Document gO2872zQBB8ED2KLzedNrJ8N

20 1954 Xational Safety Congress made in simplifying the problem by reason of our close relationship with the people who build our machines. It is a fact that our experience with the complexity of au tomation has contributed greatly to the decreasing need to add guarding to machines after they are delivered to us. We are rapidly approaching the time when, from a safety standpoint, a machine will be ready to run the moment it is set on the floor. As evidence of this fact, I ant advised by our safety personnel that the machines we are receiving for a new plant in Cleveland are cooing in almost compleieb' guarded. It is important to note that a very minimum amount of additional guarding will have to be applied to them. We believe this is sig nificant since our standard in this regard is very high. We could go on with the many advan tages of automation as it relates to em ployee safety. You may* gather that the automation of industrial processes represents a completely new approach to the subject of employee safety. I assure you that this is not the case. It is a fact that the same old prin ciples. so well-known, still apply as they did in the single operation processes. Our best friends in this regard still are: 1. Engineer the hazard out of the job. 2. Guard the hazard. 3. Educate the personnel. We have dwelled pretty much on the first two principles so I would like to explore our approach to principle number three--edu cate the personnel. We recognize that in safety, as in all other aspects of our job, there is no substi tute for a well trained and informed em ployee. A typical approach to this principle is exemplified in our Cleveland Plants by the following training program for em ployees : Safety is included in the induction of newly hired hourly personnel by the hourly personnel section. A personal indoctrination is given em ployees by safety unit representatives. They are routed through our safety $l:oe store where saiety shoes and spectacles arc emphasized. General safety rules arc issued in a pack age. Foreman's induction check-off list requirc.coverage of safety as one item. A check-off list issued by safety itemize? the coverage by the foreman and when com plete the form is submitted to safety for filing. On the job a follow-up by the foreman and the saiety engineer is initiated. Bulletins of unusual or new accident causes are distributed to all employees, in some cases, to supervisors only in others. A series of five-minute safety talks are given by supervision periodically to their hourly-rated personnel. While the representatives ox safety k.v.c an important pan in the training m * ur employees, the basic responsibility in this re gard rests completely and entirely with cur foremen. In order to better equir these members oi management to meet this impor tant responsibility, we conduct regular safety training conferences with than. This is an organized program designed to make every foreman the safety director of his depart ment. We firmly believe that wc sec a definite trend toward longer accident-free period* through automation. Our Cleveland engine plant is now eligible for the Xational Safety Council Award r.f merit for having worked more than a mil lion accident-free hours over a 30-dav period and our Cleveland foundry is in its fourth month without a disabling injury* 21 Your Accident Record Reflects Your Attitude By J. M. SYLVESTER Gen. Mgr.. Bethlehem Plant. Bethlehem Steel Co.. Bethlehem, Pa. All of us at Bethlehem are proud of the Bethlehem plant's achievements in safci> over the past several years. While our rec ord has been good as measured by today's yardstick, all of us realize that there is room :cf substantial improvement. Constantly in creasing attention will have to be paid to icrident prevention just to maintain the rains we have made. The steel industry' over the past decade has decreased its accident frequency rate from $.06 to 3.90. In 1953 this meant 6,600 less disabling injuries than would have occurred with our experience oi merely 10 tears ago. In analyzing our experience at the Bethle hem plant where we have been fortunate to nut each of the past five consecutive years with an annual frequency of less than one. I believe that our most potential safety tool is our Attitude Tcu-ard Safety. Your acci dent record is a direct reflection oi yotw attitude. On the desk of every superintendent in our plant, for all to sec. are these words-- Safety Comes First in This Plant. This is not a slogan nor a high sounding cliche. It is the foundation upon which each super visory* man exercises his responsibility. This principle is his overriding resjonsibilitv. and in our plant a superintendent's performance m safety is an important measure of his overall performance on the job. Your attitude toward safety will deter mine largely the emphasis you place upon it. the ir.utiey you spend cm it. and il will spell out the effectiveness of your program. L'nless you really mein business, and let retry man in the plant know that you mean what you say. you will get nowhere in safety. Why do we consider safety so important at Bethlehem, and not only at the Bethle hem plant, but in all of Bethlehem's opera tions? The answer lies behind success in any industrial undertaking. And perhaps be cause of its simplicity, its fundamental im portance is oftentimes not realized. Safety has t* do with men--with the indi vidual--and in the most intimate and per sonal way. Probably for obvious reasons, many of us are concerned a great deal more about our physical and material well-being than we are about our mental or spiritual welfare. And while many individuals, through a false sense of security or pride, are slow to appreciate constructive suggestions for their own personal safety, a persistent pro gram sets up a subconscious personal re sponse. Individuality -- the recognition, response, and purpose of the individual--is the most effective social and industrial force -- at least in America. .And we have an obliga tion to keep ii that wav. Problems of industrial management have become increas ingly complex. Finance, raw materials, mar keting, scientific and technological advances all have required additional concentration. And while our attention has been directed largely in those channel?, forces which would reduce men to the status of mer cenaries have had a fertile field. Factors which recognize the importance and contribution ot the individual and have a positive effect on individual action are the factors wc must explore today. Safety and the individual arc firmly in tertwined. Safety provides the avenue lor advances in human relations consistent with those in technological areas, and because it serves so well the enlightened self-interest of men and management, wc at Bethlehem consider it our first responsibility. I am certain that nearly everyone will readily admit that he (or shc^ is a leader. But let's not forget that leadership is not inherited. It must first be earned and it is retained only through a constant demonstra tion oi the understanding ot the factors of human motivation. Leadership is not a con dition. It is not merely the receiving and passing on o information. Leadership edu cates. develops attitudes, establishes goals, and provides the means through which achievements can be attained. Industrial leadership is not only a responsibility* we have accepted. It is a goal in itself. Un-