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FILE NAME: National Safety Council (NSC) DATE: 1915 Oct DOC#: NSC047 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Proceedings of the NSC - Fourth Annual Safety Congress PROCEEDINGS OF THE National Safety Council FOURTH ANNUAL SAFETY CONGRESS HELD AT THE BELLEVUE -STRATFORD HOTEL Ph ila d e lp h ia , Pa . October 20 and 2 1, 1915 ^ THE NATIONAL SA FETY COUNCIL When the history of the Safety Movement is written the employ ers of the country will be given a large measure of credit for taking the initiative in working out the practical problems of preventing incidents in the industries, in the homes, and in public places. Previous to the annual meeting of the Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers in Milwaukee, 19 12 , no unified national effort had been made to collate the facts and experiences o f indus trial accidents. Many agencies had made investigations and some of the leading industries had done constructive and demonstrative v rork. More than two hundred employers attended the first meet ing of National Safety Congress and a pronounced expression o f opinion was made as to the need for a national clearing-house o f information which would be independent of politics and have as its sale aim the establishment of a bureau of information to which the employer could go for the cumulative experience o f the industries in methods and practices for eliminating accidents in the plants. The Second Annual Safety Congress took place in New Y o rk in September, 19 13, and launched a national association, cooperative: in form, and composed of safety men and the more progressive, employers of the country. Headquarters for the Council were established at Chicago and business was commenced. October 13, 19 13. During the first year eleven hundred and thirty-one mem-, hers were secured. The Third Congress was held in Chicago in October, 1914. H ere the work of the organization was perfected and a campaign o f safety work inaugurated which soon made the National Safety' Council the most important body o f its kind on the continent. .The. Fourth Congress was held in Philadelphia in October, 19 15 , with almost a hundred per cent increase in the membership', representing approximately one hundred and fifty industries, many associations, governmental bureaus, and individuals. A t the present time the Council has a membership of nearly seventeen hundred industries | .............Fou rth.Safety. -Congress 7C L and associations, included in which are over fifty-six hundred rep resentatives. The Council serves over 2,500,000 workmen.. The Council is supported entirely by annual dues. Every Monday the members receive four or five bulletins, service letters, and material designed to advance the science of accident prevention. . . Twenty-three Local Councils have been organized, and thirteen tTt-,, Sections have been inaugurated to study the particular hazards of specific industries. 1 The Council knows that employers are interested in practical it methods for solving the accident prevention problem and as it has the facilities to promulgate these methods and supplement them by its own sectional and other activities, the prospects for its future j are exceedingly bright. 6 l Bi5 : I T ;v i( \ CO N TEN TS Business M eeting....................... .......................................... I General Session.. . . ...................... ............................................. Cement Sectional M eetin g .......................................... L au n d ry Sectional M eetin g............................................ M ining Sectional M e e tin g ............................................... .. Paper M anufacturers' Sectional M e e tin g ......................... .. K} P ib lie U tilities Sectional M eetin g.........'...................... FPS*hJ? T ex tile Sectional M e e tin g ................ ; .................. .. Industrial H ygiene Sectional M eetin g .............................. . R ailroad Sectional M eetin g...................................................... Safeguard in g of M achinery Sectional M eetin g................. Banquet .......................... .............................................................. f? Fou n d ry Sectional M eetin g:..................... ................... .. W oodw orking Sectional Meeting-............. ............... .. I General Round T ab le M eetin g .................................... General Round Table M eeting: " H ow to educate w orkm an" ..................................................................... I n d e x ........................................ . . ........................................... f . I The Prevention of Accidents Is a Duty I Owe MyselfMy Fam ily and My Fellow Workman National Safety Council Public Utilities Sectional Meeting Philadelphia, Pa. October 20, 1915 D R. E. B. R O SA , Chairman Acting Director, Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce, * Washington, D. C. W . J. C A N A D A , Secretary Electrical Engineer, Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce, Washington, D. C. W ED N ESD AY MORNING SESSIO N T!