on the highways of the Nation, it i> inijrcs?ivc and cnoiuragtng to note that in the industries represented by the dele gate:- here present, tlhrrc has been. through an adoption of safety appliances and the di-'emination f propaganda, a gratifying decrease in the number of deaths and injur ies. Tltis achievement is the result oi intelligence, persistence and sacrifice. This is familiar to all of viu and it is In your everlasting credit that you are nut satisfied v.-:th tlc rv>ult> *if y*mr pi-meering. lut through crmventwms of this character, and in every other way. arc constantly seeking appliances and methods to conserve the iivo *i vour fellow humans. It occur? to me tlui you have sensed the real spirit f resjionsibilitj*. You appraise ropon^iliility tt<t as a >implc knowledge of a condition hut as an obligation tor the t ondusi. ,n of a task. I do not believe that ynur determination in this regard was ma terially advanced In* tlie enactment oi the so-called Employers* Liability Statutes by many the states. In iact. unless I am incorrectly advised regarding the histoir oi v*ur organizatiim. your pioneer work fur the safety oi your employees antedated the vtiaamnit oi these laws In* practically any of the stales. Your executives have dem onstrated a vision and courage as well as a cooperation which, jianicularly in these days *if irilniltion. should le appreciated In* yotir workmen. It may lie. however, tliat most oi them take it for granted tliat vour thoughtfulness ior their safety is coming to tltem anyhow, and appreciation may consequently lie lacking. There isn't a doubt, under this financial depression through which we arc attempt ing to struggle, that conditions have litcome the more perplexing. Economic con dition; arc very much out of joint. 1; takes the right spirit of humanity to continue vour endeavors and keep trying to find some additional means wherein* you can more iully conserve the lives of those who are m your employ. This spirit of look ing aiter the other fellow--this really human impulse which all of you express-- should lie an inspiration to those who otherwise, because of lack of work, might be disheartened and discouraged. 1 presume it is a practice with the various units of your organization to, at least <casutnallv. have "Safety Fust" talks with your men. in which thry are reminded of your interest in them and urged to extend similar consideration to their fellows. I: -h>uld mean much to these men. in these days of unemployment, to know tliat they are not only in a fiosition of employment hut that every safeguard possible is placed about their work so tliat their employment may continue and that the meraliers of tlieir household tieed lave no tear while they are at work, and may confidently look forward to llieir return to their domiciles at the conclusion of tlieir day's work. I was much edified recently in reading the speech of the head of a great industry in ur country. advcating measures tor the permanent employment and protection oi men. not only in bis industry*, but m the great industries of the Nation. His suggestions were courageous and patriotic. and I am hopeful will come into full fniitkin. If so. we n;*ed lave no frar of the future. Gcirniumsm and its principles will not have its present mure-or-less fertile fields of o|icrait<in. and will In.* exiled as a force of influence in the community for all time to omte. . This splendid program will necessitate that same dtgTce of mutual consideration and conj*eratim which ltas distinguished the National Saiely Council from its inccption. This is one of your great npjionunrties. It if inconceivable that Legislative enactments will build up the consideration of the average man for his neighbor. \V are often reminded that you cannot legislate morality into the people. It would lie a tar letter and more useful program if this priticijilc could be brought more strongly to tltc attention of our school children in tlieir early wrath. Something ak*ng this line is imdoulnedly living accomplished m many communities. Irat if the Metals Section 119 youth of the land is sternly taught to accept responsibility it injured, or at least until he can prove himscli innocent, it may do much to instill a sentiment of caution and a willingness to give the other chap a break. It is, perhaps, all right to offer this suggestion in a general wav, hut it we are to get anywhere h must be through intelligent unselfish leadership. Tltc leadership must come primarily from yotir organization. You have pioneered tlie field: you have done much. Your example should prove a stimulating encouragement to those really con cerned for tltc safety of otlicrs. In the hustle and strife of our day and age. we are prone to forget everything bnt self. Nothing Irat tltc everlasting keeping at it will count. Through tltc ramifications of this organization it is possible fur vuu to reach members of the legislature, executives of municipalities, school boards and every other agency through, and by which, safety propaganda can lie disseminated. Tltc Golden Rule should enjnv a renaissance and be made the great stimulating force to bring back to all men the "Spirit of brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God." Chairman Hensel: We owe Mr. Swcitzcr a vote of llianks lor bringing this wonderful inspirational talk to us and tlie Metals Section can assure him that \vc realize our responsibility and tliat we are going to take renewed interest and go ahead with greater effort than ever to prevent accidents. Wc continue with the subject. '`Metals Section Statistics for 1930'* and a friend oi mine and of this Section lias agreed to give \ts a hrici report. T. A. Schcndel, safety director for the Caterpillar Tractor Gu. Peoria. III., will address us. Metals Section Statistics for 1930 By T. A. SCHENDEL Safety Director, Caterpillar Tractor Company, Peoria, IIL 1 know* you will all be glad to hear that the Metals Section had, during 1930, one of the safest years in its history. Excellent records were made by many members, with the steel industry low with 11.99 lost-time injuries per 1,000,000 hours of work. They thus rank fifth in frequency among 28 major industries, included in tltc Council's annual report. The foundry industry slwtvs the other side of the picture--high frequency of 32.11. Smelting, refining, fabricating and non-ferrous metals Itad a more favorable cxjierience. Their average frequency was 17.14. Combining tltc experience of the.-c three groups shows 15.86 lost-time injuries per one million hours oi work, or 14 jkt cent lower than the rate for all industries. As to severity--not so good. Lost-time injuries per 1,000 hours, 2.38 for the Metals Section compared to 1.97 for atl industries. Steel had the highest severity rate. 2.47, with foundry crowding tliem at 223. and the non-ierrous metals coining in with 2.03. Of course, our high severity m contrast to low frequency, shows a high ratio of serious injuries to temporary disabilities. Fatalities alone are responsible for 137 days jier 1000 hours work, or 58 per ccm of our total severity rate, and that should give us all reason to pause and consider tliat figure. It is serious, gentlemen. The elimination of serious injuries is one of the major problems which confront industry. The records of over 1500 establishments that have rcjwted in each of the last tlirec years show* that, wliile frequency decreased 28 per cent in comparison with 1928. severity was down only 6 per cent. Tltc reason for the comparatively small decrease in severity is iound in tlie decline of only 10 per cent in the frequency of fatalities, and a slight increase in the frequency of permanent partial disabilities. The records of plants reporting for five years also indicate a pronounced decrease in tltc frequency and severity of temporary disabilities Inn much less success m 120 Twentieth Congress--National Safety Council eimuaating serions injuries. Notable exceptions to this general situation are found in the public utility industry which has reduced fatalities 25 per cent and permanent partial disabilities 20 per cent daring the last two years, and in the paper and pulp industry. h is well known that periods of rising employment necessitate the training of new men, shifting of employees from one job to another, and other actions which are apt to he unfavorable irom the standpoint of safety, whereas, during periods of reduced employment, many of these adverse conditions disappear. Industry has demonstrated, however, that all injuries, excepting permanent partial disabilities, can be reduced regardless of changes in industrial activity. From 1928 to 1929, working time in 1500 industrial plants increased 11 per cost but the average fatality rate decreased almost 5 per cent and the frequency oi temporary disabilities about 4 per cent. A decrease, in working time of 17 per cent from 1929 to 1930 was then followed by a drop of 24 per cent in the frequency of temporary disabilities and a 5 per cent drop in fatalities. The experience of our section has, in many respects, been similar to this. The records of 162 plants in our section that hare reported in each of the last three years show a drop in frequency of 35 per cent from 1928 to 1930; most of which was made during the last year. Severity in these plants, however, rose about 21 per ccm from 1928 to 1929 and decreased about an equal amount from 1929 to 193d Variations in the frequency of fatalities largely account for the fluctuations in our severity. While llie frequency of permanent