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SAFETY TRAINING situation which may be remedied simply. Telling an employee of his greater tenden cy to accidents may cause him to become less liable to injury, probably because the knowledge helps him to overcome failings which he has never fully realized he had. The employer can also bring about an improvement by arranging for physical ex amination and medical treatment or for the correction of faulty vision He may even be able to help correct a personal or social condition which causes the employee to be upset and hence more likely to be hurt. Certainly, when an employer discovers that an employee does have more than his share of accidents, his first step is to make an investigation If simple remedies do not work, help may be secured from a psychia trist In most cases, this step is unnecessary. The treatment earned out by a large southern paper mill suggests what an em ployer can do This mill's management first looks for con ditions surrounding an accident repeater's work which might cause him to have acci dents If such conditions are not discovered, the employee Is interviewed by the division manager, who tells him that the company is concerned about bis repeated accidents and asks him if he can suggest a cause or a rem edy The manager also tells him that the company is gomg to give him special con sideration, which it hopes and believes will result in his being able to cut down the number of accidents The man is then given a thorough physi cal examination The doctor is told of the man's record and why be is being examined. Often it is found that the man has faulty vision, for which glasses are prescribed Faulty vision may not be directly responsi ble for the accidents, but it may be indirect ly responsible for causing fatigue, irritability, and general insensibility to conditions which would be observed by a more alert person. The man is then enrolled in a first-aid class, not to make a first-aider of him, but because people who study first aid do de velop safety-consciousness. Next, a system of follow-up interviews is instituted by the safety director, who calls upon the worker and his supervisor at fre quent intervals He discusses with the super visor the man's past and present perform ance. The supervisor is asked to give special attention to the man to see that he gets good job instruction and that he is not al lowed to develop unsafe work practices. This program is said to result in reduced accident rates among die jieople treated. The company does not believe that it is the complete answer to the matter of accident repeaters, but that it has helped to reduce the accident rate and also has done much to raise the morale and improve the effi ciency of the men concerned and of their fellow workers The program, in bnef, uses all possible commonplace remedies before trying more difficult and possibly more expensive ones Conclusion Human behavior can be influenced It can be influenced by the example of an employer who spares no effort to create safe working conditions. It can be influenced by develop ing safe work procedures and by teaching these procedures and insisting on adherence to them It can be influenced by teaching workers facts about the causes of accidents and methods of prevention These influences are best exerted through a well-planned training program, which can solve many problems References Cooper, Alfred M How to Supervise People Hew York, McGraw-Hill Book Company Beckman, R. O How to Train Supervisors Hew York, Harper & Brothers Notional Safety Council, 42S North Michigan Ave, Chicago, 111 Industrial Solely Rules Data Sheet S3S Men and Motives in Salety Supervision. (A senes of stx pamphlets plus a leader's guide ) Supervisors Salety Manual (with Instructor's Guide), 2nd ed 1961 U S Department of Labor Guide to the Preparation of Training Materials Washington, D C. Superintendent of Documents, U S Government Prating Office 6-21