Document rBa1MMzGz87yJajOM0XE7MqyE

120 Twentieth Congress--National Safety Council cHminating serious injuries. Notable exceptions to this general situation are found m the public utility industry which has reduced fatalities 25 per cent and permanent partial disabilities 20 per cent daring the last two years, and in the paper and palp industry. It is well known that periods of rising employment necessitate the training of new men, shifting of employees from one job to another, and other actions which are apt to be unfavorable irom the standpoint of safety, whereas, daring periods of reduced employment, many of these adverse conditions disappear. Industry has demonstrated, however, that all injuries, excepting permanent partial disabilities, can be reduced regardless of changes in industrial activity. From 1928 to 1929, working time in 1500 industrial plants increased 11 per cost but the average fatality rate decreased almost 5 per cent and the frequency oi temporary disabilities about 4 per cent. A decrease, in working time of 17 per cent from 1929 to 1930 was then followed by a drop of 24 per cent in the frequency of temporary disabilities and a 5 per cent drop in fatalities. The experience of our section has, in many respects, been similar to this. The records of 162 plants in our section that hare reported in each of the last three years show a drop in frequency of 35 per cent from 1928 to 1930; most of which uas made during the last year. Severity in these plants, however, rose about 21 per cent from 1928 to 1929 and decreased about an equal amount from 1929 to 193d Variations in the frequency of fatalities largely account for the fluctuations in our severity. While llie frequency of permanent partial disabilities has been up and down during this period, the severity ol these injuries has steadily decreased, particularly daring 1930. The most consistent improvement in the section during the last two years is in the steel industry. Among 71 foundries tiie total frequency rate increased from 1926 to 2929, but was down sharply during 1930. The frequency of fatalities and permanent partial disabilities has increased steadily since 1928. Consequently, severity has risen from 131 to 338, and, in 1930, to 228. Although injury* rates for similar establishments in the non-ferrous metallurgical industry were very high during 1929, 1930 rates compared quite favorably with 1928- Seventy-three plants in the steel industry, on the other hand, decreased frequency 39 per cent and severity 15 per cent in comparison with 1928. Severity was higher in 1929 than in either 1928 or 1930 but frequency declined in each year of the period. TJ>e industry*^ fatality Tate was highest in 1929 and lowest in 1928 but the fre quency of permanent partial disabilities declined in each year of the period, the total decrease bring 20 per cent. This improvement was general tlironglioul the various departments of the steel industry. Departmental records, available from 1929 and 1930, only, show that, out oi 22 departments, frequency dropped in twenty and severity in eleven. The re ductions in frequency and severity by structural and rail mills, seamless tube mills, plate mills, tin plate mills, and general mechanical departments were particularly outstanding because improvement was shown in both rates for each type of injury. On the ether hand, departments that lave particularly high fatality rates foi 1929 and 1930 such as blast furnaces, general labor and coke plants showed no appreciable improvement in this type of injury. Only seven dejiarunenU in the steel industry with frequency rates higher thar average, and of these, sheet and tin plate mills, open hearth, and seamless tube' mills are most important because of their large exposure. These departments also liave higher than average permanent partial disability rates, but, with the exception ! the open hearth, low fatality rates. Fatalities, on the other hand, occur most frequently in open hearth, coke plants, blast furnaces, genera] labor, and general mechanical departments. In fact these five departments account for over SO per cent of all fatalities that occurred in the industry during 1929 and 1930, although ttwir combined exposure i> only slightly more than one-third of the total for all departments. Metals Section 121 Permanent partial disabilities, however, are widely distributed. In proportion to man-hours worked, structural and rail mills, merchant mills, rod and wire mills, blooming and billet nulls, transportation, open hearth, and seamless tube mills, have liad the largest number of injuries of this type. Furthermore, those with the highest frequency rates for these injuries also have the highest severity Tates. You have noticed that the open hearth appears frequently in the high rate group, yet, some of our members have demonstrated quite conclusively that open hearth operations can be made as safe as any others in the industry. Sixteen of these departments, in 1930, had frequency rates below 10.0 and of these, all liut four had severity rates below ID. In other words, the plants with the high frequency rates for this department are having the serious injuries. You have no doubt noticed that a great deal of this report is given over to the steel industry, and in this connection, it may be in order to mention that the next year will no doubt see a system of departmental reports carried on into the tnarhtnr industry, where I believe it will be a big help to all of us who are connected with that phase of the Metals Section. No doubt, most of us have a system of our own in our individual plant, but are not able to bring it out into a more detailed report It is a matter of genera] belief that accident experience in the Metals Section during 1931 will be even better than the past year. Operations, on the whole, have been low, but one of these days business will pick up, production schedules will be increased, then again will come the possibility of higher injury rates. Therefore, now is the time for plants and departments with records that are below jar to look around, find their difficulties and correct them. Chairman Heksel: We are all very grateful to Mr. Schendel for reading this report and for giving us some sidelights on it Have any of you noticed how the various departmoits of the steel plants have been split up in the annual report pub lished by the Council? Have you any questions or any suggestions on the way the entire report has been handled ? G. G. Grieve (The National Safety Council, Chicago): The National Safety Council wishes all members of the Council to send in their 1931 accident reports. The number has grown cadi year and the increase should be continued in spite of the depression and hard times. Information on accidents in many industries is becoming more reliable. This is partly due to the increase in the number of reports. Mb. Schexcel: What is being done about getting accident records in the mach inery industry by departments? Mr. Grieve: We are working on that The idea is to enable members to compare the records of their entire plant and also records in the individual departments. For example; those with forge departments can check their records by comparing with other forge shops. The idea as applied to the machinery division seems a good one. The first year the method was used in the steel industry' we received departmental reports from about ninety-five percent of those reporting, which was exceptionally good. Last year the idea was followed out in the electric railway industry! we had a large increase in the manlier of reports and approximately seventy-five per cent covered experience by departments. Chairman Heksel: During the past year I showed various department heads where they* stood as compared with some fifteen or twenty similar departments of other companies. Some of those fellows were surprised to And that they stood near the top ami others that they stood near the bottom. D. E. Shankok (Fort Pitt Malleable Iron Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.): I sug gest the report be given in chart form to gire us a chance to take notes. Chairman Heksel: I think that is a good suggestion. It will be taken up with the program committee of another year. The next paper will be delivered by G P. Waite, assistant supervising engineer, the Travelers Insurance Company, Chicago.