partial disabilities has been up and down during this period, the severity of these injuries has steadily decreased, particularly daring 1930. The most consistent improvement in the section during the last two yean is in the steel industry. Among 71 foundries tiie total frequency rate increased from 1926 to 1929, but was down sharply during 1930. The frequency of fatalities and permanent partial disabilities has increased steadily since 1928. Consequently, severity has risen from 131 to 338, and, in 1930, to 228. Although injury rates for similar establishments in the non-ferrous metallurgical industry were very high during 1929, 1930 rates compared quite favorably with 1928- Seventr-three plants in the steel industry, on the other hand, decreased frequency 39 per cent and severity 15 per cent in comparison with 1928. Severity was higher in 1929 than in either 1928 or 1930 but frequency declined in each year of die period. Tle industry'* fatality Tate was highest in 1929 and lowest in 1928 but the fre quency of permanent partial disabilities declined in each year of the period, the total decrease bring 20 per cent. This improvement was general tlironglionl the various departments of the steel industry. Departmental records, available from 1929 and 1930, only, show that, out nt 22 departments, frequency dropped in twenty and severity in eleven. The re ductions in frequency and severity by structural and rail mills, seamless tube mills, plate mills, tin plate mills, and general mechanical departments were particularly outstanding because improvement was shown in both rates for each type of injury. On the ether hand, departments that Itavc particularly high fatality rates foi 1929 and 1930 such as blast furnaces, general labor and coke plants showed no appreciable improvement in tills type ot injury. * Only seven departments in the steel industry with frequency rates higher thar average, and of these, sheet and tin plate mills, open hearth, and seamless tube' mills are most important because of their large exposure. These departments also Itave higher than average permanent partial disability rates, but, with the exception f the open hearth, low fatality rates. Fatalities, on the other hand, occur most frequently in open hearth, coke plants, blast furnaces, genera] labor, and general mechanical departments. In fact, these hve departments account for over 50 per cent of all fatalities that oecmTed in the industry during 1929 and 1930, although titeir combined exposure i> only slightly more than one-third of the total for all departments. Metals Section 121 Permanent partial disabilities, however, are widely distributed. In proportion to man-honrs worked, structural and rail mills, merchant mills, rod and wire mills, blooming and billet nulls, transportation, open hearth, and seamless tube mills, have liad the largest number of injuries of this type. Furthermore, those with the highest frequency rates for these injuries also have the highest severity Tata. You have noticed that the open hearth appears frequently in the high rate group, yet, some of our members have demonstrated quite conclusively that open hearth operations can be made as safe as any others in the industry. Sixteen of these departments, in 1930, had frequency rates below 10.0 and of these, all trut four had severity rates below 13. In other words, the plants with the high frequency rates for this department are having the serious injuries. You have no doubt noticed that a great deal of this report is given over to the steel industry, and in this connection, it may be in order to mention that the next year will no doubt see a system of departmental reports carried on into the machine industry, where I believe it will be a big help to all of us who are connected with that phase of the Metals Section. No doubt, most of us have a system of our own in our individual plant, but are not able to bring it out into a more detailed report It is a matter of genera] belief that accident experience in the Metals Section during 1931 will be even better than the past year. Operations, on the whole, have been low, but one of these days business will pick up, production schedules will be increased, then again will come the possibility of higher injury rates. Therefore, now is the time for plants and departments with records that are below .par to look around, find their difficulties and correct them. Chairman Heksel: We are all very grateful to Mr. Schendrl for reading this report and for giving m some sidelights on it Have any of you noticed how the various departmoits of the steel plants have been split up in the annua! report pub lished by the Council? Have you any questions or any suggestions on the way the entire report has been handled ? G. G. Grieve (The National Safety Council, Chicago): The National Safety Council wishes all members of the Council to send in their 193! accident reports. The number has grown each year and the increase should be continued in spite of the depression and hard times. Information on accidents in many industries is becoming more reliable. This is partly due to the increase in the number of reports. Mr. Schexcel : What is being done about getting accident records in the mach inery industry by departments? Mr. Grieve: We are working on that The idea is to enable members to compare the records of their entire plant and also records in the individual departments. For example, those with forge departments can check their records by comparing with other forge shops. The idea as applied to the machinery division seems a good one. The first year the method was used in the steel industry' we received departmental reports from about ninety-five percent of those reporting, which was exceptionally good. last year the idea was followed out in the electric railway industry! we liad a large increase in the numlrer of reports and approximately seventy-five per cent covered experience by departments. Chairman Heksel: During the past year I showed various department heads where they* stood as compared with some fifteen or twenty similar departments of other companies. Some of those fellows were surprised to find that they stood near the top ami others that they stood near the bottom. D. E. Shankok (Fort Pitt Malleable Iron Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.): I sug gest the report be given in chart form to give us a chance to take notes. Chairman Heksel: I think that is a good suggestion. It will be taken up with the program committee of another year. The next paper will be delivered by G P. Waite, assistant supervising engineer, the Travelers Insurance Company, Chicago. 542 Twentieth Congress--Sationa! Safety Council doesn't know tlc thing he should know, it is not the safety department's fault: it is Jus foreman > fault. We take minutes <if those meetings, liut we do not lake the men's lames. Tlic foreman. suirrintendent. and general manager gets a copy. Once each year those employees come back for that same quiu. and we do not try to tell them what will liappen. We show them by actual demonstration. J can't go into that now because it would take too long. * If it is possible to educate a man, without going to all that expense, in some other way I would certainly like to know bow it can l>c done. Personally, I have the feel ing that is the only possible way to let the employee realize you arc absolutely in earnest. Those fellows come lack once a year and spend a couple of hours, or two hours and a tali with the safety department, and we get very valuable information m regard to conditions which exist in the plant of which we have had no knowledge, and a great many, times of which the foreman has had no knowledge. ADJOURNMENT Chemical Section 545 Thursday Morning Session October 15, 1931 JOHN ROACH. Chairman Deputy Commissioner of Labor, State of New Jersey, Trenton, N. J. Tiie last session of the Chemical Section convened with Vice-Chairman John Roach presiding. Ciiajhman Roach; The first order of business will lie a report on the trend of accident* in our industry, by Mr. Kepner, Accident Experience in the Chemical Industry in 1930 By IRA V. KEPNER Chairman, Chemical Section, Statistics Committee While it is very difficult to find something new alxnit accident statistics, it is a , topic of vital iinjKtrtancc and never-ending interest to tlmse of us who believe com plete, permanent and reliable records and statistics arc a necessity fit the conduct of present day successful accident prevention work--which, more and more, is leading us into fields of science, experiment and research--all of which is eminently worth while, tor it is by just such development and progress that many organizations in the Chemical Industry have tiot only made new accident records, but reduced acci dents to almost tlic vanishing point. Your Statistics Committee and sectional officers were very much pleased by the excellent response of members to requests for 1930 accident records. Through your cooperation the 1930 accident experience is iased upon the largest numtor of plants ever to report, and gives, therefore, a more reliable picture of the accident situation in the Chemical Industry than has ltecn indicated by reporting companies in any previous year. During 1930 your Statistics Committee received reports from the following estab lishments ; 15 plants manufacturing carbon products 26 plants manufacturing explosives 11 plants manufacturing industrial gases 15 plants manufacturing acids 13 plants manufacturing chlorine and alkali products 9 plants manufacturing dyes 16 plants manufacturing paints and varnishes 15 plants manufacturing pharmaceutical and fine chemicals 16 plants manufacturing soap 9 plants manufacturing and distilling coal tar, and 66 other plants not classified. This makes a total of 211 establishment# reporting, in comparison to 1/2 for 1929; hours of exposure, however, were slightly less in 1930. as was the case in most of the other industries, the figures showing a decline of about 17 per cent from 1929 to 1930. The increase in the number of reporting plants. 