Document Vj5j6k5G1dLbX4Ry9p6VkopXq

404 Twenty-third Annual Safety Congress--National Safety Council jiJi&h something worth while in this brief span of life, where we arc all put here for a purpose, and where true happiness is derived from doing something to help our fellow man. Men can be led. We see evidence of this every day. We see men being led In* unscrupulous leaders and demagogues into destructive patlis. Unfortunately die vast majority of men. it seems, like to have someone else to do their thinking tor them. This trait oi human nature should be capitalized bv the supervisory officer not only in his efforts for Utter safety Inn in aiding him to carry on all the activi ties for which he is responsible. After all. safety is really a synonym for efficiency. Where there is a poor safety record there will also be found a state oi inefficiency. The supervisory officer must, therefore, so sell himself to his men as to become their leader, their authority, their guide, their teacher. It has been done, it can be done, and it must be done ii the supervisor is to live up to his respousibility in this age oi ever advancing i*rogre$s and complexity, and if he is to maintain his right to hold a supervisory ]xsiiiuu. Tliis angle--the opportunity oi the supervisor--has ltcen neglected in the past. The supervisor can and should be made a development agent for loyalty. Someone has wisely said tliat "an ounce oi loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.*' Our discussion naturally leads us into the question of discipline, highly necessary in any organization where large numbers are employed. However, the chief meaning of this word discipline is not "correction" or "cliastisemcnt*' or "punishment": but the foremost definition is this: "the treatment suited to a disciple or learner: education; development of the faculties by instruction and exercise; training, physical, mental or moral." Education is a intent factor in this business of safety, just as it is in any worth while undertaking. We have our established channels oi education and instruction in this safety movement. We have our committees. We have our organizations. However, these orthodox methods arc not always sufficient. Interest sometimes lags. It is your job and my job to see tliat interest is sustained. Education of the right kind must come largely from personal tutorship. Here again, tin* responsibility and the opjiomniity of the supervisor must be stressed. An employee does not reach perfection when he lias passed an examination, or when he has been promoted from one rank to another. It is a constant, unending process of evolution and development. Our scheme must be fitted to meet the needs of the hundreds oi ever-clanging iiersonalities with which we have to deal. Someone has said that the standard rule book is the railroad man's Bible. This leads me to mention a practice on our _ road tliat nay not prevail everywhere. Attendance at our safety committee meetings is not compulsory, tltough they are usually well attended. We find, however, some disinterested, utiloval (perhaps ratlwr than disloyal), workers who do not receive the benefit of what transpires at the safety meetings. Attendance at our rule meetings, a series of which is usually held semi-annually, is compulsory'- Our trainmasters, who usually conduct these ndc meetings or schools, invariably devote a period of time to a lecture aon the first rule hi the book: "Safety is of the first importance in the discharge of dutv^' Moreover, in discussing all the rules, the safety aspect is not forgotten and ts stressed. Tills question resolves itself to a great extent into a study of the science of personnel management. It is a big subject. _ Some railroads and many other indus tries have personnel departments, hut those Jn charge of such departments act only in a general way. The immediate supervising officer is the keynote of the success of healthy personnel relations in any establishment, and great indeed is his responsi bility as well as his opportunities. I would like to close my talk to you with these words from tliat great soul, Elbert Hubbard, whom I am fend of quoting: "The man who is w*orthy of being a leader of men will never complain of the stupidity of his helpers, of the ingratitude of mankind, nor of the inapprcciation of the public. These things arc all a part of the great game of life, and to meet tlicm and not go down before them in discouragement and defeat is the final proof of power." Safety Section, AKA--Steam Railroad Section, NSC 405 Report of Committee on Non-Train Accidents By C. F. LARSON Superintendent of Safety, Missouri-Pacific Lines, St, Louis, Mo. __ The speaker said in part: The rciiort ui our committee (which has Ix'tn dis tributed to all delegates; shows tliat there arc greater numbers uf injuries occurring in non-train accidents than in tram and train service accidents combined. You might get an erroneous impression from tliis, that there is a higher casualty rate in tliat type of occii|iatiun than in train ami train service uccuiiatiuns. That is not true. It is because there are more men working in those two occupations--main tenance of way and maintenance of cquqnncnt--titan in the others. Therefore, there is more exposure to injury and more accidents occur. I have taken some figures from the I. C. C. reports with respect to the casualty rate among non-train employees and I find tliat under the head of maintenance ot way and structures in 1933, in Group A, the larger railruads, the average was 6.U3 as against 12.04 in lransiortation; in Croup B it was 5.68 in maintenance of way as against 13.03 in transportation. The ratios in Group A were from 1.48 to 13.99 in maintenance ot way. To give voti many of these classifications would take too much time. However, iii Group D we find a peculiar situation. These ratios per million man-hours under the luad of maintenance of way start with none (not a single reportable casualty un one road) and run up to 3446. Under maintenance of equipment for your rnccfianrcal men, in Group A, the average was 5.88 as against 12.04 in trans(iortatk<n. In Group B, the next largest railroads, the average was 6.03 as against 13.03 in iranstionatton. So it would appear tliat while we have been worrying alxut the greater number, of accidents prevailing under the head of non-fratu occupations, we arc making a 1xrttcr record than they arc in the transportation department. Falls of Persons and Handling Materials and Tools By ALBERT A. MILLER Engineer, Maintenance of Equipment and Structures, Missouri Pacific Railroad, Si. Louis, Mo. Tlie speaker said in part: In the maintenance of way dcjiartmails of our rail roads, between 90 and 95 per cent of the men engaged are liandling materials or tools when they work. They arc ordinarily doing things under tin* direction of someone who has been delegated to accomplish certain definite results with men. materials and tools. These men arc subject to orders and will do that which is a reasonable demand upon their-efforts. Where direction is proper and the results to be obtained are discussal and made plain, men ordinarily jjcrinnn in an orderly and harmonious way. Where men. materials and tools together arc involved, onlv one of the three has intelligence. The other two--materials ami tools--have no intelligence, no thought and no ideas. They move or are moved entirely without any power within themselves. Mai arc not at the mercy of matter; material and tools arc not masters hut servants; they can be controlled and made to answer thought whenever and wherever man wills it so. But men do liavc weaknesses tliat should lie adequately covered by a factor of safety. Some of the weaknesses of men arc fear, timidity! lack of capacity to eonccntratc. lapses in clear thinking brought alviut hv the' jarring testimonv of the senses, thinking beyond the act instead of synchronizing a clear thought w*itli the act. These weaknesses arc the unseen fractures in thought. Why is it not just as logical and just as reasonable to overcome these weaknesses of thought hv adding more thought as it is to overcome the weaknesses in matter by adding more matter? Should we not expect almost like results? Based upon experience and tlie best thought that could he brought to bear upon