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ACCIDENT PREVENTION

1. 4 Fall to different level 4 Unsafe act 6 Working on dangerous equipment 5 Unsafe personal factor ed 0 Improper attitude 02 Absent mindedness The code numbers allotted to the different factors facilitate the use of the report for statistical purposes As already mentioned in this case the essential circumstance is shown under item 2 and it is here that accident prevention work should start If at the same time something can be done with regard to items 4 and 5 all the better but item 2 is where efforts to eliminate accidents of this type should be concentrated It will be noticed that when we come to the unsafe act 4 and the unsafe personal factor 5 we enter the realm of psychology The Ameri can Recommended Practice is largely based on the assumption that it is usually the victim of the accident who commits the unsafe act and has the unsafe personal factor However a good deal of investigation is going on at the present time into improper attitudes lack of knowledge and other unsafe personal characteristics of managers and foremen as factors in accident causation In their present form sections 4 and 5 give the impression that the psychological causes of accidents almost always reside in the worker and they do not bring out such factors as poor supervision poor personnel management and excessive speed of work LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 23 Nevertheless the Ame
2. 28 08 58 COBLES e oi aaa a a a a owe a a dh eo DE ai 59 Salet SNOCS s ick xk eR oo a a a a E a a a Se a 60 GIOVES e a i ten Yon de ie ke aaa a a ie eh a kage 60 Hard IAS he ge i iai as Ok RO Se oS ugha 60 ADORNS x a e a 38 a at 0 ee ee eM BE WO a tee 60 Bar Proteci n eee ok ESS eS BRE ROS Sw GOES 60 ane Protection cica Boe be wR Re Os Se a Ww eK 60 Other Protective Equipment 61 Colours Notices Signs Labels Be et te a 61 COlOWIS is ok Secs Re SK a a a oe we a OS amp 3 62 Notices and Signs 4 440 si dk tide sis ee GP aed 62 Labels ziri oe Ace aide ka Ros Be De erode Poke oe Li So hese oe 62 Pte so aee te Ses et ees oes ees ee a ee gs 8 bs kh oh 64 Ventilation and Temperature Control 2 pa 65 Noen 6 4 22 a aa a Ee ee a ee ee eee 66 SEVENTH LessON Some Practical Applications of Accident Prevention Principles 69 Hand Tools De we Gai de GA dh ae ode amp oh Se 69 Portable Electrical Apparatus 0 2 004 75 GEASS sone Ya amp amp he Sn ee ee Ge a Big Me a e Sola Se tae 78 Large Containers Silos Bins for Dry Bulk Materials 79 Acetylene Cylinders 0 60580 ee eee ee 83 Portable Ladders 1 2 a et tw ww ewes eS Bs 86 EIGHTH LEssON Psychological and Physiological Aspects of Accident Prevention 94 Attitudes towards Safety 0 0 0 084 n 94 Environment and Frequency of Accidents 2
3. Example A man descending a staircase missed his footing and fell in poor lighting which threw sharp shadows on the treads Adequate lighting is particularly important from the accident preven tion viewpoint at places where a risk of stumbling or falling exists e g near quaysides railway lines etc and in gangways on staircases and near exits which have to be used in emergencies When there are large numbers of persons in workrooms it will be necessary for gangways staircases and exits and if necessary places near dangerous machines to be kept lighted under all circumstances even if normal lighting fails In practice this is a difficult problem Small electric generators exist which can feed a group of lamps in an emergency independently of the normal supply of electricity but these are only available in a limited number of countries where in any case they are not widely used Another solution is to use candles or kerosene lamps at strategic points in gangways and on staircases but this entails lighting up every evening which is seldom regularly done In addition these types of lights may give rise to fire hazards in certain types of factories In some cases a solution has been found by painting lines and arrows on floors and walls with luminous paints so that the exits can be seen if normal light fails Light signs indicating emergency exits and placed near the ceiling are not always suitable as in the case of fire they may be hi
4. There is no sharp distinction between a child and a young person the one category merges imperceptibly into the other Two international labour Conventions adopted in 1937 concerning the minimum age for admission to industrial and non industrial employment respectively prohibit the employment of children under the age of 15 years in industrial and non industrial work but provide that different minimum ages may be fixed in certain circumstances Most countries now have laws which fix a minimum age for admission to employment and thus exclude children from all industrial work As noted the relevant international labour Convention fixes this age at 15 In individual countries it ranges from 14 to 16 years or even higher in the industrially developed countries to 12 or 13 years or even less in the countries in which industrialisation is just beginning In the latter countries minimum age laws are often inadequate or not enforced owing to lack of schools family poverty lack of properly equipped inspection services or other reasons In such countries children as young as 5 years LESSON 10 SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF WORKERS 119 of age may be allowed to work in industrial undertakings exposed to all the risks of industrial work and fatal accidents among them are all too frequent The prohibition of the employment of children under a given minimum age fixed realistically in the light of national circumstances is a vital necessity for the protection
5. 50 ACCIDENT PREVENTION BUILT IN GUARDS It is only comparatively recently that widespread support has devel oped for the principle of built in safety that is to say the principle that the most effective way of protecting a machine is to make the guard an integral part of the machine Generally speaking it may be said that built in guards are usually cheaper and more effective than guards added to the machine after it has been delivered to the user although as will be seen it is not always practicable for manufacturers to do this as far as guards at the point of operation are concerned Moreover it is often much simpler for manufacturers to equip their machines with guards than for the individual user to do so Many attempts have been made to make built in safety for machines and other equipment a statutory obligation on manufacturers and distributors 1 This obligation exists in varying forms in some countries e g Austria Denmark France Sweden the Netherlands and the United Kingdom Though the requirement that machines should be guarded before they are delivered has advantages it also has its drawbacks For instance the relevant statutory provisions may be so strict as to make the construction of new safety appliances impossible Example Some safety legislation prescribes that wood planing machines must be equipped with round cutter blocks This limits the freedom of construction However as the necessity for cutter bl
