Document O1pdVnb0yw1apRoe0xEVZqNKL

Steam TUESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION October 11, 1938 The first meeting of delegate'* (o lhe Steam Railroad Sessions was called to order by Mr W \V. Wood. Superintendent ot Safety and Welfare, Ikdliwore \V Ohio Railroad (,`nmpany, I'.allimorc, Maryland. who presided. 1. hairmau Wood hi icily out lined (he significance yf the programs of the lu.i sessions planned, ami then iiilrudnrrd the hr>l speaker. `'Hiddcn_Cnuses" By FRED W. SARGENT President. Chicago and North Western Railway Company, Chicago Wc have *ccn the evolutionary growth i of accident prevention work from iK in ception, as applied to the American rail roads. /Many of us here knew Mr. Ralph C. kn/hrmK intimately, mid discussed In* hopes and ambition- with Inm trctpicntly. . Though he met from lime to time with dis couraging results, yet he never surreuderetl. He laid the foundation f>r safetv work that is vn-tl\ enlarged and is rapuliv ripening m:o collateral hue* that are of benefit not , only to employ ce< and managements hut to . the entire economic and social stincUire of < the country. 1 In the beginning, and even until lather recent tune', the greatest emphasis wa> laid upon working rules and physical conditions of plant and facilities; m other words, a >aio place t^v.iuk There was even* rea son in tiie world why the gieaiest emphasis jhotdd he placed upon these faetoisi and, indeed, we ale not yU si> far along that \ nc can aliord in lessen our itfnrts with '. relation to these matters, In the beginning, the idea of a >mgieal v department was to care tor men and women after they ucie injured (irudually tins v conception has keen eul.ngmg and changing i into a broader held and greater service, >i i * greater <er\uc is possible. Tins depart* ' meat no longer has as u> sole objective s the hcalmg of wounds and the saving of i kuman lives after injuries. Mradnalh. steadily*, the vvhole conception of safety work has progressed and evolved until to day it has become a nationwide activity, drawing to its cause the hc-t minds and the huest characters m our social structure And with this greater interest m the work it has hi-eu hill natural that the whoie scope, theory and conception of the nndci taking should gradually enlarge to embrace the wider field of accident prevention, to winch I am about in refer. In recent years many of the railroads have enlarged their conception of this work and have come to tin: realization that safety work involves nut only safe tool-. safe u,\\ and structures, ami safe surroundings, hm involves likewise, and with c<}n.iJ uupoi lance, tiie very physical and mental condi tion and altitude of the employee or oMiccr huusi.'li With this thought in mind ur have changed the title of the head of our -logical oigam/atiou from that of "t lncf Smgeon'* to that of "Medical Director.*' heeau-c if men are to avoid accidents u know that they mu-t nut uul\ he >ur- -fbnuded with -ate working rules and sate wuikmg conditions, hut they themselves must lc physically and mentally fit; and that the s,,*called human element, always and ever present, nujst constantly he revk- >ncd with if we are to achieve the ultimate hcnehciai iemll< earnestly de-ircd. \ud -n it is tint m all (hi- work, whether