The Washington herald., 1910-05-29
ACCIDENTS TO WORKMEN
Occupation Dangerous Oue But
Remedies Possible

steel company rallfOaQSf whose traffic Is
largely intrastate. and whose cars are
by no means all equipped with automatic
couplers.
The third division Of the brakeman's
duties Is turning switches and tagging.
Seven men in this list we're killed in
this work. Most Of the brakemen killed
while switching are run down by their
own engines. They often slip in trying
TO mount the footboard OF the moving
locomotive. which most Of them habitual-
~ mount from the middle Of the track.
Some of them fan victims Of the un-
blocked frog. a very common thing in
Pennsylvania. A claim agent, referring
20 THIS fact, said 20 me; II can tell
you. YOU won't find anything like that
IN Ohio. Pennsylvania is nineteen years
behind Ohio IN the matter Of safety 70
railroad men"
Outside Of the ranks Of the brakemen,
the most common fatal accident is that
in which man IS run over while walk
ing or standing on the track. Thirty
eight were killed in this way, mostly
trackwalkers. section men and laborers.
Five Of the rs deaths were due 10 a
blow from some object situated danger
ously close 10 the track. Two car clean
ers were killed because there was no
signal system TO protect them.
Among the seventeen miscellaneous
cases three viii illustrate what is called
the ''carelessness Of the man hurt" a
drunken brakeman slipped and fell under
the wheels; a fagman ventured needless
ly 70 run between two cars TO give
signal and was crushed when they came
together, a young italian laborer. fifteen
days in the country. saw fast train ap-
preaching half a mile away and IN
panic jumped from & handcar and was
killed
To the employer intelligently deter
mined 20 reduce the number OF Industrial
accidents. these three totally different
types Of Carelessness would suggest three
totally different lines Of attack. % Can
discipline among employees be made more
searching and efective2 % Is there any
thing IN yard management. any tendency
70 overemphasize dispatch and efficiency
in the handling OF cars. which tends 10
encourage rather than 10 lessen the nat
ural reCklessness IN the men who do our
work. CD Have we any right 70 put for
eign lahorers directly into positions where
their ignorance and inexperience will
mean death 10 them in large numbers,
even when It Is 10 the economic advan-
tage 10 both parties 70 use them in this
way2
In the year there were thirteen wrecks.
--r-rr
killed in these wrecks. In four OF the
wrecks the evidence is inconcIusive. In
nine the evidence IS comparatively clear.
Not one Of these nine wrecks, OF which
we know the cause was due 10 what IS
called in Law an act Of God" All could
have been humanity avoided The tels-
graph operator who caused one wreck.
the engineer and fremen who caused an
other. need not have been careless. so
far as We know. The three old weak"
cars that caused three wrecks could
have been removed from the service.
The car with a defective brake that
caused still another wreck could have
been held IN the shop for repairs. \
careful section foreman would have
mended the bad place in the track where
the rails spread and an engineer WIS
killed. Adequate road supervision could
not have allowed 80 feet Of single track
20 be obscured by steam for ten montn5
till fatal wreck called attention 70 rhc
danger An inspection department. even
moderately efficient. would not have
waited for the death Of three men ~
bring 10 light the shallow foundations
To sum up. In the first place railroad
ing is, OF necessity. a dangerous occups-
ton. Al the best some men Will be In
jured or killed. With the equipment as Il
Is, however, risks are far from the DOS
sihle minimum. Confusion and awkward
ness increase the risk Of the inexDe-i-
enced, reckIesSness increases the risk Of
the experienced. Back Of all is the pres
sure for speed And finally, and above
ALL the long hours Of work must be con-
sidered- As 10 this. let me quote what a
yardmaster said 10 me-
Up 70 last year II was not at all IN
common for man 10 be called out 20
work twenty-four 70 thirty-six hours az
a stretch. Now they have passed a law
making sixteen hours the limit for a rail-
road man. Yardmen usually work twelve
hours, but when the yards are pressed
they often work brakeman the sixteen
hour limit And when a man works six
teen hours at a stretch it often means
that he has been awake for eighteen or
twenty hours, because there is a rule that
a man must be called two and a half
hours before he goes on duty. Shorter
hours-an eight-hour day for all railroad
ers-is about the most important thing I
can think OF 70 reduce the number OF ac-
cidents"