6. c replaced or repaired when found defective The inspection of hand tools is facilitated if they are distributed by storekeepers in a tool room However it is sometimes more convenient to leave workers permanently in charge of some tools and in other cases local custom prescribes that workers should have their own Then it would be de sirable to make a rule that all tools should be handed in periodically at the tool room for inspection and examination by competent persons to en sure that they are properly looked after and in good con dition Tool room attendants should have strict instructions not to issue damaged or otherwise unsuitable tools Fig 30 These are dangerous and should be scrapped 12 Workers should be properly instructed and trained in the safe use of their hand tools 74 ACCIDENT PREVENTION As improper use often results from insufficient skill training has an indirect influence on safety standards Regular inspection of work habits offers an opportunity to discover where additional training and instruc tion is necessary An example of an incorrect and a correct way of using a screwdriver is shown in figure 31 Wrong Fig 31 Regulation 211 e em 9 9 9 A sufficient supply of tools of the various types required shall always be kept available for maintenance and repair men A sufficient supply of tools is not only necessary for the reasons already mentioned under Regulation 11
7. parable in all details but they should be comparable on essential points in each country data additional to those called for in international com parisons can be compiled for specific purposes Some progress has been made towards the international standardisa tion of industrial accident statistics and measures have been planned particularly under the auspices of the International Labour Office LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 29 which has been interested in the problem ever since the First International Conference of Labour Statisticians considered it in 1923 1 The various I L O Conferences of Labour Statisticians have also adopted resolutions embodying recommendations on frequency and severity rates and the classification of accidents by industry and occupation by cause and by other factors CALCULATION OF ACCIDENT RATES To compare the number of accidents in one factory with that in another in the same branch of industry it is necessary to take into account the differences which may result from the differences in the numbers of workers employed in the two factories This can be done by calculating the accident frequency rate i e the number of injuries for each million man hours of exposure This is expressed by the following formula in which F represents the frequency rate number of injuries x 1 000 000 total man hours of exposure Example An undertaking with 500 workers working 50 weeks of 48 hours each
8. spikes or other similar fixing shall be used Experience has shown that rungs held in place by nails or spikes alone are unreliable Two correct ways of fixing rungs are shown in figure 39 9 Wooden ladders shall be constructed with a uprights of adequate strength made of wood free from visible defects and having the grain of the wood running lengthwise and b rungs made of wood free from visible defects and mortised into the uprights to the exclusion of any rungs fixed only by nails Wooden ladders made in specialised factories usually have the rungs fixed in mortises in the uprights and kept in place by glue and by wooden safety pins which go through the upright and enter a hole about 8 mm deep in the rung Uprights should be made of wood of good quality such as Oregon pine and without blemishes The two uprights of a long ladder are not parallel but converge slightly towards the top Rungs should be made of good quality oak hickory ash or other wood with similar properties 90 ACCIDENT PREVENTION 10 Roofers and painters ladders shall not be used by workmen in other trades Roofers and painters ladders are often of a very light construction and are insufficiently rigid for general use The Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments contains a general provision to the effect that all ladders should comply with the provisions laid down in the 1937 safety code for the building industry
9. 4 Structure and Functions of the IL O 2 2 2 2 2 The Safety Activities of the I L O 2 2 2 ew Other International Bodies 2 0 2888088 International Technical Assistance 56 eee eee FOURTEENTH LESSON Trade Unions and Workers and Industrial Safety Trade UMON aioa be Se Bd oe Ok Sk A SE eS GS He ee The Worker s Attitude 2 02 2 02 2 20 2 wee eee SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 6858 88 FIRST LESSON THE PROBLEM OF ACCIDENTS DURING WORK Every year throughout the world millions of industrial accidents occur Some of them are fatal and some result in permanent disable ment complete or partial the great majority cause only temporary disablement which however may last for several months Every accident causes suffering to the victim a considerable proportion must cause much anguish to his family and many especially those resulting in death or permanent disablement may have a catastrophic effect on family life Moreover all accidents waste time and money The world is paying heavily for accidents in terms of both human suffering and economic waste The task of preventing industrial accidents is therefore a vital and urgent one A general idea of the magnitude of the problem can be gained by comparing figures of military casualties during the Second World War with those of casualties in industry during the same period Over the duration of the war monthly ca
10. Fig 14 The kind of accident that occurs when floors are allowed to become oily physical risks but also contri bute to safety by their psycho logical effect Where much thought is given to good order and where good housekeeping is the universal practice a worker will most prob ably behave more carefully than where disorder prevails and house keeping is neglected It will be clear that good order and good housekeeping can be more easily achieved if workers are keen on it and obey all instructions designed to promote it for instance by keeping gangways free from obstructions using receptacles for waste materials and storing tools in their proper places Once good habits are acquired it is not too difficult to preserve them for good housekeeping not only helps to prevent accidents but also facilitates work It would be interesting to ascertain how much time is lost by looking for misplaced tools or for seeking the right bolt nut or washer where such items are not kept in any particular place The saying safety pays is true in every sense when applied to maintain ing good order in workplaces WORKING CLOTHES The Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments contains an extremely comprehensive summary of safety requirements regarding working clothes which reads as follows Regulation 226 Working Clothes 1 When selecting working clothes consideration should be given to the hazards to which