1 believe, is ample evidence of the interest which many mcmlxrrs have in their accident records, and in the efforts of our section to develop reliable statistics. According to the man-hours worked, operations in chemical plants during 1930 did not decrease as much as in some other industries. But in spite of the recent depression, and a drop below a full schedule, the chemical industry had a good year. Oitr^ lost-time injuries averaged 15.50 per million hours worked in comparison to 1K.47 for all industries. This rate gave us a rank of tenth in a list of 28 major 544 Twentieth Congress--National Safety Council American industries. However, we cannot overlook the better records of the cement, steel, and machinery manufacturing industries, whose operations involve many haz ards as great as our own. Our showing from the standpoint of severity of lost-time injuries was not quite as good as for frequency. Lost-time averaged 1.94 days per thousand hours worked; our severity rate, consequently, was slightly lower than the rate of 1.97 for all indus tries and our standing among the 28 industries was fourteenth. Even this rate, how ever. was considerably less than for steel, cement, and machinery manufacturing. Injury rates in different brandies of our section van* widely. Plants manufactur ing carixjn products had the lowest frequency rate. 5.05. whereas coal tar distillers had the highest, 44.72. Paint and varnish manufacturing establishments, pharmaceu tical and tine chemical manufacturing plants, and soap factories were other branches of the Section to have higher tlvan average frequency rates. Serious injuries, how ever. occur more frequently in other divisions. Dye manufacturing and acid plants, with better lluui average frequency rates, have permanent partial disability rates exceeded only by soap manufacturing. Explosives plants, also with very low frequen cy rates, Itavv the highest severity rate, due. of course, to the unusual hazards of their operations. The experience of >ur own as well as other industries shows that small plants usually haw higher frequency and severity rates titan larger ones. In general, as plants increase in sue. their injury rates decrease. The average frequency rate of 78 chemical plants employing less than 100 ]>enpli* was 26.94, in comparison to 13.04 for 17 plants with over 1000 employees. The difference hi their severity rates was equally striking; these rates being 3.72 and 1.63 respectively. Some g*d records have been made, however, by small plants in all branches of the industry. A tar refining plant with 3b employees wem through 1930 without a lost-time injury; this plant had a frequency rate of 33.05 and a severity rate of 0.58 for 1929. A record of two-years without a lost-time injury was made by a plant producing carl km products and employing <V4 itcoplc. Also, our smaller establishments Itave made, in many instances, much better records than larger ones in their divis ion.. Fur example, a small plant employing 39 people led the explosives division with a no-accident record during 1930. These arc only a icw of the illustrations that can be cited to prove that safety can I* achieved in small plants. In discussing our injury experience during 1930, 1 have indicated where nr should look for itufirovcment in x\u ivtutre. Many oi u.s arc jiarticulariv interested in comparing our 3930 records with those of previous years Itccause of the business depressant. We have 106 phots in our industry with at) exposure of approximatelv 145.1100.000 man-hours that Itave reported in each of the last three years; the records oi these identical establishment* most accurately measure our improvement during thij: jK.*riod. Thr 1930 frequency rate of tin's group was 20 jcr cent below their rate ior 1928--a reduction which was..however, somewhat less that the decrease of 28 per cent for over 1?U0 identical establishments in all industries. This reduction in fre quency included a decrease of 54 per cent in out fatality rate during 1929 and 1930 ii csenjurison with 1928. hut. unfortunately, the frequency of permanent partial disabilities lias risen steadily in the past two years. The decrease in our general frequency rate is largely due to the decline in the frequency of temporary disabil ities. While the decline in the fatality rate of our identical plants is much larger in many other industries, our experience with other types oi injuries is much the same. ' Tlic rise in the frequency of jtermanem partial disabilities during 1929 and 1930 was largely resjKmsiMv tor holding down our decrease in severity to only 6 per cent. The reduction in this rate was less than the 8 jk.t cent decrease made bv all industries. The iwrmanem partial disability rate doubled during 1930 in comparison with 1928 and 192*1. The large drop in the frequency of temporary disabilities, on the other hand, rc-uhed in a decrease of 25 per cent in the severity of these injuries. Chemical Section 545 Several explanations have been advanced in the Council's Annual publication on "Industrial Accidents'' to account for the large difference in the reductions of tem porary disabilities and the more serious injuries. It is thought that an undue pro portion of effort may have been devoted to minor hazards with the result that the more serious ones may have been neglected. Also, the increasing use of machinery may have eliminated some minor accidents but Introduced new hazards with more serious consequences. It is also possible that more accurate reporting tended to increase rates, particular ly tor permanent partial disabilities with their arbitrary scale of time charges. More liberal compensation awards in recent years may have had the effect of increasing time charges for a permanent partial disability; and furthermore, an injury which may have been a temporary disability several years ago might now be considered a permanent partial. We need, therefore, to give special thought to the reduction of our serious in juries. The importance of knowing the frequency and severity of accidents which are happening in our industry each year is apparent to anyone seriously interested in safety. The fact that we have never been able to ascertain these figures from all the members of our Section is regrettable. We have yet to get the most cut of the use of statistics in the work of preventing accidents. The more they are untler' stood and studied the better are wc able to apply protective and collective treatment. Statistics to s safety man arc just as indispensable as the compass is to the mariner. They give him the range and scope of the hazard. They eliminate the guess work and a great amount of time ascertaining for himself that which statistics can give him at a glance. Several industries follow the practice of exchanging full details on fatalities and other serious injuries. Many such cases result from accidents whose causes are unusual and difficult to control. With this plan, however, there is no good reason for a similar accident occuring from the same cause in other plants. In conclusion, I desire to empltasizc the value of reporting your annual accident records to headquarters. In spite of the steady growth of plants reporting from year to year, and our particularly good showing this year, wc are getting accident re ports from only slightly over one-halt of our members. Every manlier should take advantage of this opportunity to check up on his accident experience from year lo vear and then compare it with other plants m his industry. A good record is always gratifying and stimulating to the officials and employees of a plant. An organiza tion whose record makes a poor comparison with others in its division should cer tainly learn the reason ior it and take necessary steps ior improvement. Furthermore, every safety man should feel it his personal responsibility to con tribute his accident experience for the benefit of the Section. Our non-reporting members are certainly not supporting the efforts of our Sectional Officers to advance the development of full information on the problems and progress of our Section in accident prevention work. Our Section is exactly what we make it. and wc pet out of it in proportion to what we give, and the growth of the Chemical Section statistics depends on the support from its members.. In closing I wish to take this opportunity to thank the National Safely Council Staff, the Sectional officers, members of the Chemical Section Statistics Committee, and all members reporting, for the help they have given me hi making this report possible. Chairman Roach : That was a very excellent report, and I certainty hope tliat during the next year the other half oi out membership that has not contributed acci dent experience will do so. I know of nothing more stimulating to the interest of the safety committee and men interested in accident prevention than a correct listing of accident experiences. 