Document 6wr0enjDq22D0oBmx5wz7ZGXg

FILE NAME: Packings and Gaskets (PAG) DATE: 1936 DOC#: PAG052 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Trade Journal Article /Y3& 466 Twenty-fifth National Safety Congress H ow to Reach the Individual W orker on Safety By URBAN L. M OLES PtraO Bfltl Director, Inland Division, Gnaera! Motors Corp., Dxyten, Ohio You wltl agree that no one method has proved satisfactory m Reithg the Itxdivklosl worker interested ui safety. Tt re quire many things. The other day I noticed ooe of oar todroom employees had his hand ban daged. I asked. "Joe. how'd you hurt your hand? Get caught in a lawnmower?" "No." said Joe " I was trying to close a freight car door and pulled it shut on my fingers. The nurse dressed my hand, and said 1 ought to rest a little before going back on the job. But while sitring there, I thought about those red and green lights on the safety board, and I sure didn't want a red light checked up against our departmem.** That was interesting. There was at least one man in our plant who had been re minded of safety, and who wanted to keep the green light blinking. I like to start teaching safety to em ployees right in the employment depart ment. If yon are hiring a punch press or a rubber still operator, you can include some safety Questions in your interview. If the man is hired, safety should be In. eluded in your talk to the new employee-' we have a safety booklet which is given to all new and reinstated employees--he ts required to read it and sign a per forated slip In the back of the book in dicating his willingness to co-operate in our safety program. After the employee is m the department a few days, the shift foreman speaks to him about Safety, and asks him to sign a card indicating that the departmental ex posures have beeu called to hie attention, and that he Has been instructed to report all injuries to the foreman, to the medical department, etc. These cards are kept as a permanent record. No doubt we all agree that the most Important individual in getting safety across to the worker is the supervisor and foreman. H e nunt be soid--be must ac-cept the responsibility for safety in hfe department. The foreman who lias a good safety record lias a good production record. He knows how to handle em ployee relations. Hi* scrap and depart mental costs arc in Hue, and the manage- ment rates him as a good foreman. Most of our departments have safety rules which arc used by the foremen as a basis tn carrying on thetr safety work. Departmental safety committees have assisted all of us In keeping the employees interested in safety. Also employee group meetings, departmental or plant wide, with talks by the foremen to their men. Costs of accidents, major accident causes, sad departmental exposures might be used as material for these meeting*. Plant inspections in an effort to keep in touch with new jobs, to follow up on cleanliness and order, and to see that the equipment is properly guarded aad in good- repair are earenrial. Plant Police--we used to call them guards- caa serve as inspectors through out the plant and on company premises in seeing that safety rules re enforced; that running and horseplay are not per mitted; that automobile and truck traffic is under control; that the aisleways are kept open, and that electric trucks a n not operated at excessive speeds. They can also constantly keep checking on fire pre vention. Io our mill and calsndar room opera tions, we follow the practice of having all operators at the tart of shifts check the safeties and roll travel and record them--which warns the operator of the necessity of keeping this equipment in good operating condition, and daily re minds hint of safety. Where employee representative plans arc in operation, it is a good policy to have some of these reprsentatives on general plant safety committees. Investigation of accidents will impress the facts on certain employees that v c are interested in preventing rcurrences. Accident hearings before the safety com- * mrttcc, with the Injured man, hb foreman and witnesses present, tend to spread the gospei of safety, and this is a splendid time foe recruiting more safety couverts. Various educational and publicity meth ods are good, such as bulletin boards--house organs--safety boards--s a f e t y slides, etc. The safety director at the National Cash'Register Company has told Rabber Section 467 me that they are photographing some of the posters published by the National Safety Council and are making slides and showing these to employees at noon day shows--they select the ones carrying the most humor and greatest safety appeal. It is surprising How many industrial accidents are carried in our local news papers as news stories--sometimes these can be used. 1 noticed an item recently where a man bad walked between some railroad cars which were being switched and vrts crushed to death. This was cut out of the paper and placed on all our bulletin boards, and was rafted to the attention of our foremen, our traffic de partment, and oar plant police. 1 believe that contests, new stunts, things spectacular, are also essential. We must keep everyone in the organisation interested. Do W e H ave Occupational Disease H azards in the Rubber Industry? By DR. J. NEWTON SHIRLEY Medical Adviser, Arrow Mutual Liability Insurance Co* Watertown, Maes. VVc do have occupational disease hazards In the rubber Industry. This l* true of alt large Industries where chemis try and the compounding of chemicals play a large part in the manufacturing of the finished product. * But through the efficient work of our predecessors the Industry has progressed from one of the worst producers of occu pational disease to one of the safest for the workers. This has heen accomplished through the efforts of the industrial phy sician, the safety engineer, the public health department aad the industrial di sease section of the State Department of Labor. Industrial chemistry is bringing new chemicals Into way day os. It Is the duty of the men who know that such materials are to be used, to be sure that they are used safely. Most of you arc familiar with the ex tensive work done by Dr. L. J. D. Hcaly, consulting chemist, formerly with the Fisk Rubber Co. He has listed all the com pounding materials into groups and has noted the health hazards of each, together with a suggestion of what care should be taken in handling them. Unquestionably, lead prisoning was the outstanding hanard in the industry which first attracted attention. Precautions were taken so safeguard the worker. Local exhaust hoods were installed where litharge (the common fora of lead used) was weighed out The workers were sup plied with respirator* and were required to dean up properly before lunch and after completing the day's work. Periodic physical examinations of work ers in the compound room, with a rotatioe of the men on this particular job, were further steps In safeguarding the workmen in this department. Some mills used master batching of litharge to reduce the lead dust. Today, lead has been very largely eliminated In rubber compounding. T hb has removed the extensive lead hazard which formally existed but has in troduced it in f a th e r way. The use of lead breom ti spursitie sod the safety measures formerly employ*d awe apt to be disregarded by e o d w t exposed to litharge dust is dingsrnus amounts. Similar dust Wizards are present to a much less extent u the handling of sev eral other inorganic material*. Seme of the fillers used in compumuKag contain a small imoutit of free Ik* tdiatomaceous earth. Fuller* earth, elay. infusorial earth aad especially silica and ground quartz). These material may be handled in targe amounts, as in the receiving de partment aad the compound room. The workmen in these departments should be supplied with and required to use res pirators of art approved type. I believe that actual cases of slUeosu- In the rubbet