Document VaJpzyqXrXxZBRNG9QgDaE4o

108 TU'cnty-second Congress--Naliouat Safely Council and strains: 11.528 puncture wounds. 8j6fi3 (radora; &29S bums and scalds; 713 dis locations; and 20 concussions. The number of direct amputatkei* of scene member or members of the body, by ma chinery or other hazards, teas 423. Of this number seven were arms; fire were hands; four were legs; one was a foot; fire were toes; and four hundred fingers or {tarts of (racers. Yd) will note that the parts most susceptible to injury were fingers. Of atl the daixns filed with the Commission most of them were due to injury to the fingersdi total of 33X76. I do not want to tire you with figures, but as long as the state of Ohio continues to send out such reports no one can eoaeincc me that mechanical safeguarding ts doing atl that it should do to reduce hazards. I would not have you believe that I do not recognize the importance and value of proper supervision and training of the worker to control hazards. Tins form of acci dent prcmdho has a very definite place hr the control of safety but It does not. and should ant take the place of a u>evJunreal device when needed. A study of accidents in many of our larger plants will generally show that very few of them are due to unguarded machines. This, in my opinion, is not true of the many smaller plants which for various reasons do imt purchase modern nadnoery and equipment as do the farcer plants. I will cite a few instances of accidents doe to the lack of proper ing or engineering. guard Case Xo. 1. An operator working on a dial feed punch press lost the tip of his thumb when the press did tint eject the material properly. Instead of taking a slide or stopping the nuthint he used his thumb to force out the part, with the insult that he lost the tip ci it. After this aresdent occurred a guzrd was placed over tins par ticular part which made h impossible for anyone to put his thumb m this particular poshion. Case Xo. 1 The operator of an automatic punch press received a serve injury to Ins finger when he placed his hand ou the guard used to prevent the tie rod from falling in case it should break. Case Xa 3. An employee lost a thumb on a hydraulic press which operated at a very slow rale of speed. Case Xa 4. An operator of a punch press lost a tip of his finger when he was ctpiiiqwd with a positive guard. These cases show the need for better engineering. In the age ot speed we cannot trust to anything but the best in safety. There are too many factors which cause the human bring to fail. Agam--why should we assume that we have reached the goal from the standpoint of engineering: Why do we maintain our large engineering forces for the improve ment and development of our products? If it it desirable and profitable from that standpoint--why is it not equally as important to cvmlhmc our engineering develop ment m safety? Who would want an automobile that was designed twenty years ago in preference to the ipfcxuHd model of today? Likewise, the models of safety of today must pro gress if we are to reduce accidents to a minimum. Mechanical safeguarding end engineering {day an important part in the control of occupational diseases. A noted labor leader, a few years ago. made the statement that no man should do the work that a machine can da Likewise, may I say. that no man or woman should be permitted to perform an operation which involves an Safety Organization and Program 109 occupational disease that a machine can perform. I have in mind a particular opera tion which required the use of wood alcohol. Under the rid method Uus operation would hare been performed in a wry crude manner. Under the present corefithms a modern machine costing five titousand dollars was installed to take care of this particular operation. The only reason that this machine was installed was the con sideration of the operator's health. W*.--- Sa'fAO ***** EduCation CJ V By W. J. PEACOCK Head. Department of Personnel. Northern Paper Mflfc, Green Bay. Wis. The speaks said in part: Most of us in the safety game go through the stage of guarding our plants, and then of having foremen and occasionally executives expect accidents to cease, as though machine guards might exert an influence on stumblers, trippers and those who neglect their goggles. It was only after we had analyzed our accident statistics and dug out the causes that we discovered a major category of human causes which no amount of machine cording could prevent. Today we know that education is the most concern of any industrial safety expert, indeed plant education is so vital that we must find ways of putting a thrill into it. First of all, a thrill for ourselves. It b worth while to visualize the environment in whkh our modern safety program b being produced. An engineering section, accustomed to weighing facts for their accuracy, acts as sponsor for our codes and safe practices pamphlets. Psychologists inspire us to accurate thinking regarding the mental attitudes of workmen. Medical science gives us warning and procedure regarding industrial diseases, infections, and every-day health requirements. Psychiatrists are helping us to locate and to re train the "accidentprone" employee Sociologists are writing textbooks on the or ganization of our for safety as well as production. And checking up an our entire set-up, we have expert statistics emanating from the American Engineering Society. I narrate these facts to bolster any who may be losing courage in these trying days. It wifi not be long before safety education will be accepted as ou a par with other industrial interests founded upon scientific research. It is not to pillory the men in question, but to express my surprise that their kind stHI exists, that I mention two headline speakers on one 1933 regional safety pro gram. The first speaker created a laugh where a laugh was out of place by stating that the only printed matter he could find in preparation for tlie topic of "PuHir and Home Safety** was a book on funerals. The matter was serious, because he b a regent of State Normal schools and lives at his state caphri. where access to at least three libraries of unusual size is available. The other speaker, a ptant superintendent and a college graduate, stated that he was formerly a plant safety man and that be had been trying to unlearn the nonsense of his earlier years in whkh plant safety depended upon "the carnival method", "sob-stuff appeals**, and the contest induce ment. There were m the audience many friends of the speakers who could have loaned them scientific material on their subjects which would have made either humor or tirades appear what they were in fact, a waste of time that ought to have been used constructively. Every delegate to this Safety Congress owes it to himself to visit the headquarters