1 know of nothing that causes more enthusiasm on the part of all of us who are interested in this human conservation work than to lcam 546 Twentieth Congress--National Safety Council of splendid plant records, covering hundreds of thousands of man-hours without injury to anybody. P. IV. Gi'uaeb (Consulting Engineer, New York City); 1 would like to ask the author it there have been any statistics compiled concerning industrial poisoning cases, particularly chronic poisoning? I contend that there is scarcely any chronic poisoning in the chemical industry; that in firms manufacturing chemicals, cases of acute poisoning occur occasionally. Those statistics would be of extreme value to the chemical industry of the country, and 1 was wondering if they have not been compiled if there was any possibility of securing them in the future. Mr. Kep.vek: None have been compiled, to my knowledge, Wc arc very' fortunate to get iJk number of accidents, even if we do not get the details of the accident. The name of the company in all cases is kept absolutely in confidence, and wc have no way of knowing what causes the accideuts or what the accidents were. 1 do not know of any way wc could do that It could be arranged between ourselves in the Chemical Section. the firms would sanction it: but I doubt very much if the firm* would care to do so. 1 know the National Safety Council has no records at all a> to the cause of the accidents. Mr. Gcuaek: There is no thought of getting the names of the firms; just the total number ui the accidents in industry during the year. Mr. Kei'.ver: They do not report what the accident was at all. It would be nice if they would do it. as a matter of statistics, but they are not available that I know of. Chairman Roach : 1 wonder if the cliairman of die committee liad ever called upon the Industrial Health Bureaus of the several states for that kind of information: Mr. Kfj-nkk: Not to my knowledge. The test information you get is that some have died by poisoning. That does not have statistical value. Chairman Roach: I think in most of the states they differentiate between case* of that kind. It may lx* their statistics might not he very accurate. I am inclined to think the chemical industry has nothing to be ashamed of, so far as health condition* go. in comparison with other sectional groups. Probably if we really knew the truth of tli? matter, there is very modi less poisoning in the chemical industry than was the 'pinion some years 3go. When we do have jxnsonmg cases of course they attract attention, h may l*r the thing is over-emphasized, but if you are to compare the lull jsaid hv workers front industrial jtoisoning and that paid bv industrial accidents in the chemical industry, I think all ui us would !>c more or less surprised. C L. (Hercules Powder Cb Wilmington. Del.): Tire thought you ex pressed a while ago opens up a possible avenue for discussion. Take your own state, for instance: are the files of the Accident Onrntission open to the general public or the j>cry>ns interested in compiling statistics, such as Mr. Gumaer thinks of? Chairman Roach: f think they arc. We would lie very glad to give any in* formatiun that i> there. As a matter of fact, at the end of each fiscal year there is a ret*.n printed of compensable occupational disease cases. That probably only covers a tian of the case* that might le reported, because many of them would not be con testable: but it gives you some idea of the sickness in the chemical industry. Mr. Jones: In other words, a review could be made of all such cases that oc curred and with sufficient detail: Chairman Roach: I think wc could get our statistician to throw nut the case? :hat might 1< charged against the chemical industry, once wc could determine the limitations or the extent of the industry. Just what industries are to l>c included as dkmical would I* one of the difficulties. Mr. Kei'XKr: Sec what Pennsylvania dr*:.*. Mr. Ainsworth was here a moment au". I wondered if they had any special statistics. Hr. Elizabeth B. Bricker (Pennsylvania Department of I-a!xr and Industry. Harrisburg); Pennsylvania's workmen's compensation law does not cover occupa tional diseases. There are a few cases rejiorted in conjunction with the accident re igns that come in. but they would not give a fair idea of what i* occurring. I am sure, and I do not think they ought to be used. Chemical Seelinn 547 A. L. Armstrong (Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, K- Y.): I think the difference in the compensation law makes tliat almost impossible. When you take the states where compensation covers occupational disease and compare that with states that do not. it is unfair, and you get reports that are not at all consistent in statistics. I think perhaps that is why some of our Pennsylvania concerns make such good records. Chairman Roach: Mr. Armstrong, you are a brave man to make that statement here. The next on the program will }*e a paper by l)r. Elizabeth Ik Bricker. of the Pennsylvania Department of l.ahor and Industry. Harrisburg. Pennsylvania. Volatile Solvents--Their Health Hazards By DR. ELIZABETH B. BRICKER ' Chief. Hygiene and Sanitation Section. Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Harrisburg, Pa. The past ten years have witnessed a new interest in a certain group of solvents. I refer particularly tn those solvents having rapid volatilization as one of their .properties. A number of causes have contributed to arouse this interest. But if one factor were to be singled out as Iicing the most significant, it would undoubtedly lie the introduction and the adoption, in many processes, of nitrocellulose lacquers. The accompanying economic necessity for the development of better, cheaper, and more universal solvents and diluents in the manufacture of these lacquers led naturally either to the introduction or to the widened application of these same volatile solvents for otlter purposes. In addition to their use in lacquers, enormous quantities of solvents are employed in the manufacture of artificial silk, in the production of artificial leather, in the dry-cleaning industry, and in many other branches of business where, though possibly not used in large quantities, they play an essential part in the process of manufacture. Unfortunate experiences involving explosions and disastrous fires first directed public attention to the necessity for careful handling of these products. Before methods for control of the fire hazard bad lecn universally agreed upon, illness in some of the jierson? exposed to these compounds was liting discovered. The far sightedness of the Chemical Section oi the National Safety Council in sjwnsoring the study of the health hazards in the use of benzol was an early and an outstanding demonstration of the fact that industry is interested in more tlian its product and its property; and iliat the health of the men and women who produce the output of a factory should receive the same careful consideration as docs their safety. Knowledge of the effects of volatile solvents on health may be acquired ir. two wav*: by laboratory investigation, involving controlled experiments on animals and on man: and by the study of workers who liave become ill while using these comjhuinds. * In the past much of this work has not come to the notice of industry, as the rvjN.rts have, tor the most part, appeared in medical journals and other scientific publications closely allied to medicine. A departure from this procedure has ap- iwarcd. however, within the past few years. Many ccunjianics arc now appropriating funds for the study of the physiological effects of their products, and in a number of instances have published the results of their investigations. This information may reach the industrialist through popular presentations in the newspapers or in mm-technical )>eriodicals. or in the form of reprints irom scientific journals dis tributed by the manufacturers of the compounds studied. The actual case reports of illness produced by exposure to volatile solvents, and of many other health-hazardous compounds in common nsc in industry, continue to appear almost exclusively* m medical journals. It is the compilation of some of these reports that I have been asked to present to you. 548 Twentieth Congress--National Safely Council Accounts oi the effects of the newly developed and the more widely advertised solvents are undoubtedly the ones which have the greatest interest for the marrutacturer. Thus far. practically no cases of ill health due to these substances have lieen reported in the literature. Whether this is due to the ltatmlessness of these compounds, or to the greater care exercised in their use, is not known. Whatever the cause, this apparent immunity should not lead to relaxed vigilance. In discussing petroleum distillates in one of the German medical journals. Floret reported two unusual cases. One was tltat of a girl who suffered from epileptiform convulsions for a year after an acute poisoning from benzine fumes. The other case was that of a man who. while filling cans with benzine, lost consciousness. He developed high fever and became acutely ill. Later, sores appeared on his body and in his mouth and throat which, IHoret believes, were caused by the excretion of ihe benzine through the skin and the mucous membranes. The man died five weeks after the accident. # Another autW. Stiefler. described the case of a man twenty-one years of age who fell unconscious after emptying a can of benzine. He was treated in a hospital and was discharged as recovered after ten days. Later he also developed convulsions which recurred even* four or five months and were epileptic in character. It w<iu'H seem tliat the great amount of publicity given to benzol and its physi ologic?