11. The unions take the view that safety LESSON 14 SAFETY AND THE WORKERS 167 cannot be ensured by legislation alone and that the latter must be sup plemented by co operation between employers foremen and workers at all levels from national to local The existing arrangements for co operation are based on a set of agreements concluded between the Confederation of Trade Unions and the Swedish Employers Federation They provide for the creation of a general joint body and of specialised joint bodies to deal with labour protection vocational training works councils and other matters For the 15 years or so during which these arrangements have been in force they have worked well Any difficulties which have arisen have been purely practical ones relating to questions such as the best ways of pro moting safety through textbooks instructions correspondence courses films study groups and so on Under the Swedish Labour Protection Act workers in places where more than five workers are employed have the right to appoint a safety delegate There are now some 30 000 safety delegates in Swedish indus trial undertakings they are not only nominated but also where necessary trained by the unions An agreement on safety services in undertakings has also been worked out between the unions and the employers federation The Confederation of Trade Unions and the Swedish Employers Federation also co operate in the running of a voluntary safet
12. Third edition Chicago 1955 Supervisors Safety Manual Chicago 1956 176 ACCIDENT PREVENTION PLUMBE C Conway Factory Health Safety and Welfare Encyclopaedia London The National Trade Press 1953 Roce J M Safety and the Foreman New London Conn National Foremen s Institute Inc 1951 STANDARDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA Australian Standard Code of General Principles for Safe Working in Industry AS CZ 5 1952 Sydney 1952 UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF LABOUR Annual Reports of the Chief Inspector of Factories London H M Stationery Office UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Bureau of Labor Standards Safety Subjects Bulletin No 67 Revised Washington U S Government Printing Office 1953 Industrial Premises Ventilation Heating Air Conditioning AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF GOVERNMENTAL INDUSTRIAL HYGIENISTS Industrial Ventilation A Manual of Recommended Practice Michigan Ann Arbor 1951 BEDFORD Thomas Basic Principles of Ventilation and Heating London H K Lewis and Co 1948 UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Factory Department Heating and Ventilation in Factories Welfare Pamphlet No 5 London H M Stationery Office 1952 Lighting and Colour AMERICAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION American Standard Practice for Industrial Lighting ASA 11 1 1952 New York 1952 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Industrial Welfare Divisio
13. Tobacco Source Accident Rates Chicago National Safety Council 1957 edition p 6 The table shows that in coal mining underground there was approxi mately one accident per 43 000 man hours and that 250 days were lost per accident Two thirds of the total are accounted for by fatal and permanent disability cases lost time being reckoned at 6 000 days in each case even so the other accidents involved an average absence from work of 83 days In the tobacco industry at the other end of the scale there was approximately one accident per 306 000 man hours with an average absence from work of 25 days These figures do not give the impression that prevention can now be considered fully effective However if we look at the accident rates of a given industry over a period of years we can sometimes see that the efforts made have given good results In 1947 for example the American tobacco industry had a frequency rate of 6 55 and a severity rate of 240 1 If these figures are compared with those for 1956 in the above table it will be seen that in a period of ten years the number of accidents declined by 50 per cent and the average period of absence from work per accident by about 12 days PRESENTATION OF STATISTICS Accident statistics are not compiled solely for the purpose of research and study in the interests of accident prevention Though this is the main reason it is also important to give all persons concerned appropriate i
14. and most of the 29 minor injuries can be reported by the first aid department but what is to be done about the 300 near accidents Some undertakings consider it important that these should also be reported for among them are cases of stumbling slipping or falling which might have resulted in an injury even a serious injury but which just by chance did not 1f these events could be discovered it might be possible to take steps to prevent their recurrence and the number of accidents in the minor injury and lost time groups could probably be reduced In undertakings where the importance of accidents of this type is realised attempts have been made to solve the problem of how to learn from them In one undertaking there are two or three selected workers in every department who are responsible for reporting all small defects and shortcomings in their area such as a hole in the floor a split pin replaced by a nail or a broken window cord to the safety engineer for each report a small reward is paid The safety engineer orders the necessary remedial measures in co operation with the maintenance department In another undertaking the safety engineer obtains information on no injury accidents at meetings with the foremen COMPILATION OF ACCIDENT STATISTICS Statistics may be compiled for a single undertaking a region an industry or all the industries in a country Specialised statistics may be compiled for particular types of accidents e
15. of the management He discusses safety problems with the supervisory staff and often with the foreman making recommendations but leaving responsibility for their implementation and the actual decision whether to implement them or not with the line of command The duties of the safety engineer are in short to eliminate hazards and will usually include the following a formulating and supervising the execution of the company s general accident prevention policy 1 See also Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments op cit Regulation 244 paragraphs 26 28 128 ACCIDENT PREVENTION b reporting to and advising management on all safety matters c giving guidance to supervisory staff d investigating accidents e keeping accident records and statistics f supervising safety training g examining plant equipment processes and working methods h serving on the safety committee if there is one i drawing up safety instructions guides and other safety literature j directing safety activities such as competitions exhibitions and propaganda campaigns k inspecting fire protection equipment and facilities and directing fire protection activities such as drills I in general doing everything he can to bring the factory into a safe condition and keep it so and to eliminate unsafe working practices The matters on which the safety engineer will report to and advise management unde
