Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-02

! CAFETY PAYS" is the con-
- clusion of Lew r. Palmer
former chief factory inspec-
tor for Pennsylvania, who writes
in The Scientific Monthly (New
York, ApriD. According to Mr.
Palmer the result of the safety
hrst' movement during the past ten
years has been to reduce our annual
toll of fatal industrial accidents from
| $4,000 to $4,000, with a correspond
ing prevention also of manning and
! disabling accidents. In other words,
the movement is saving $4,000 Amer
| lean lives yearly-or one-siXth of
the number of American lives lost
| in the war-and presumably will
steadily increase this rate of saving
until the loss becomes negligible.
! Further, Mr.. Palmer tells US that
| the safety movement has been the
entering wedge whereby better
| understanding is coming about be-
| tween employer and employe it.
| self measure of economy. In con-
clusion, the writer suggests closer
cooperation among all accident
! prevention agencies and between the
| States and the casualty companies.
| He urges us to educate our chill
dren to live through carefulness
rather than die by carelessness," and
| finally reminds us that universal
| peace and universal safety go hand
in hand. He says:
while it can not be claimed that
accident prevention has always been
recognized as essential to good bust
ness, it can not be denied that to-
day it is a generally accepted fact
| that safety pays.
"A striking example of the effec-
tiveness of a well-organized and ac-
! tive safety department is illustrated
! in a chart recently published by the
! United States Steel Corporation.
From it we learn that in the past
twelve years there have been saved
from death and serious injury with
in the plants of this organization,
approximately, $4,000 workmen.
Surely, when you take account
| of the productive value of these
workers thus saved to their tasks in
the trenches of labor bearing in
mind what that increased product
| has actually meant to our Allied
armies, fighting our fight for univer-
sal safety in the trenches over
there all must agree that the money
and effort expended in developing
that safety organization had its re-
| turn, and that many fold.
This highly specialized and i'm
portant branch of plant manage
ment has not been the growth of a
day; it has been a gradual evolu-
ton, with many elements involved,
including the patient development
of methods of education in order to
! combat that arch-enemy of safety
carelessness-by opposing it with
a united front, the man co-operat-
ing with the management.
Important as have been the in
| stallation of mechanical safeguards
many of which are monuments
to some fallen pioneer-and the re-
modelling of plant arrangement and
plant equipment, the human factor
the personal equation-still holds
a bridge-head in the bloody arena
of accident causation.
How to reach the man is a
| hard-fought problem of long stand
! ing, against which we have repeat
edly directed our major offensives,
on which we have trained our big
guns, and, 1 fear, wasted not a few
| highbrow speeches.
Mass eetings. or safety rallies,
| to be of permanent value, should be
re- enforced with the rapid and con-
! tinuous fire of education that comes
from well-directed foremen's meet
ings, interspersed with the hand to-
hand personal contact of the work
mems committees. This should, in
a large measure, insure that develop
ment of plant morale necessary, to
| put safety over the top
"In a recent bulletin published by
! the United States Bureau of Labor
| Statistics on The Safety Movement
in the Iron and Steel Industry ap-
pears an interesting chart showing
! the variation in accident frequency
as compared with the coincident
variation of employment.
"It will be noted that, following
the period of minimum employment
| Cat which time there was a parallel
| depression in the accident curve),
with the introduction of new men
came an increased accident fire.
quency. This was to be expected,
as it is in accordance with past ex-
perience.
However, the accident fre-
quency was soon checked and the
curve eventually brought down, even
at time of maximum employment,
to a point as low as the best record
at any period of minimum employ
ment.
ITO those who have had expert
ence in dealing with the newman
/ nAlotaG ta oanf1Ank fro