* effects should insure adequate protection in its use. However, cases of llne?s continue to lie reported. Among those from Germany was that of a workman whr entered an empty vessel which had contained benzol. The vessel had previously bn washed out with water six times. Nevertheless, the man lost consciousness shortly alter entering it and all efforts to revive him failed. As several plumbers had worked in the same vessel it was thought that benzol could not to the cause of death, hm at autopsy considerable amounts of benzol were found in the brain md other organs, so this case must be regarded as one of unusual susceptibility. A report irom \ ienna gives details regarding a gToup of cases of benzene poisoning occurring in Central Europe. Fifty cases appeared among the women workers in u rubber-goods factory within a few weeks after beginning employment. Seven of these cases resulted in death. It would be oi great interest to leant the exact competition of the comtK>und used In* these women. Unfortunately that was not published in the report, lienzcne, evidently one of the ingredients, being re garded as the toxic agent. Carl>on disulphide lias been held responsible by certain French observers ior a ca>e oi neuritis in which the muscles of the legs and the arms were affected. This man had lieai employed ior five months in the making of mustard plasters by spread ing on paper a mixture c<mj>osed of rubber, benzine, and carbon disulphide. Injurious effects arising irom the use of the chlor compounds continue to be reported. The German factory jns]H.*ctors` report for 1927 carried accounts of several cases oi ixiisonmg irom trichlorethylcnc. most of them being merely loss ot consciousness with no lasting effects, although two important cases were included, one of very serious eve injury and one of death. A report irom Paris descrito? two cases of jxiisaning from carbon tetrachloride. The first case was tliat of a man who. on showing slight symptoms, stopped work and recovered in a few days. The second case was of greater severity. This man had been using carton tetrachloride in a small, poorly ventilated room in a cleaning establishment. At the end oi his second days work he became acutely ill, developing vomiting, headache, dizziness, uMorniual pain, and a temperature slightly above 102 degrees F. He tocame unconscious and was removed to a hospital for treatment. His symptoms indicated involvement of the liver, spleen, and kidneys but he was discitarged from the hospital after two months, very much improved in health. A physical cxamiiution one year later showed him to to completely recovered. The recent controversy on the permissible uses of methanol apparently quieted down following the publication <i the agreement between the manufacturers of methanol and the United Slates Public Health Service, which agreement went into Chemical Section 549 effect July first of this year. While a large number of deaths and some cases of blindness have been reported as being caused by the drinking oi methanol, no recent fatalities have been rejiorted from its industrial use. At tto present time several investigations are being carried on in well-known latoratorics for the purpose of increasing our knowledge as to the toxicity of this compound both by inhalation and by skin absorption. With additional data on these two points methanol should assume its proper place in industry. Certainly with wliat is known of its physi ological action at the present time, it should not to used as a solvent for general purposes. ... . In the preparation of this paper assistance was solicited from a number of com panies manufacturing or using volatile solvents in large quantities. The questions asked referred exclusively to the kind of protection used by these companies for conserving the health of their workers. ^ The replies brought out little that is new. The points emphasized were those which have many times been presented at meetings similar to this one: the handling of volatile solvents in closed systems; the use oi jmsitive pressure helmets or hose masks, with an adequate supply of fresh air, by persons cleaning tanks or repairing leaks in valves or pipe lines, (tJiis type oi work never to to done by one man atone) and, in the case of a tank, only after it lias liccn thoroughly steamed or washed out; adequate ventilation oi workrooms: alternation of jobs for workers cxjxised to volatile solvents with jobs in winch there is no such cxjKisnrc: periodic physical examination of workmen; and substitution of nontoxic, or at least less toxic materials, for toxic compounds. As exhaust ventilation at the point of evaluation of a solvent is the procedure usually recommended, it was a surprise to learn that three large companies, when using benzol as a solvent, are depending upon general room ventilation alone. Two of these companies si>ccificd that this ventilation was by means oi blowers at the floor level oi the room. One company stores most oi the volatile materials which arc kept within the plant, in underground tanks, or. in the case of especially volatile materials, in re frigerators. The latter procedure seems to to an admirable method ior conserving materia! and also for eliminating a health and a fire luzard. Another company, which has as a special hazard carton disulphide, conducts its process almost entirely under water seals. In cases where escape of this vapor is Inevitable it is ignited and burned to sulphur dioxide. Education of the worker? concerning the potential health hazards of the materials they are handling is most important. Such education gives them a definite reason as to whv certain rules have been formulated and why they must to obeyed. . One company emphasizes the imi>onance of constant and close supervision by technically trained men. This is regarded as particularly necessary in the case oi operators who use piping, pumps, etc and are inclined to apply personal ideas which might prove dangerous. ,. At intervals during the past two years "The Rubber Age lias pubhslied a senes of most interesting and instructive articles by Dr. P. A. Davis. Assistant Medical Director of the Goodvcar Tire and Rubber Company, dealing with toxic substances in the rubber industry. Many of these articles carry a section whieh should to of great help to the plant physician and the personnel department in the selection and placement of workers. In discussing the subject of physical examinations Dr. Davis specifies in detail the kind of person who should not be employed when such em ployment involves exposure to the particular substances under consideration. The volatile solvents on which these details arc given arc carbon tetrachloride, carton disulphide, antvl acetate and other amyl compounds, and acetone. In conclusion, I should like to make a pica for the reporting of cases oi ill health caused, or suspected of being caused, by volatile solvents. 1 am sure tliat the files of the medical departments of many companies contain records that should have 55(1 Twentieth Cmutress--Xaiional Safety Council wide publicity in scientific journal. A larpe company, with its corps of chemists, physicians, and safety engineers, can make any plant safe. These men arc /amf/far ivith tite hazardous substances with which they arc dealing, know how to recognize their toxic effects on the human Ireing, and how to provide for the safe use of these cftmiHiutuls. Bui wliat of the physician in general practice wljo. for example, may U mating a cobbler, ill because he has been using a cement containing )*cnzol* His knowledge of industrial processes and materials is limited. Without aid from industry itself, he cannot i>c expected to keep accurately informed as to the physi ological action of the mam- volatile .-&Jvents which are being developed and utilized in rapid succession. Hut he docs read his medical journals, which carry occasional hems on the subject of these important industrial Ilizards. The average physician lias some knowledge oi the effects of the more commonly used solvents. It is ill effects from the group of newer >il\cnts therefore that should be brought to his attention hy frequent and detailed reports. The sooner 'e *have general knowledge oi the toxic action oi these suftftance*. the better prepared we shall all be to combat it. The American Public Health Association is attempting to compile records on just such cases. The committee laving this work iu charge depends largely on published records. It would welcome informal personal communications, carrying reports oi cases, to eml>ody in its report. With such cooperation from industry itself these reports would soon be built up into a useful source oi inixMiation for reference. Tor the more wc know about the health hazards encountered in the handling of volatile solvents the letter able wc shall lie to employ these compounds with safety, atul thus retain for use valuable materials which would otherwise be outlawed. L H ukman IIii.m'II : The fbtf is open tor discussion. I would fikrc to hear from Dr. Greaiburg on that paper. Dk. Lfj>sakp Gkfkmii ku i United Stales Public Health Service. Washington. 