16. tion of general rules for the calculation of these rates has made it possible to compare the accident situation in different factories in the same country Standards associations were at first mainly concerned with reducing the unnecessary and inconvenient variety of common technical objects such as rivets bolts and nuts but their fields of activity soon expanded and standardisation was applied to material and construction specifica tions testing materials design calculations etc Nowadays many kinds of standards are published that have a bearing on safety Some are actually called safety standards and are only con cerned with safety others are technical standards codes of practice etc that deal to some extent with safety or have implications in the safety field The following are examples of various subjects of safety interests dealt with in national standards Industrial equipment Ladders abrasive wheels pressure piping boilers elevators Personal protective equipment Goggles respirators gloves hats boots aprons Colours signs signals symbols Identification of piping systems identification of gas cylinders safety colours signalling devices for printing presses hand signals for hoisting appliances Safe practices Safety procedures for quarries industrial uses of X rays precautions against fire installation and maintenance of flame proof and intrinsically safe electrical equipment Accident records R
17. 96 Fatigue and Boredom ot oti 2 2S cee et he 97 Experience and Inexperience oui sae fat Se Ge ew ria oe 98 Accident Pronen ss o s i Sw Gao wm e we a we Eo Set 98 Physiological Conditions Se Sh He cdnt 42 SS 3a8 gen At yest Sou ae ae es 102 CONTENTS VII Pago NINTH LESSON Propaganda Education Training 2 ee 103 Propaganda 4 6848 Js kb oh a ew we Re ee 3 Posters E geri ee Ye ke cay et ae awe es OS Films and Slides 2 6 1 2 a a ew ww ee 107 Talks Lectures and Conferences 2 2 5004 108 Competitions s s 6 ec kG A aI wR E a we we ew 108 Exhibitions ea Se A OO He sd aaa 109 Salty Literature seha a Ge RA BA eR es a 110 Saty DINES a ees we i Se Ek Bek A Oh a a oS 111 Formal Education 6 aoao aaa Se ES we ES we 111 Tranne aa we R RO i ee a a ara A G 113 Training of Workers aooaa e a e a eos 113 gt Training of Job Instructors Job Setters and Supervisors 115 Training of Departmental Heads Engineers etc 115 Training of Workers Representatives 08 8 116 TENTH LESSON Special Categories of Workers a anan aa e Ges Free 118 Children and Young Persons PENO 118 WOMEN e 4 56 6 iat a GSE ES ORES ae eS E ee 121 Elderly Workers s 4s 3 o 2 3 Sk amp a ee a e a Se cee se ee ee Handicapped Workers 2 eee ee ee ee 122 Certificated Personnel 2 ee ee a 122 ELEVENTH LESSON
18. AND WORKERS It has already been seen that while labour inspectors have to enforce laws and regulations they should be more than merely a kind of technical police force they should also be able to give advice on safety and health matters As accident prevention is of interest not only to the workers but also to the undertaking and indeed to the country as a whole it can be readily understood that many safety problems can best be solved by co operation between inspectors employers and workers Much more can be achieved by co operation than by the bare enforcement of the law for as we have said the law embodies only minimum precautions Accordingly labour inspectors can contribute to safe working conditions by giving advice based on their technical knowledge and experience as well as by simply knowing the regulations Inspections of factories and investigations of accidents afford useful opportunities for discussions of safety matters with the management supervisors and workers from which all can benefit However having regard to the 1 See opposite page 150 ACCIDENT PREVENTION number of inspectors in comparison with the number of establishments it is obvious that a particular factory will not be visited by an inspector very frequently Safety in factories cannot be ensured by labour inspectors alone STATE OWNED INDUSTRIES AND GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS Another means by which governments can promote safety lies in the existence of sta
19. SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF WORKERS 123 equipment in force in Ontario Canada deal with such matters as shift work sickness and holidays and absences exceeding 15 minutes and have different provisions for the operation of machinery with different levels of horsepower Questions 1 What special measures if any should be taken to protect children and young persons against accidents and why 2 Are there any accident risks peculiar to women 3 Why should some categories of workers be required to possess certificates of competency ELEVENTH LESSON SAFETY ACTIVITIES IN THE UNDERTAKING Laws regulations inspection recommendations advice research exhibitions congresses and all the rest will none of them serve any useful purpose in the last resort if nothing is done to promote safety in the factory itself We have described the different forms of activity carried on outside the factory to promote safety and now come to the organisation of safety activities in the factory itself It cannot be repeated too often that the manager himself must take the lead in promoting safety activities Everybody in the undertaking should know that the employer is interested not only in production in the quality and quantity of the products in preventing waste of material in proper maintenance of machines and tools but also in safety This lesson deals with the responsibility of management the delegation of this responsibility to the supervisory staff
20. The time charge for a fatal accident recommended by the Sixth International Con ference of Labour Statisticians in 1947 is 7 500 days Example Vf in addition to the 60 lost time accidents mentioned in the previous examples one fatal accident had occurred the frequency rate would have been 61 x 1 000 000 _ 1 140 000 The time loss in days in that case using the recommendation of the Sixth International Conference of Labour Statisticians would have been 8 700 7 500 1 200 and the severity rate __ 8 700 x 1 000 1 140 000 53 5 7 63 As might be expected such a serious accident has a considerable effect on the severity rate but does not greatly affect the frequency rate Accident frequency and severity rates give valuable information on the safety situation in a factory both absolutely and by comparison with other factories working under similar conditions It is therefore desirable that rates should be published regularly for different branches of industry and this is done in many countries The following figures which concern the United States in 1956 illustrate the differences between frequency and severity rates in different branches of industry LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 31 Frequency rates Tempor Severity Industry ary All rates total disabling total disable disable injuries disable ment ment ment Mining underground coal Lumber Construction Communications