| H E meeting was attended by about two hundred, the capacity of the room, with , many standing. Dr. E. B. Rosa, Chief Physicist of the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C , acted as chairman, and Mr. W. J . Canada, Electrical Engineer of the same bureau, as Secretary. The following papers were pre sented ; " Linemen and Their Hazards," by Mr. Charles B. Scott, General Manager, Bureau of Safety, Chicago, 111. " Danger of Low-Tension Shocks," by Mr. H. S. Warren, Elec trical Engineer, American Telegraph and Telephone Company, New York City. 321 322 Fourth Safety Congress A n additional paper on the same subject, by Mr. Elam Miller, also of this company. " Hazards of High-Tension Lines," by Mr. B. E . Morrow, Chief Engineer, Utilities Mutual Insurance Company, Schenectady, N . Y. " Hazards of Gas W orks," by Mr. James B. Douglas, Manager, Claim Department, United Gas Improvement Company, Philadel phia, Pa. " Hazards c f the Street," by Mr. Edward C. Spring, M anager, Philadelphia Division, Lehigh Valley Transit Company, Allentown, Pennsylvania. The papers brought forth considerable discussion, among those taking part being the following: - . " On Mr. Scott's paper Mr. Gannett of Chicago, Mr. Ash of Pitts- held, Mr. Vincent and Mr. Spencer of Philadelphia, and Mr. D e m ents of New Haven, Mr. Warner of Youngstown, and M r. Burton of. Chicago. Mr. Scott's paper brought out the fact that the most serious hazards in the electrical industry7 are those of the lineman, and that a large proportion of these accidents are due to the human element and principally on account of physical and mental unfit I ness for the work, lack of effective rules, indulgence in dangerous practices and the misunderstanding of orders. Numerous instances and some statistics were given in support of this statement, and suggestions were given as to the selection, the discipline, the de tailed instructions, and the guards and protective equipment which' might reduce the hazards of linemen. The points particularly emphasized in the discussion were the necessity for the foremen's constant attention and the importance of getting men to use the safety devices provided and to take sufficient interest to abandon dangerous practices. The great importance o f proper instruction and supervision by. foremen was particularly emphasized. Considerable discussion also developed relative to the merits of the prone-pressure method of resuscitation as compared with meth ods employing mechanical breathing devices. The general experi ence appeared to indicate that the use of mechanical devices is of less moment than the immediate adoption of the prone-pressure method by men familiar with its application and directly at hand, since the mechanical devices usually are somewhat delayed in arrival on the scene of accidents and such a delay majr be fatal. Various I i Public Utilities Sectional Meeting , 323 methods of arousing interest in safety among'linemen were also discussed.' The paper by Mr. Warren on "Danger of Low-Tension Shocks" ( iscussed briefly the difficulty of securing reliable data on injuries by low-tension circuits and the doubt frequently existing as to whether a higher voltage did not actually supervene in cases of fatality assigned to low voltages. The factors involved in the se verity of shocks were outlined, including the character of the body surfaces, the portion o f the body included in the circuit, the internal body re;-istance and the duration of the shock. The physi ological factors were also mentioned, and the suggestion made that in most cases it seemed probable to the speaker that persons in a normal physical 'condition would rarely be subject to injury by low voltagoes. In the paper presented by Mr. M iller on the same subject, some outline was given as to the sources from which our present informa-- tion on physiological results of electric shock and the voltages from which serious shocks or bums may result, are based. The doubt a:; to the voltage concerned in the accident was emphasized by this speaker also. In the newspaper reports of low-voltage fatalities the use of resuscitative measures is not reported to have been at tempted in a majority of cases. In many cases the conditions were favorable: to the fatality ; that is, the person w as standing on a damp floor or had his body wet with pt. ^ration or otherwise. In i over a third of the cases, however, resuscitative measures were reported to have been used, and in onc-half of these a mechanical i appliance. Some data was given by Mr. Miller as to the body con < tact resistances and assertion made o f the probability that these will usually be high with ..accidental contacts. A quotation was also included from the report of the Commission on Resuscitation from Electrical