1>. C. *: i have nothing tu add to Dr. BricfcerV excellent presentation of the subject. J thinJ: t if> if a field which i> Continually enlarging, and Dr. UrickerV review is renaimy an excellent summary of the present status of the problem oi some <n tinindustrial poisons. Mr. Gtrmatr made an interesting suggestion last night, namely, that Some organiza tion *b"uld c<ntrnuc to compile the literature on each of these substances that come? out, and keep a running file of the literature, particularly the toxic doses of these newer chemical* and solvents. He suggested that the National Safety Council d>> that. 1 ) not know ot any mechanism by which the Council could, hut 1 think it wa an interesting suggestion and jrerltaps some of the members may know how. Gtnx.vrtFxt* (DufAmt V$cotoid Gmtpany. Arlington, New Jersey): I would like to ask Dr. Bricker if. when carlwm tctrachlorid ctmes in contact with fire, the fumes are more dangerous than when itis simply inhaled or there is contact with fumes front an open tank. J)*. HkicKFJt: ) think Dr. f-fittuflion. in her book cm Industrial Poisons in the b'niitrl .States, ha?* gone into that.It is not somuch site carlion tctrachlorid itself, which i dangerous when used on tire, but the products of it* decomposition. She consider? phosgene is the compound whjch is so dangerous under those circumstances. I >ir. Hmi'Aitn G. Muter t'Assistani Chemist, U. S. Bureau of Mines. Pittsburgh) : TIk- Hureau of Mines i> making tots of the use of carfxm tctrachlorid on fires, and when it i.* used on fire*, phosgene, chlorine and hydrochloric acid are the poison sub'taiiiv*. If you write in to the Hureau ( Mines, they will send you the 'information. Chairman Roach: I wonder if we have any records { fatalities *>r injuries, at nrrv cjn.-cd hy carl*>n tctrachlorid? Dr. yh:iTrj<: The reason for this investigation hy the Bureau of Mines uas the fatality of tu<> navy men win* were working in a compartment where a fire starter!, and they were using carlmn tctrachlorid and were killed. Then this investigation was made. Chemical Section 551 Mr. Culknhelp: Tltc investigation also covered die gases tliat came in the New York City subway, when that cable came out. Somebody squirted a Pyrene extin guisher on it and the Bureau ut Mines found phosgene was one oi the decomposition products at that time. Dtu \Y. J. McConnell <Metropolitan): Just a few weeks ago there was rvjKjru-d a death of a janitor, who was using a was containing tetrachlurid. The wax was rather hard, and he put it on the stove to melt the was and the tctrachlurid was liberated and he died after ten minutes exposure. Dr. Albert S. Gray (Director, Bureau of Occupational Diseases. Connecticut State Department of Health, Hartford); I was very much interested in l)r. llrickcr's discussion of carlxm tctrachlorid. They are using it mv in household cleaning machines, and J consider that cxircmcly dangerous, because the literature scut **ut with tliesc machines does not dwell sufficiently upon the toxicity u( tlw material. 1 know of three cases rendered quite ill by Utc use oi this material. They arc using it and sending it out for use iti small hand cleaners, and they also have a very nice electrical cleaning device, in which the individual is furnished with aUnu five gallons of this material, largely carbon tctrachlorid. and instructions for using and cleaning the carbon tctrachfort'd after ft becomes dirty. They furnish them with a canvas log and Fuller's earth, with instructions to pour the material into the canvas bag with the cleaner and put the Fuller's earth in and p*tur it out into the original can two or three times, until it becomes clean. You sec the possibilities of danger to the woman working with that material, using it in a poorly ventilated room. They do tell you it should be usrd in a room preferably where there is. cross ventilation, with a door opening outside. They read those directions and they do not do it. I know of two cases where it was used in a Jiascmcm and one case in which it was used in a kitchen, with very unfortunate results. \Y know the vapor i? a1*>ui five times as heavy as air. I think there are going to Ik* some tragedies there. It is suggested that children and animals I* not irermittetf on the floor during its use. but wc ate touud to have children crawling on the fbiur while this work is going on. I think if the companies selling that do not make mors* definite statements we are going to have unfortunate accidents. Da. Bricker: I Itavc asked the Pennsylvania Dry Cleaners' Association to keep us informed of any cases of poisoning from carbon tetrachloride that rnmr to their notice, but evidently none have appeared as yet. I shall lc glad to learn oi any occurring outside of the state. Chairman Roach: Would you care to say something about the absorbent prop, erties of the fluid ? Da. B&jcker: I took that matter up some time ago.- and as far as the literature would indicate there is no toxic effect from skin absorption, although you have tliat skin irritation which you always have when a substance is used which removes tire fat from the skin. Since carlxm tetraclvlurid is used t remove the tats from clothes or other substances, it may produce dermatitis. P. \Y. GtmAER (Consulting Engineer. New York City) : In one case you men tioned where a man was overcome with acute jxiisomng in a tank, after it was supposedly cleaned and after other men Itad worked in there--I would like to explain atom that. You take a ten thousand gallon tank car and supposedly clean it out; it docs not take very much liquid solvent to get a concentration which will cause acute poisoning. Nou* there are certain gums that are slowly dejujsited on the inside oi lank cars, that have carried solvents for a long time. They arc oa the inside of the car. and If you could steam the car out, some oi them would come out. yet not the full amount. Suppose the car stands for a considerable time after it is steamed out, and then the men go in; there has Ireen time then for the solvent to escape from the gum into Hu* atmosphere of the car. On a ten thousand gallon car you get a concentration of two thousand parts of a million, which might cause acute poisoning; it only takes one S52 Twentieth Congress--National Sefety Council cupiui. and it is very conceivable that that amount of materia] migltt be distributed "vcf the whole surface of the car, inside the ear film, although it might be very very thin. ' t 1 make this explanation in order to emphasize the fact that no one should ever go into a dosed tank lor any purpose, without gas mask and attendant, even though it has len supjtoscdly dcaned lieiordiand. Chairman Roach : 1 think that point has been well emphasized and 1 hope it will .)* more strongly emphasized. J/i the Ia.H seven years uc hare had many tragedies' in New ^ */rk sufficient to warn us, in lacking up the cxiicriences by Mr, Gumaer, alut sm>c of tltese tanks supposedly clean and free from vapors, 1 would like to bear irom l)r. Winslow. 1k. C.-H. A. Winslow f Professor of Public Health, Yale Medical School, New Haven. Connecticut): 1 was very* mudi interested about the publication ot our current cumnurnis on industrial solvents. Dr. Sappington and 1 have discussed it a great deal; certainly ii the Industrial Health Division did that work of publication f tmr current comments *m industrial solvents, there would be such a protest from manufacturers of some of the products as to reasonable standards, and such a protest and such fear on the pan of industry that these figures would lie quoted on com* poisatiun cases, that the Industrial Health Division would probably be wiped out. \\ e have to recognize quite frankly that there arc certain things the National Safetv Council can do quite well. No other organization has the ability to get the things into the actual daily works of the industry: on the oilier hand there are certain thing? we can not do in our organization, and 1 think that is one of them. M hm there is a tremendously big issue like benzol, we have to face it and take iur medicine: but if we were to sun out and give a general list oi solvents and their dangerous concentrations. I can assure you the reaction would overbalance the letnrfit. There arc other organizations that can do that. The American Public Health Association can do that kind of thing. They arc not responsible to industry; they can do it and we can use it, but I am afraid it would lie a very dangerous tiling tor us to do the thing we ought to do. unless it was big enough to make you believe yni had to stand for it and have a big fight * 1 was very much interested in another point particularly the small plant I listened the other day in the Governmental Officials' Section to an illuminating ad dress bv Colonel Rcningcr. He iaced well the fact that where we arc following an entirely practical ideal, if we expect to solve the small plant problem it must be through the small plant He said the only war to solve it was through action bv governmental officials and insurance companies. He suggested. I think very wisely, that it would be very well if our officials in accident prevention--I would say the same with those concerned with industrial disease--should devote a very much larger part of their attention to the small plant. The big plants can take care of themselves, as he pul it, in the accident field. What is the use of an inspector visiting ai regular intervals a big plant that has not had a hist time accident in three years, and ignoring three or four smaller plants in the ncighliorhood that are having them rather constantly? I think the most useful thing to do would lie to persuade the governmental bodies to devote a much larger share of their attention to the small plant than they do. Dr. C. O. Sappixoton (Director Industrial Health Division, National Safety Council. Chicago): May I make a few remarks supplemental to what Dr. Winslow ^id: The basis upon which information is given out hv the Council, particularly in regard to industrial poisoning, is largely through correspondence. We write probably .1.000 technical letters during a year, endeavoring to answer some of these questions. It seems to me rignificam tltat 00 per cent of those inquiries are on chemical health hazards. As you arc a chemical section, you certainly must be interested in that trend. In other words, there are about 1.R00 inquiries on chemical health hazards that we receive. Chemical Section 553 Now. in addition to that, vuu might also be interested to know that approximately 90 i>cr cent of these inquiries do not come from physicians or nurses. They come from safety engineers or safety supervisors, which of course is what you would expect in an organization built up primarily of safety people. We have liven recently asked for the safety precautions necessary in storing fifteen one-ton drums of chlorine in a large city. Ika V. Kei'.ner (Pennsylvania Salt Company. Philadelphia): We st*rc pmluhlv a dozen times that much at the plant, keeping it in a cool place where there is venti lation. Dr. Sai'H.voton: It would lie all right in a large city? Mr. Kf.i'Ncr: Yes. 1 do not know oi any place where they would haw restriction?