21. This also applies to other items of equipment such as chains wire ropes and ladders The use of safe working methods by the worker himself is another important practical aspect of accident prevention It is extremely difficult to change a person s way of thinking In addition as already indicated it is very difficult if not impossible to make sure that a person who has corrected a wrong attitude does not forget his good intention or become distracted by sorrow illness or his interests outside the factory and fall back permanently or temporarily into his old habits The formation of safe working habits is a different matter it involves the absorption of a safe working method until it has become second nature and is followed automatically When this is so one may expect that the same work method will be followed whether the worker is thinking about his work or not this should guarantee safe working in all il a A E yo rea N L EN AaS ELL 2 E S E Figs 12 and 13 Safe methods of passing a workpiece through a circular saw circumstances and in any case some accidents due to unsafe acts improper attitudes and the like will be prevented The following are examples of safe working habits LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 55 1 In working on woodworking machines the way of placing the hands is very important When sawing an interrupted covered cut on a circular saw both hands should be placed behind th
22. a place where care could be taken of the children but would also be a means of preserving them from accidents Women sometimes need special safety education and clothing to minimise the risk of accidents Loose clothing or hair may be caught in moving machine parts For instance a woman working on a sewing machine in a shirt making factory bent her head under the machine table to pick up a pair of scissors from the floor and her hair came into contact with the transmission shaft A large part of the hair and scalp were lost Special measures may be necessary to prevent such accidents 122 ACCIDENT PREVENTION It would be interesting to know whether women have relatively more or fewer accidents than men doing similar work However there are not enough statistics available covering a sufficiently large number of men and women working under similar conditions ELDERLY WORKERS It is well known that some physical capacities such as sight hearing agility and reaction speed decline steadily after the age of 30 or there abouts On the other hand older workers may be more careful reliable and conscientious than younger ones The problems of accident preven tion among older workers may therefore differ in some respects from those affecting workers in general The precise effects of aging on accident causation have not been studied extensively but it has been found that some types of accident such as falls of persons tend to occur more fre
23. and stacking A more comprehensive course in safety may be given to new em ployees who are likely to remain in the factory after an initial period of employment Instruction about such things as the care of belts motors and electric wiring and the identification of weaknesses in such equip ment the capacity of the ropes and chains used in lifting and other matters which it might be useful for an employee to know about may be given to supplement general instruction in lifting and transport operations Long term trainees in fact are normally given more comprehensive instruction in regard to the safety aspects of work generally and particu larly of jobs which come within their trade The syllabuses of many vocational training schools and apprenticeship courses include thorough instruction on safety and health risks hygiene care of clothing and the maintenance and care of machines tools equipment and materials 1See Lesson Il LESSON 9 PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING 115 associated with the trade concerned Supervisors in training schools and shops and senior workers taking care of apprentices are normally instructed to place particular stress in their instruction on the need to keep tools in perfect condition and order and most of the textbooks used in the longer training courses emphasise this point as well Trainees and apprentices are for instance instructed in the techniques of sharpen ing tools of grinding the heads of chi
24. and the more complicated the statistics the more complicated the report form required It will often not be possible to fill in a report form until the accident has been thoroughly investigated which will have to be done in any case if the causes of the accident are to be correctly indicated CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS Before suitable precautions against accidents can be taken it is necessary to know exactly how and why they occur This knowledge has to be obtained by careful investigation of each case In countries where social insurance schemes exist or where for other reasons accidents have to be reported accident causes are often 16 ACCIDENT PREVENTION defined in such terms as hand tools or falls of objects These indications are of little use for accident prevention purposes Much more detailed information is needed and as a rule this has to come from a special investigation Such investigations usually bring to light a series of circumstances or factors the combination or sequence of which made the accident possible Each of these circumstances or factors is an essential part of the cause of the accident but only the sequence of all of them resulted in an accident and in the absence of any one of them the accident would not have occurred An example may make this clear Suppose a man climbing down a ladder falls because it has a missing rung Investigation of the accident may reveal the following circumstances 1 t
25. at relatively low temperatures 170 C sometimes even 155 C and that sufficient heat was developed to raise the temperature to such an extent that spontaneous combustion became possible if heat losses were prevented and sufficient time allowed This combination of unfavourable circumstances seldom existed in the factories concerned but was not unknown and the research work explained not only why the fires and explosions occurred but why fires often started on Sundays more than 24 hours after the closing of the factories on Saturdays Accidents may be investigated for two purposes to ascertain who is responsible for them or to find out how similar accidents can be pre vented Determining the responsibility for accidents can be quite differ ent from preventing them Responsibility may be associated solely with liability for compensation or with prosecution for breaches of regulations or some other punishment or blame but in certain cases the determination of responsibility may be of assistance in preventing repetition of an accident Often accident investigation is concerned with both responsibility and prevention and this may seriously hamper discovery of the cause If the persons questioned feel that as a result of the investigation someone will be blamed those whose consciences are not quite at ease may give incorrect or incomplete information It may then be impossible to find the cause and consequently to devise means of prevention
