Document k9BoMK5q15Bwz0VwQare3awN0

experience. However, it is safe to say that companies, large or small, that ignore system atic safety effort will, in the main, have more than their share of work accidents and mjunes The senousness of the small-enterpnse prob lem has been widely recognized for many years, and the National Safety Council has devoted much effort to meetmg it Some promising steps have been taken to increase small-establishment participation in the organ ized safety movement, principally through the establishment of liaison between the National Safety Council and the trade associations rep resenting many small companies Certain aspects of the small-company prob lem can be stated with assurance 1 The small establishment may not need or cannot employ specialized safety personnel to deal with die accident problem 2 The number of accidents in a significant amount of time or the financial position of many small concerns makes it difficult to convince them that spending the money necessary for proper equipment, layout, guarding, and other elements is important 3. Managers of small operations are haimed by a host of problems m all fields Seldom do they have the expertise or can they find time for proper study of accidents and their causes 4 In small units, statistical measures of per formance are unreliable, so that it is diffi cult to produce clear-cut evidence as to the cost of accidents versus the effectiveness of accident prevention work In other words, a small operation may have, by luck, a good or bad accident record over a few years, whether or not its safety program is sound These are obstacles to progress--real and serious ones They are not, of course, excuses for failure to try to prevent accidents The trade association approach offers some real hope for improvement on a group basis Labor-management cooperation At top levels, and in some cases at the grass roots, progress has been made in enlisting the support of organized labor in management's campaign to reduce accident losses In 1949, the National Safety Council issued a policy statement declaring the common in terest of labor and management in accident prevention Even before this data, repre sentatives of leading labor organizations served as members of the Council's governing boards. At a number of National Safety Congresses, reports were made by labor and management men on specific examples of local and com pany-wide cooperation between unions and corporations In 1955, a Labor Department and a Labor Conference were formally es tablished to function within the framework of the National Safety Council Labor has been represented at the various presidential and gubernatorial industrial safety conferences, and was instrumental in promot ing legislation such as the Wdkams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHAct), described m the next chapter Some unions have independently done ex tensive safety work and have published printed matter and released films which are real con tributions to safety It is the hope of the great majority of far sighted safety professionals in both labor and management that every opportunity for co operation will be pressed to the fullest extent Further, management must seek the multi ple causes of accidents, not only the most obvious cause of disabling injuries Workers must believe that safe performance benefits them, too Research and standards Statistical data on industrial accidents have been compiled by the National Safety Council for more than 45 years Analyses computed annually and published in industry rate pam phlets and Accident Facts have proven of utmost importance in evaluating the leading causes of accidents Some industries through their trade associ ations have recorded accident rates for almost 55 years. In most instances, even the divisions of an industry can establish their positions with regard to number and types of accidents and can determine their experience in com parison with national averages There are a large number of standards re lating to safety Continuing research has been necessary over the years to keep these stand- 15