Document G8Vz6mQMoG1j4QpGGkpnzaVv

428 Twenty-first Congress--National Safety Couucil oi train, a trainman may no over the running hoard if necessary to 6et on top os the train to extinguish fire or pass signals. If anything should develop on the engine requiring getting out on the running board to fix it. and such work cannot be deferred the train must stop between stations to permit it to be done. THURSDAY MORNING SESSION October 6, 193Z Power Apparatus in Maintenance of Way Work by LEM ADAMS Engineer. Maintenance of Way, Union Pacific System The .5{<akcr said in pan: The maintenance of way employees on any railroad are constantly licset with hazards of accidents. When the motor car is set on the track for the day's work tliere is a potential hazard of being struck by a train, an automobile at a grade crossing. or another track car. Hence we surround them with innumerable rules arwJ regulations to safeguard their movements. Men in this liranch of railroad service must constantly he on the alert to protect themselves. Their tools are watched closely for the smallest defect that might result m injury ironi particles oi flvmg steel, and the very best steels and heat treating methods are used to provide tools that `will be as nearly fool-proof as possible. Vet with all these jirccautions, we still have accidents. Perhaps a rail is struck with a spike maul wlien a spike is not jirojierly hit, or a sledge hammer tails when striking a track chisel in anting a rail, and we have a cut or eye injury from flying steel nr an adze strikes a knot in a cross-tie when adzing for gauge and a foot is cot. Or perhaps a bar sHi*. or the trip gives way when operating a ratchet jack for siKitting track, and we have a lirokcn arm or other serious injury. These things are csjicrially prevalent when large groups oi men ate working in a rail renewal or liallastmg gang. With such a picture Kforc us. wc maintainencc of way men have for years been thinking in term? of machinery to do the more arduous and dangerous operations. Tlien. too. v.v were thinking in terms of efficiency, for safety and efficiency usually go hand m hand. i The sjreafcer then showed a score or tr.nrc oi lantern slides illustrating various of power equipment employed in maintenance oi way work.I This set of equipment is one of our liest safety agents. However, all power oj<rated too*? art- uni'trttnKitcJy nr* the safest to use. although tltry are great labor savers. Sonic toils ir. this class are the power saw. the sandblast for cleaning sur faces preparatory t* repainting, the power drill for cither rail or bridge work, and many .ithcrs--but efficiency and accuracy oi work demand their use. and with pr*|KT rare the |*art nf the pm.tors they can be liandJed safely. Planning for Safety in Track Construction By FRANK R. BRADFORD Birector of Safety & Fire Prevention. Boston & Main Railroad The sjHaker said in pan: My object in living here is to show you a picture illustrating one e.f the modern mcth*ds of main line rail renewal. Tlie operation, which is notable in many ropectf. is the outcome of the idea tliat the old estab lished metluKi? <>i raii renewal were no lunger justified from the standpoint of vc*nomy. advantage !* the oj*crating department, or safety to the maintenance of men. Safety Section, A.RJt.--Steam Railroad Section, NS.C. 429 In the year 1924. there were approximately 26 reporuble injuries per nuIUua man-hours m our maintenance of way department, and succeeding years showed an almost constant increase, reaching the peak of nearly 34 per million man-hours in the year 192& Toward the end of tliat peak year we set up the proposition that safety, efficiency and ecunomy were interdependent and especially that safety was the end product or the result of the correct performance of tlie job. The foreman being the keyman in this correct |ieriormance, the need of re-instructing him in his responsibilities immediately became apparent. This was done tliroagh the mrdium of so-called foremen's meetings conducted at first monthly or by- Rionthlr, but now quarterly or somewhat less often, with the division engineer or the district track sujiervisor presiding. At these meetings all phases of maintenance of way work are freely discussed, with particular stress on the correct way to do the individual job. Safety, as such, t$ seldom mentioned at these meetings, but we carry on a running record of every persona] injury accident that occurs in a department without regard to the extent of injury, classified hv the work being |criormed, tlie material 1icing handled or worked and the tools or appliances being used, which is the basis of discussion tending to indicate the result of all methods and to develop better and safer work manship as well as more efficient tools, equipment and operation. These foremen's meetings are working toward the standardization of practices and procedure which not only is (traducing many beneficial results in efficiency and economy, but have reduced tlie frequency of all personal injury accidents nearly 90 per cent in the last three years. The I. C. C. casualty rate m tlie engineering de partment has dropped from 33.69 to 2.4? casualties per million man-honrs in the same jieriod. Rail removal on the Boston & Maine involves the laying of rails 39 feet in length, weighing 130 pounds to the yard, cadi rail totaling 1.690 pounds: fully plated track, which means two canted tie plates per tic. each plate weighing 15*4 pounds and measuring Sx 12 indies: 9 rad anchors jier rail, and rail joints weigh ing 145 jmunds each, with four bolts j>cr joint. With an average force of 133 men actually engaged in the laying, the average number of rails laid per day dnrh * twelve working days wa 583. equivalent to approximately 22,700 lineal feet. On the basis of 8J4 hours of working time, this was qui valort to laying a *ail approximately every 53 seconds. The best .-.ingle day's (wrformance was 734 rails laid m hours of actual working time, which is equivalent to a rail ap proximately every 44 seconds. From the safety standpoint, a record was set up which will lie difficult to sur pass. During the entire job there was no reportable accident, no lost-time acci dent. and only two very trivial injuries. Whenever a special job of any considerable magnitude sudi as this one is to be done, h lias become the regular practice to tall a sjiecial meeting of the foremen and sui^rvisors who are to carry out the work. The whole program as set up by the engineer's chart is outlined: the various pans oi the work are assigned to spe cific foremen and crews and each particular assignment if thoroughly discussed as to necessary equipment, methods, allocation of men, inherent hazards, special pre cautions; in fact, everything is gone over that experience on previous work of a similar nature has taught. Following the meeting, each foreman, and usually his supervisor as well, in spects all tools and appliances that are to be used on the job to make certain that they* are in perfect order, and talks over with his men the particular part of the project they are to undertake. Though the men have perhaps never liefore used the machines that perform the sjiecial class of work to which they are assigned, these discussions, followed by the work itself, soon make them siiecialists on their part of the job. In all these preliminary discussions, it would he difficult to separate or identify