26. attention of workers who are not yet familiar with the factory environment will be distracted by the many new impressions they receive and this in combination with their lack of experience of the job may provide an explanation of the relative frequency of accidents among newcomers Much depends on the vocational training they receive before entering industry and on the way they are introduced to their jobs and supervised These problems are discussed further in Lessons 9 and 11 Experienced workers are not handicapped by unfamiliarity with their surroundings but their very familiarity with the risks of the job often makes them less careful and this is an adverse factor A characteristic example is the high number of electrical accidents occurring to elec tricians Moreover if no serious accidents occur in any particular type of work for a considerable time the workers become less careful for they tend more and more to assume that the danger is not so serious as they had been told Safety measures will then be neglected till a new accident again shows the importance of safety precautions ACCIDENT PRONENESS Statistics show that there are workers who have no accidents and others who have several in a given period This suggests that certain workers are more liable to accidents than others they are usually described as accident prone The question of accident proneness has a statistical basis if in a group of 100 workers 100 acci
27. directly or indirectly attributable to human failings Man is not a machine his performance is not fully predictable and he sometimes makes mistakes A mistake may be made by the architect who designed a factory the contractor who built it a machine designer a manager an engineer a chemist an electrician a foreman an operator a maintenance man in fact by anyone who has anything to do with the design construction installation management supervision and use of the factory and anything in it Much thought has been given to the study of causes of accidents and many books have been written on the subject There are many different ways of classifying accidents nearly every country has a different one One method is to classify them according to where the fault lies e g with the management a foreman the victim or another worker Another method used in several countries is to classify them according 1 W D Keerer Accident Costs in Industrial Safety edited by R P BLAKE second edition New York Prentice Hall 1953 pp 22 29 LESSON 1 ACCIDENTS DURING WORK 3 to the cause In some cases this has been done on the basis of a resolution adopted by the First International Conference of Labour Statisticians organised by the I L O in 1923 which recommends classification of accidents by cause under the following main heads machinery transport equipment explosions and fire poisonous hot or corrosive substances el
28. end to end of the floor The factory was properly equipped with an outside fire escape but the access to it was soon cut off by the flames the remaining internal staircase was steep and narrow and afforded an easy passage for the dense smoke rising from the ground floor for although it was lobbied off from the upper floors it was open at ground level Workers escaping down these stairs panicked at the sight of the smoke ran back up the stairs and lost their lives not by burning but by asphyxia Much can and should be done to prevent disasters of this kind by those responsible for the building of factories but the workers too have a very real responsibility for ensuring the effectiveness of fire prevention measures COMMON FIRE HAZARDS For a fire to start three elements must be present oxygen fuel and heat Without the oxygen nothing can burn without fuel there is nothing to burn and without heat there can be no fire figure 6 Common fire hazards include smoking flammable liquids open lights and flames poor housekeeping badly maintained and hence overheated machines electric wiring static electricity welding and soldering equipment Some industries e g chemicals oil and paint manufacture involve special fire risks 1 Ministry of Labour and National Insurance Annua Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for the Year 1956 London H M Stationery Office 1958 p 64 36 ACCIDENT PREVENTION L
29. excellent method in cases where a safety engineer on the staff of the undertaking would be too costly or could not be fully employed Guards may also be borrowed from the museums so that their practical value can be demonstrated to employers and workers SAFETY ASSOCIATIONS So far in this lesson we have been mainly concerned with the safety activities of organs of the State the legislature ministries technical institutes and so on In many countries these agencies do not handle all safety work and much may be done by private bodies of various kinds safety associations standards institutions employers associations trade unions universities private laboratories and others However it should not be forgotten that the functions exercised by voluntary bodies in some countries are exercised by state agencies in others There are different kinds of safety associations Some cater for all or most industries and for the whole country examples are the National Safety Council of Australia the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in the United Kingdom and the National Safety Council in the United States Others such as the Normandy Industrial Safety Associa tion in France the Alberta Safety Council in Canada and the Antwerp Provincial Safety Institute in Belgium have a similar industry coverage but are regional bodies Others again deal exclusively with a particular industry or a particular subject examples are the Constructi
30. fact may depend on a whole array of factors ranging from the social and religious background to his own circumstances and character It must be said that usually workers themselves are not the driving force in accident prevention activities Even in technically advanced countries where workers are relatively well off tremendous efforts are required to make workers safety minded This seems to show that workers are seldom spontaneously interested in safety even though their lives may be at stake No doubt individual workers have made excellent contributions to safety as members of a safety committee or in some other capacity but on the whole improve ments in safety cannot be said to have originated among the workers This can perhaps be partly explained by the fact that almost everywhere the law makes the employer responsible for establishing and maintaining safe working conditions but the explanation is in all probability to be sought rather in the fact that workers are more interested in questions of wages hours of work holidays compensation the closed shop etc than in questions of safety There is also the fact that workers are accustomed to their working environment and its risks Underestimation of these risks and a false feeling of immunity from them tend to make workers relatively indifferent towards safety matters In technically underdeveloped countries workers are often ignorant of the risks to which they are exposed Many are pea