*. That is only one tank car or two. Mr. Gimaek: In reference to Dr. Winslow*? remarks regarding compiling in formation on toxicity. 1 think it would l*v a great licnefit to industry, state depart ments oi health, and lalxir, and also engineers, to have this information available. Before I can do any work on ventilation. I have to know h*w toxic a material is. how many particles of material a workman can breathe without endangering his health. A firm endeavoring to use a new solvent wants to know how saic it is to use. The ideal tiling would lv to carry on research and determine the toxicity of all these materials: hut that is obviously impracticable and would require a long, long time ior that work. However, there is information on many materials, and on a jjrcat many materials there is no information at all. Some of the information is in <i!*curc foreign journals that the average person would not have access to. My thought that 1 discussed previously with Dr. Greenburg was that we could compile the information that IS available--not publish it. but possibly have it on file for Dr. Sappington to give to any one asking for informalion on toxicity. It would Ik* a great saving for evcrylxxiy in that work, if he would give the references, establish a go*d biography on the subject. # The American Chemical Society. Paint and Varnish Section, is preparing a mono graph on lacquer raw materials, and they are giving the properties on the very many solvents and materials used in lacquer. It seems as if industry would lienefit from such knowledge. ^_ Dr. Winslow: That is a practical suggestion, and I think Dr. Sappington will confirm me when I say he is quite ready to do that. One of lis principal values t" the Council mcml*crs is his readiness to give any such information in correspondence. Dr. Sappix-cton: I think, if I may l>c allowed to say another word, there is a distinction which Dr. Winslow has made between documentary evidence, which is broadcast over the entire country, and the other method which we use through cor respondence when we discuss specific problems: there is a distinct difference lietwcen the interpretation of information given in those two types of media. Now there is much more chance for misinterpretation in primed documentary evidence of the kind that wc put out in our pamphlets, than there is when a member writes in for in formation <m a specific problem, and gives you exactly the problem he would like to know about. I think, that should lie emphasized, and proliahly that is exactly what is in Dr. Winslow's mind. Da. J. P. Leake (United States Public Health Sen-ice): This is all very inter esting. and I think very profitable. In regard to carbon tetrachlorid, to make the record complete, probably several of you know of instances tiiat were cited, in Kansas City, with affidavits, and so on. with fatal results, supposedly, from the use of one of these cleaning machines, using carbon tetrachlorid. From what I saw of the data, it did not look conclusive that that was the cause of death or probably some toxic effect. Chairman Roach: Mr. Timm, do you care to join in the discussion? H. A, Timm (Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. Bayonne, New Jersey): I just wanted to state we had an electrician who was cleaning a motor with carbon tetrachlorid, spraying it in there, and the man was using a gas mask at the time: 554 Twentieth Congress--National Safety Council hut he tu>k off the gas mask and he was slightly overcome. Oi course we took him Vj the firrt aid and gave him the necessary treatment and he came around all right. ! wonder, in spraying that carbon tetrachlorid, ii phosgene is generated there without die application of heat? Mk. Cl jjaex : It your commutator is sparking very badly you liave mien??: heat at the sparking point. *# Mk. Timm: Tl)t motor was shut down. Chairman Roach : I was very much interested in that part of Dr. Bracket's j>2]nrr that dealt with the possibility of toxic jwisoning from benzine, tliat is the petroleum distillate, j wonder if we have any American cases on tJiaL Wc certainly make eiurngh of it to have had some experience with it Da. L&axe: ] know of one fatal ease of gasoline poisoning. K. E. Ya.vpku. (Standard Oil Company ot New jersey. EUtaliethlown. New Jer sey) : Tlic last sjKakcr commented that he knew of an occasion of death due to gasoline vaj>or. Just what manner or nature was that?fc Dr. LnAKK.: Of course it is not the same thing as petroleum benzine, but quite similar. This was a lioy cleaning a car off with gasoline, spraying it all over the car i a tightly closed small garage. We know that it is toxic and that apparently was the only possible cause of death, at the autopsy. We know of a lot of cases, particularly in our southern refineries, where tramps go in a long string of tank cars in a train, a rain come?, up. they find an empty one and go in and the tramp is always found dead when the tank car reaches the refinery. Chairman* Roach: Gentlemen, the floor is still open for discussion. I doubt whether the subject lias lcen exhausted. I was very much interested in what Dr. Winslow said ataut trequem plant inspection of small plants. I think that practice is carried out in rm*t states, to give very much more attention to small plants titan to very large <mes where they have such engineering services that the police inspec tion made hv the departments ot lalwr is not very helpful. After all. you must rememlr tliat our authority is based upon police power. When we go in, we do not go in lw asking permission of anybody. The state commands a certain thing lie done, and while we try to "soft pedal" that particular aspect of plant inspection we would rather go in there, if we have the ability, to give consulting advice on matters- Primarily the authority of a state inspector is a police authority, and wc do very much better with that kind of service in medium and large sized plants tlian prnlebly we do in plants only employing a few people. It is much more difficult to convince a man employing ten or fifteen people, that the plant requires a great deal of safety attention, than it is to convince a very large plant employing a large rmm1>er of people that tlic safety program is an imjxinant part of their pcraring program. It is possible to go into the small plants and see that plant premises arc reasonably safe, structures, buildings, equipment are safe guarded. and it those were the major causes of accident, there would not l>e any problem alwut it at all. 1>ccau$e we would not ask the Itrip of anybody to make plant premises safe so far as buildings and equipment are concerned. However, if you look over your records you will find that unguarded machinery dangerous structure? are not the major causes nf accidents in industry*, Imt that the unseen things that arc not altogether visible at the moment when an inspector is there, are the ones that we have to guard against, and that is where this safety eoucarional feature comes in. If we were to msjMtct small plants once a month (which NO state d*cs. no stale. I am sure of that, they would not have an inqiee*tion force large enough, and I do not Iwlieve they ought to have it Urge enough to do that! 1 doubt even then if it would make the plant very much safer, unless we ran sell the thought to the man that operates the plant, that is on the premises alt tht rime, so rial he becomes safety conscious. Down in onr state we are trying to do that through awnal state-wide imcr-plant safety contests, that will permit an employer haring ten or more people to enter the contest. 