Document O1vz8joBDZGQoYN1yDJDd1MQw

1924 NSC Construction Section 319 Mr. Thomas: The foremens receive the checks from our office, and he is man who pays them. Secretart Armstead: Just put a. little slip, on the check. safety slogan just in the location where they are working. Play the We can realize your proposition. We have the same thing to contend with. Sometimes our construction project may cover a wide acreage, and we have to post various bulletins and safety signs throughout the whole plant or big operation. Mb. Thomas: What do you do with the foremen, themselves, who are more or less of the come-and-go type? Secretary Armstead: WeTtry our best to instill safety into them too. Direct contact is the best there is with your foremen. Chairman Ames: On the ^small jobs you at least bave something of the kind form time office. You can always there. - a sback or post notices Mr. Thomas: We have been printing the safety slogans on small slips which each man receives every day. Mb. H. BC. McGraw (H.T3H. Robinson' Company): I have exactly the same proposition as the 'gentleman from Utah. We have the small gangs applying sheets. They are not sheeters, hut structural iron men. There may be 20 or 30 gangs working , at one time, scattered from the Atlantic Coast to the MiSlissippi River, and the gang may consist of five men or fifteen. There- is only one place they all meet on the job, and that is at the tool box. , The Foreman as Code Unit Mr. Austin: It would seem to me the best suggestion we could make to the two gentlemen, or_any one else who has the. scattered condition of employment would be Jo suggest the code remedy, making the fore man the unit. Even though your foreman is a temporary man, even though he Is a comeaad-go proposition, you hire him at some time or other. You have some find of contact with him, and . at that time he can be handled or sent, or given a set of safety practices which you endorse. Then, from time to time, you can ask him questions by cor respondence or otherwise that will develop whether he has read the code of safe practice*. In that way, regardless of how widely scattered the foremen are. yon can to some extent instill the accident prevention idea into his head, and if he is the man who actually tells the men what to do and'actually handles the men, he is the fellow you want to instill with the accident prevention idea. ' Ms, 3T. Xi. Hurlbut - I Patent Scaffolding Company, Chicago, HI.): Safety, if you believe inJJ, gentlemen,- is just as Integral a part of your construction activity as efficiency, quality and productivity of the men. 320 'Thirteenth Safety Congress If we grant that, the man to whom your foremen are responsible, whether he be general construction^ manager or chief engineer, is the man who is responsible for implanting the safety idea, and demanding safe results on the operation from those foremen. ., Mr. Austin: We in Detroit got interested in the Safety Movement some years ago, and the mere fact that most of the executives in the group are active in the work is obvious for the men, but there is one particular thing on the questionnaire. W. E. Wood Company were about as delinquent in the replies on the questionnaire as any in the group a few months ago, and the man who handled that .in our organization came to me and said he couldn't get very far for some reason or other. So the next time the questionnaires were sent out on the accident preven tion code, I wrote a letter, myself, to each of the foremen and each of the superintendents the questionaires were sent to. That letter accom panied the questionnaire. It was a plea for them to get busy and show some interest in the work, and we had some answers to the question naire. In a general way, in our group, the workmen know, almost with out exception, the executives of the company are the originators of the safety activities, and are Behind it every minute, from the fact they are - active on the safety committee and active all through the work. Board of Inquiry Mr. Brammier: I would like to ask Mr. Austin when his board of inquiry meets after the accident. Mr. Austin: As soon as we can get them together. They meet at the scene of the accident^ They give an opportunity to the foreman or the superintendent in charge to explain how it happened and tell ail about It. and defend himself to the best of his ability. The whole pro- cedtire- is not with any critical intention at all, but it is simply a con structive proposition. It Is simply avoiding an occurrence of the same accident on the job. iz: .Mr. Brammier: I believe you have a safety engineer working for the organization. Does he make the inspection of the jobs? If so, how often? Mr. McKinley: It depends upon the size of the job. Some of the larger operations, about the time the job is being started, or when any of the jobs are serious mough, we visit them every day. Other jobs we visit once a week. = ' Mr. Brammier: I understand you are all in one insurance company. Mr. McKinley: *Yes, that is correct. Secretary Almstead : Something has been said about lockers and washrooms on the various construction jobs. I don't see how that is practical on small jobs, especially at the inception of the job. You have material coming in on the: job every day. and especially at the beginning, the place is in a muddled condition, and