Shocks, showing that the nervous effect on the muscles oi respiration can usually be counteracted by prompt measures, whereas any interference with the regular beating of the heart is more likely to result in fatality. Additional data was given with regard to relation c f voltage to severity of shock, as shown by experiments on dogs, but no infer a ences were drawn with respect to ability of the human body to I withstand electrical shock. A series of experiments made in Eng I land was referred to, with the conclusion of the experiments that '9 4 2 1 the dangers of electric shocks at \ | Safety Habit 500 volts have been misunderstood and exaggerated, and resulting in ! j the further conclusion that in most i 1: Safety, Security, cinusrtrainncgesfroomf fvaotaltlageascciudnednetsr 5o0c0 , Success---Safety af- volts unusual conditions must have j fords Security to all who work under its rules. Success fol-. existed, either external to the per son or physiological. The final conclusion drawn by , the speaker was that low -voltage: lows. fatalities are very' infrequent, ex- > cept where quite special condi tions exist. The discussion w as tir taken part in by Dr. E . B. Rosa, Mr. B. E , Morrow, M r. Ash, Mr. Gannett, M r.-Vincent, Mr. Cannon, Mr. Canada and j others, and brought out the fact that a considerable number of accidents do actually occur from low voltages and. that the frequency of `'unusual" conditions is sufficient to warrant at tention to the protective measures against such accidents. Special locations, such as boiler-rooms, laundries, bathrooms, etc., were noted as particularly.liable to cause good contacts should the human body be made a part of an electrical circuit in these locations. C er ta in experiences were cited in which linemen had been subjected to circuits of 28 volts d. c. to 36 volts a. c., these proving as high m- as they would with good contacts be willing to endure. Instances of physical examination showing apparently excellent physical con ditions in persons injured by moderate voltages, were given. The discussion brought out the point that safety from low-voltage haz ards is usually readily obtained by the grounding of external metal surfaces and the suitable guarding of live parts-- two means of protection in which the manufacturers of electrical apparatus and s devices can largely assist and in which the value of standardization | of future practice is very apparent. I In his paper on " Hazards of High-Tension Lines" Mr. Morrow | brought out the great differences existing in different sections as | to what is considered high-tension. The advantages of strong line j construction in. preventing line failures were submitted, and the j necessity was shown, of providing sufficient working space to permit j i Public Utilities Sectional Meeting 325 line work to be carried .on in com parative safety. The usefulness of tags and grounds was also men tioned as a means of safeguarding The Safe Course work on normally live parts. The advantages of portable lights for When in doubt emergency work on overhead lines and the disadvantages o f port able telephone sets, on telephone take the safe course. If you don't under lines carried on transmission pole lines, were mentioned. The speaker a! so brought out the point em- stand your work, don't attempt it. p asized in the paper by M r. Scott, with relation to the great advance in accident prevention by the proper instructions and by close supervision of linemen, in the same w ay as is now becoming common for station men, was urged. The discussion was taken part in by M r. Sells of Atlanta, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Scott and others. The difficulty that comes from the nomadic tendencies of linemen was brought out, together with the gs eat advantage that would result to the linemen themselves and no >. less to employers by the training of linemen in all parts o f the coun try in reasonably uniform safety methods, such as are provided by suitable nationally adopted safety rules, since in emergencies result ing from considerable line failures or oilier causes, linemen need to be brought into one section from many others and the first few days is frequently a period of numerous accidents. In his paper Mr. Spring emphasized the necessity-for more actual work toward producing greater safety on. public streets. The use o', warning signs, barriers, and watchmen on guard about street excavations, pole work, and similar operations likely to increase the hazard to the public, was brought out. The necessity, for establish ing zones for loading and unloading passengers was mentioned, and the advantages of school instruction o f children in street precau tions was advocated. Playgrounds were also advocated as a means of keeping children off of streets as well as .of organizing their play. The dimming of headlights was shown to have its disad vantages, as well as advantages, in maiding possible certain types of grade crossing accidents.