1 haw in mind an accident in a tank tliat cost three lives in a small plant. No Chemical Section 555 kind of factory inspection could prevent that type of accident. One man entered the tank that was sour, was overcome, and another entered, and he was overcome; a third went in, the superintendent of the plant was the third man, and he was over come by the vapors, and then a fourth man went in and brought out the other three. The three of them died. The superintendent of that plant certainly was not safety conscious, because our rules are printed, published and posted, that NO person shall enter a tank without a life line, and a fellow workman on the outside at the end of that line. But these rules were disobeyed, and proliably had never been followed out. for the reason that in that small plant the man who was responsible for the operation of the plant was not safety conscious. We can do a little to sell safety in a plant. The insurance carrier can do a great deal, and most of them do a great deal, in selling safety in the small plants; but I am not a hit sure that wc are going to solve the problem of the small plant until tve can educate the man employing ten or twelve people, that he has just as grave responsibility resting upon him for the safety of those men. as has the man who employ* five hundred or a thousand people. Mr. Gcmaer: 1 spent about five years in studying a particular industrial poison ing and giving free service to plants where that particular chemical is used, in en deavoring to get them to use proper precautionary measures, and it is my opinion 'that in industrial poisoning, the problem of the smalt plant is even greater than in the case of accidents in the large plant. I infer that the only solution to that, as Dr. Winslmv mentioned, is belter stale supervision. Now the larger plant is being penalized by the poisoning of the small plant. The small plant docs not take the interest that the larger plant does. In most cases I liave never encountered any difficulty at all in getting the larger plant to make changes in their ventilation for precautionary measures. They are willing and anxi ous to do it. It is very seldom that the small plant follows recommendations will ingly. I have even had to get the firm I represented to state that they would refuse to sell them the material if they did not make clumges. That show's you the im partial attitude or the attitude of large producers to protect the health of individuals even at the expense of their own sales. In Mr. Roach's stale almut a year and a halt ago, 1 ltappened into a plant, and a man was using the solvent in cleaning off tires, just before they were wrapped. He was down in the basement, in a comer of the room, where there was absolutely no ventilation. The man looked anemic. I warned them at that time, that it was a very dangerous condition, and that they should put in exhaust ventilation. They had lieen in financial difficulties and did not do it. A month from that time the man was dead. Tlie problem is the small plant. I think there is room" ior improvement in the state inspection. The inspection of these solvent toxic materials is left to routine factory inspectors. Very few of them know alwut proper use of these solvents and the ventilation. If each state would have at least one man especially trained in this particular line, and they had gradually acquired--like Dr. Gray has in Connecticut-- a list of all the plants in the state that are using chemicals, and this particular tnan made inspection of that plant, and of the amount of the air necessary, it would go a long way toward solving the problem. A- V. Berquist (Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company. East Chicago. Indiana): I am interested in a steel plant but we also arc associated in chemicals in a way. It strikes me that nothing was said about the use of self-contained apparatus in the rescue of men who had been overcome from poisonous fumes of some kind, ammonia gases or fumes from oils, and the like. I would like to hear an expression from some of the members as to what they do in the training oi men as to the use of self-contained apparatus for rescue work. Chairman Roach: Is there anybody here that can answer the question? Mr. Yandell: I might answer tliat. Wc are in the petroleum manufacturing industry and we realize it is hazardous. You are more or less constantly in contact 556 Twentieth Congress--National Safety Council with gae*. Not as an answer, but as a preventive. 1 might recommend the very dose scrutiny of the possible dangers and warn the men against entering into gaseous areas without the necessary equipment. We also try to emphasize tliat to employees particularly in our process ojicrations. by giving than at least once a year instruc tion m the pressure prune method. You can always get a capable instructor. We emphasize the pressure prune method ot resuscitation. We usually catch the men after their shifts and reimburse them tor coming lltere so there is a considerable number of the men entering into that training, and after they have tliat it makes them more conscious of that danger. In case of necessity, although there are plenty of them I have seen get out of there, I would hate to have my life depend on their ability, but it does make them safety conscious and in a number of cases it is advantageous. Mr. Berqvist: \Se may have a break in the line in the ammonia building; the men in there possibly may lc overcome. How do you get tltesn out? Mr. T;.uu : As far as the self-contained apparatus is concerned we find we can add the fresh air hose lint to the gas mask; that is, if the man is overcome. If the man is overcome in the first place, we can get to him with a twenty-five or fifty foot length of fresh air hose. We have not discovered any case yet where we have' to use a self-contained breathing apparatus, cither a Gibbs or McKay. We use the ammonia canister tvjc of gas mask, with a fifteen hundred or two thousand c c. canister to j`l Mr. J'ERnriST: I think any plant, of any size, ought to have a man drilled in McKay or Gibbs apparatus. We recently had a Bureau of Mines man, Mr. Grimes of Vincennes. Indiana, come up and train some of our men. It seemed we could do with green men; in the use of McKar apparatus, you can train them in a short period of time. We trained them in a month. Tlwycan go through the process, take the machine ai>art; wc Iteld comjwtitive drills with those men after one month training, three teams: we put them through a smoke room for three minutes, dianging the apparatus, sterilizing, shutting off tlw bottle, sterilizing, putting on the goggles, made a complete change of four men in twelve minutes. Mu. Timm: If you have use of tlut lyj of self rescue, it is a fine tiling to train a man. We did lack in 19JU train a nan hi the use of the McKay machine. We hrund it was a two hour machine at that time; a man trying to get into the tank car would lave an awful job on his lands. Me. Bkrocist: In a tank car it is impossible to do that. W> also use a power blower. Wc lave a little different situation than you prob ably do lira chemical plant, because with the gases and carlion monoxide being pre sent you nay have tltem spread around. With the power blower, if you do not set them down in an atmosphere that is absolutely pure, you arc liable to blow gases or draw gases into the blower and blow them to the men. Du. Edward G. Mejtek (United States Bureau of Mines. Pittsburgh, Pennsyl vania; : There is a representative here with the Bureau of Mines, with a gas mask exhibit. I invite you people to write in and tell your experiences and ask wliat suggestion* we can give to solve your difficulties- There are a great many of these difficult io we never hear alout and nat'urallv we can not improve the equipment. Frank Scott (Hamlin and Company, New York); I am representing the Con solidated Gas Company in New York. In connection with this question regarding `rescue work, they have cars equipped for emergency service. They have on them iltc two hour apparatus and also the half hour oxygen breathing equipment; we re cently have installed one hour apparatus on our larger holdings. I do not think it is generally known tliat they have the one hour oxygen breathing apparatus. The * .ADJOURNMENT TWENTIETH ANNUAL SAFETY CONGRESS NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL Construction Section Officers 1930-31 General Chairman--George IViio. Woods Brothers Construction Co., Lincoln, Xcbr. .. 1'irc-Chairman--W. G. Wiieelqi, Building Trades Employers Association, New York City. _ Srcrrlary--Charles H. Black. Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation. Boston, Mass. , Chairman Poster Committee--Robert McKintey, General Accident Fire and Luv Assurance Corp* Ltd- Detroit. Mich. _ Chairman Program Committee--W. F. Tcbesing. W. K Tubesing C Milwaukee. Wis. Chairmau Membership Committee--)ufepii S. Kl-ple. H. K. Ferguson Co.. Cleve land. Ohio. Chairman Publicity Committee--V. A. Davidson. Oicscbro. Whitman Co. Inc., 1-ong Island City, N. Y. ^# Xai's-Lfttcr editor and Chairman Statistics Committee--John Russell. Ja. United Engineers and Constructors Inc- Newark, N. J. Chairman Engineering Committee--J. W. Follix. Philadelphia Federation of the Construction Industry, Philadelphia, Pa. Executive Committer--Tut Officers avi* W. K. Austin. W. E. Wood Company. Detroit, Mich. ' \V. R. Richards. The Associated General Contractors of America, Inc* Wash ington. D. G J. \\\ Cowper, The John W. Cowpcr Co, Inc.. Buffalo. N. V. Tuesday Morning Session October 13, 1931 GEORGE WIDUA, Chairman Woods Brothers Construction Company, Lincoln, Neb. The first session of the Construction Section convened with General Chairman George Widua presiding. Chairman Widua: It is a great pleasure to see this large assembly and I bid you welcome. 1 want to say that I think the chairman of our Program Committee. Mr. Tuhesing. has arranged a fine program, one of the finest that I can remember in the Seciion. and I think wc will all learn considerable from the speakers who arc to deliver the papers. 557