where are you going to put Construction Section 321 the lockers and washrooms? Who Is going to stand the expense? Is it going to he an expense to the safety program? I wonder if any gentle man here have had lockers and washrooms on any actual construction job. ___ ' Mr. Austin : I had in mind the larger jobs. I realize the impractica bility on smaller jobs. __ Mb. Connery ; I was referring to larger operations. We even go further in isolated sections by providing a dining room. Chairman Ames: It seems:to me that is an exceptionally good thought, wherever it can be put into practice. On the larger jobs it can be done, undoubtedly, without any great expense. On the medium sized job the Question of expense would be more of a problem, but on large jobs I certainly agree it would bt well worth while. . It would seem to me by simply enlarging the size of your temporary time office or adding to it, provisions could be made for washing ano locker room. I know it could be done on numerous jobs we have without making it prohibitive, and I see no reason why the cost should not be a cost to the contractor. Mr. Connery: I would like to say that in one of the operations we had to provide parking accommodations for 350 automobiles. Chairman Ames: Mr. Rosenthal who is on the program for the next paper is unable to be present. . ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION Mr. Connery: Safety can be brought about on'any construction opera tion, no matter whether is a- five man proposition or a 1,000 man proposition, by having at least one of those men interested in that work, or who Is operating in that work to be enthused with the accident pre vention idea, and he. in turn, spreading that propaganda to every man employed in the operation^ .. That is not guessworkjn our part. We know it can be done. On operations we make it a = point to have some enthusiasts along the line of accident prevention, and from time to time those men get the other workmen on the operation together in a bunch and talk safety. At times we have noon day rallies. Mr. Neubig: (Hammermill Paper Company, Erie, Pa.): I believe some of the contractors when they begin a job don't make any arrange ments with the manufacturer to care for any accidents that might occur on the job, or do they baye medical attendants placed there to take care of accidents that should .occur? Mr. Woedtke: The contractor is an ordinary concern and, In a matter of that kind, all he has tdjlo is engage a doctor or hospital. A contractor 322 Thirteenth Safety Congress can not be expected to carry a doctor or hospital on the job unless it is a whale of a big job. There is no trick at all for any one to make arrangements with some doctor or some hospital, or,, any one who takes care of accidents after they occur. . The thing we want to worry about -is preventing the accidents from happening. That is what bothers me. The question of first aid doesn't interest me in this Congress and' it doesn't interest me back home. Chairman Ames: That is all very good but accidents will happen. My experience has been that it is worth while to be prepared, and when an accident does happen to see that the injured employe gets the right attention promptly. ' Mr. Woeotke: What do you do, treat him yourself or have a doctor treat him? -- Chairman Ames: On every job we start I send a letter to the foreman telling him before the job starts to arrange for medical attention in case of accident. If It is a medium sized job and we are working for a manu facturer in a plant, I suggest that probably -the manufacturer has a doctor of his own and that the foreman arrange with the company to use the surgeon and their hospital. If the job is large enough to warrant it I go out myself and select the best surgeon I can get in the'vicinity, find out what hospital he is connected with and arrange with the hospital and doctor. I have found it is worth while and worth the trip. Mr. Paris: There are a great many ways of taking a situation like that. Our way is to have a weekly check-up of all the jobs under inspec tion and instead of waiting for a member of the association to notify the insurance company what jobs he has in operation and what jobs he contemplates, we reverse--that and have the insurance company's in spection department write to each member once a week, and say "The jobs we have under inspection for you are as follows:" (naming them) and it is an easy matter to blue-pencil the list on- any completed jobs, and add newly contemplated jobs that will be started next week,, at the bottom, and the chief inspector gets on the job quickly, realizing full well, especially with the added names, an accident may occur on the first day, and when he makes the trip he goes provided with a first aid kit, and plants itron the job somewhere. Safety As a Contract Requisite Mr. Acstix: When manufacturers and owners of buildings finaliy bring themselves to a point where they will consider not only the financial responsibility oDhe contractor and his experience in training and building, who will give one little thought to the matter of accMkiH prevention, then the condition which the gentleman explains bo ns will be, to some extent at least, eliminated. Mr. Woedtke: In every community you will find the carpet Ihs contractor who will never spend a nickel. He won't pby the game.