Bisbee daily review., 1918-02-03
TOM COWpERTHWAITE
 GIVES TALK BEFORE
 '. M. C. A. MINE CLUB

way he had organized the C. & A. safety deaprtment and the principles
 on which he is running it. He said thtat he was perfectly willing for any thing he had said 10 go in the paper, and some of it follows;
 A safety inspector needs all the power he can get II he is general manager or superintendent he can put any idea he may get into force without
 bOthering to collect data for long time. The next best thing is to have all the biggest bosses on committees died on the minute.
 For instance. one afternoon. Nr. Cowperthwaite found three dangerous places in one afternoon. The superin- tendent was on the commission and
 ordered the carpenters to go fix that at once. Before the shift was over all three holes were safe. Getting ac- tion that quick may have saved three mems lives or prevented bad ac- eidents. That kind of safety first gets results.
 Mine committees. in his scheme. are made lp of bosses. He is not willing 1 to put miners on the committee. for fear boss might get down on some fellow who suggests a safety plan the boss does not care for. And besides.
 if the bosses are on safety commit
 tees the prevention of accidents be comes part of their regular business. In 1916 only two bosses had a clear record on accidents: this year II have. The first half of 1917. of course. was far safer than the second. but the whole year 1917 had not so many ac- cidents as 1916. partly because the
 men have not been rushed so much.
 but largely on account of the safety organization.
 Most accidents occur about II or D. m. A poor boss will insist on tell ing only one thing at time. and hay ing that done before he gives away
 his next move That means that the
 miner has time to burn until about 10 o'clock. when the Shifter tells him
 what 10 do. He kills time. moving. tagging around. Then. when it's near ly time to shoot he has to rush like
 fury to get anything like ready, Unless the miner is cooler and more far 1 seeing than the shifter he will be bound to pull a bOnehead and knock
 a rock the wrong way. upset his ma chine or do something else to get hurt. It makes things worse for the Shifter
 to bawl him out
 A man who is boSSing ought to be an artist in handling men. If he is grabbed or hOt-headed it's almost i'm
 possible for him to make good as any thing but a rawhider. A good Shifter
 gets things done and demands a fair days work of a man. but takes it for i granted that the fellow will either do | it or leave. It's poor taste for any boss to fire a man on account of some | grudge. If he does people can tell that the boss judgment on other things is apt to be just as poor. The good old golden rule is about the best instruction a shifter can get as to the
 way to get along. If a Shifter likes to be hawled out himself. he should do il ! to the men under him; otherwise. nOt. ! The safety record of each shin boss
 in the C. & A mines is kept and | checked up A prize of Sl0e was giv- | en last year for the best record. but | that is not a permanent policy. Any. way. a shifter hates to have his record
 beaten. The man who wins talks "a his men. knows how they do things | and prevents many unsafe practices, | He knows it if some fellow has been | carrying powder around in his pocS- | cts. mixed up with fuses and caps, and dangerously near the flame of his
 miners lamp. One man whose record was. very low said that naturally an
 other would have a clean safety rec | ord. Why. he goes around crying for | it." That kind gets it. And fellow who rawhides his men loses out on the amount produced as well. because
 he has to break in too many green | hands. That makes more work for the
 older men and increases their acci- dent rate at the same time.
 New men naturally are hurt Oftener
 than old. The danger point is about six months. when a new man thinks
 he knows far more about the job than his boss. Married men have less
 long layoffs than single. and foreign CTS who cannot speak English give a large accident rate. The C. X \. is
 now employing 90 per cent Ameri- | cans.
 Records are kept in all manner oi
 ways The number. as well as the per | centage. is recorded in the safety
 data. A foreman will wilt into his
 seat when the safety man remarks,
 You have had nine serious accidents | during the last six months.
 Of direct causes Of accidents. those that the company could have prevent
 ed are about per cent. CareleSSneSS
 of the man injured or of fellOw-work-
 men and trade risks account for the
 rest. The company is perfectly will | ing to pit its record against others. The lecture was one of the most enjoyable in the series. lt appealed
 especially to the old-eNperienced min CTS. who knew what he was talking about and are not pleased when a mucker starts warming up caps with
 s safety lamp. or when some one miS- takes a fuse in a missed hole for a
 mesquite root and sets fire to it | The layinS o1 of men who break safety rules is unnopular. but prevents accidents One fellow who was laid
 onf for three days told Cowperthwsite that he would have harbored grysige