31. factors that not only contribute materi ally to safety but also have a considerable psychological effect People in a dirty untidy workroom cluttered up with tools materials and rubbish tend to behave differently from when they are in a clean attractive workroom where good housekeeping is the rule This difference in behaviour will usually be reflected by a difference in accident frequency Respect for the worker s feeling and dignity helps to give him peace of mind and this is a most important psychological safety factor Conse quently the worker s body is more likely to be immune from injury when the management is careful in its relations with him as a person It should not be overlooked that peace of mind does not depend only on the situation inside the factory Living conditions outside the factory LESSON 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS 97 also have an influence living in slum areas has undesirable moral and physical effects and thereby adversely influences the worker s attitude in the factory and tends to increase accident rates Here again it is clear that safety is not something that can be separated from other aspects of life but is linked with them all The worker s peace of mind may also be disturbed by family circum stances Remedying these situations is a very delicate task Of course it is most undesirable to do anything that might give the impression of inter fering with a worker s private life Somet
32. greatly facilitated if the investigator finds the situation on the scene of the accident exactly as it was when the accident took place Consequently after an accident the site should be left undisturbed unless steps have to be taken to ensure the safety of persons or to prevent further damage Whether the site has been disturbed or not it is desirable to try to reconstruct the sequence of events just before and during the accident possibly with the assistance of the injured person and with the co opera tion of witnesses The investigator should carefully inspect the site and then examine the witnesses In many cases the cause of the accident will be discovered in this way but in some cases e g where breakages of metal parts are involved it may be necessary to ask for the assistance of a research laboratory If a pat of a piece of apparatus such as a chain or a wire rope breaks it is desirable to know the cause of the failure and for this reason the material should be examined and tested to discover whether it was unsuitable had been maltreated or was just worn out The necessary information may be provided by a microscopic examination by tests carried out on a sample of the material or by chemical analysis Example A chain used in a hoisting apparatus with a maximum safe working load of 500 kg broke when 700 kg was lifted The chain was overloaded but this circumstance in itself was not sufficient to explain why it broke Tensile
33. h provide for machine oiling inspection adjustment and repair i withstand long use with minimum maintenance j resist normal wear and shock k be durable fire and corrosion resistant 1 not constitute a hazard by themselves without splinters sharp corners rough edges or other sources of accidents and m protect against unforeseen operational contingencies not merely against normally expected hazards a The guard should provide positive protection This means that should the guard cease to operate for any reason the machine will automatically stop or access to the danger zone be prevented Such an arrangement is illustrated by figure 7 Fig 7 Power press with guard providing positive protection An interlocking mechanism prevents the die from coming down as long as the guard is not closed b The guard should prevent all access to the danger zone during operations Consequently it is not sufficient for the guard to give a warning signal when there is a risk of any part of the body entering the LESSON 5 MACHINE GUARDING 45 danger zone for instance by means of an alarm bell or a light signal it should actually block all access to the danger zone as shown in figure 8 Fig 8 Example of a guard effectively barring access to the danger zone It is physically impossible for the operative s hands to be caught between the rollers c The guard should cause the operator no discomfort or inconveni
34. had 60 accidents during one year Owing to illnesses accidents and other reasons the workers were absent during 5 per cent of the aggregate working time Thus the total number of man hours 500 x 50 x 48 1 200 000 has to be reduced by 5 per cent 60 000 giving the real number of man hours of exposure as 1 140 000 This being so 1 140 000 This frequency rate indicates that in a year about 53 accidents occurred per million man hours worked So far only the number of accidents has been considered and this is not a very exact measure of the effects of accidents To obtain a better idea of the situation the severity rate must also be calculated The Sixth International Conference of Labour Statisticians recommended that the severity rate should be taken as the time loss in days per thousand man hours of exposure The American Standards Association on the other 1 For an account of the proceedings of the Conference see I L O International Conference of Labour Statisticians Studies and Reports Series N No 4 Geneva 1924 See also idem Methods of Statistics of Industrial Accidents Studies and Reports Series N No 3 Geneva 1923 and Methods of Statistics of Industrial Injuries Studies and Reports New Series No 7 Part 3 Geneva 1948 2 For further details see the resolution concerning industrial injury rates adopted by the Sixth International Conference of Labour Statisticians Montreal 1947 in I L O The Internati
35. happens for every 29 accidents resulting in minor injuries and for every 300 accidents which do not cause injury i e near accidents Some investigators give the ratio as 1 20 200 Whichever is the more accurate the point is that for every major accident many dangerous incidents occur which do not cause injuries This knowledge can be used to great advantage in planning safety programmes for if sufficient attention is paid to the no injury accidents there is every likelihood that the number of accidents resulting in injuries and especially serious injuries will fall In any case it will be necessary to pay special attention to minor accidents and near accidents because often the seriousness of an accident is not at all an indication of the frequency with which it will happen again nor does the fact that an accident did not cause injury to LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 27 anybody on one occasion constitute an assurance that under similar cir cumstances a serious accident will not occur in future Consequently it would be very wrong if out of the 330 accidents mentioned at the begin ning of the paragraph measures should be taken to prevent the recurrence of only one and the other 329 ignored The most important task is that of finding ways of discovering and preventing the 300 near accidents It is easy to arrange for lost time accidents to be reported to the safety engineer or any other appropriate official
36. in supplementing them or where their installation is not practicable Instructions should be issued for instance on the way in which hoisting chains and wire ropes are to be used stored and examined and on the maintenance of machines and other equipment Preparing instructions is not difficult the real problem is their en forcement The best way to ensure that rules are obeyed is perhaps to give those who have to obey them a part in their drafting This can be done through the safety committee or if there is no safety committee by some other form of consultation perhaps through the intermediary of the trade union It must not be thought that the issue of rules and instruc tions dispenses with the need for constant supervision Indeed super vision is the only means of ensuring that rules are obeyed In any case it is not enough merely to issue instructions steps must be taken to ensure that they are understood Instructions are useless unless they are complied with If in practice they are ignored and there is no apparent means of enforcing them they should be changed or withdrawn A rule which is not observed does no good on the contrary the impression is given that it is unnecessary to obey any rule and in this way the value of all rules is impaired Consider for instance the following passage in the foreman s manual of a large undertaking The use of safety shoes is recommended in many jobs but the respon sibility for their
37. interest for countries where distances between population centres are great and population sparse is followed with regard to workers representation on the labour inspec torate Norwegian law provides that in addition to the Directorate of Labour Inspection there shall be local inspectorates in every municipality in the country The committees are appointed by the local councils Of the members at least one must be a woman and one a worker and one must have technical qualifications A qualified medical practi tioner should also be appointed to the committee In addition to the State Inspectorate of Labour there is also a Labour Inspection Council consisting of two employers and two workers representatives and a chairman with legal training The Council is the appeal authority in respect of certain decisions taken by the Directorate of Labour Inspection In addition to co operating with the authorities safety institutions and employers some unions engage in safety activities on their own account The Metal Polishers Buffers Platers and Helpers International Union for instance has shown an active interest in industrial safety and health in the United States and Canada for very many years It generally collaborates with state and regional authorities and voluntary organisa tions engaging in safety activities has taken an interest in safety education and carries on safety propaganda work among its members It is of historical interest
38. it then goes on to recommend certain additional precautions Regulation 211 contains the following provisions 16 An adequate supply of portable ladders of good construction and of such types and lengths as may be required should be kept in readiness for use in maintenance and repair work Portable ladders for maintenance and repair should be of sound construction This does not mean simply that ladders should be of suitable materials and sufficiently rigid but also that the different rungs should be of the same construction and that the intervals between them should be uniform To be able to place ladders in the right position see paragraph 22 below it is necessary to have ladders of different lengths 17 Ladders shall always be kept in good condition and shall be in spected at regular intervals by a competent person As the condition of a ladder is an important safety factor regular inspection is necessary especially in the case of wooden ladders which can easily become damaged and are more likely to have hidden defects than metal ladders 18 Portable ladders that haye missing or damaged rungs or are otherwise defective shall not be issued or accepted for use This paragraph covers much the same ground as paragraph 7 of Regulation 22 of the safety code for the building industry 19 Defective ladders shall be promptly repaired or destroyed If a defective ladder is present in a workplace it is likely to be used when some
39. other persons responsible for safety 4 Operation of libraries 5 Operation of information service 6 Organisation of special safety campaigns 7 Practical assistance to small firms 8 Compilation of safety codes and rules 9 Publication of technical literature 10 Publication of periodicals 11 Publication of leaflets posters and other propaganda material 12 Organisation of publicity through the press radio television etc 13 Compilation of accident statistics 14 Plant inspections 15 Testing of materials substances atmospheres etc 16 Technological physical and chemical research 17 The granting of awards to holders of safety records winners of safety competitions performers of meritorious services etc 18 Collaboration with state agencies such as the labour inspectorate 19 Collaboration with institutions working in the safety field or related fields such as standards health personnel management scientific research educational and welfare institutions LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 153 STANDARDISATION In assessing the contribution to safety made by private associations a special place should be given to standards associations Although these associations do not work exclusively in the interests of safety they contribute substantially to it Some results of standardisation have already been mentioned in connection with accident rates The formula
40. piping should never be used as an earth The earthing system is connected to a special socket contact receiving a pin which in turn is connected to a special earth wire in the cable Consequently the latter contains three wires two current carrying and one for earthing the drill casing The drill is provided with a switch which is self releasing If for greater safety a second visible earth conductor is used this should be connected to the earth pipe be fore the plug of the drill is connected Fig 32 Another system that prevents serious acci dents is the use of apparatus working on a cur rent of 42 volts alternating current AC a threshold voltage or less and of transformers that reduce the mains voltage to the requisite level The precautions described are not necessary when the casing of the tool is made of insulating material and when protruding metal parts shaft etc are insulated from the motor e g by a coupling made of insulating material Nor are special precautions necessary if the apparatus has double insulation i e it is so constructed that not only are the different parts normally insulated but the casing is also lined with insulating material and protruding parts are constructed as described above Where tools working at very low voltages are not available safety can be increased by using an isolating transformer rated at 220 110 or 110 110 volts see figure 33 The tool is operated not by current dir
41. planning stage such as the site facilities for handling and storing materials and equipment floors lighting heating ventila tion lifts boilers pressure vessels electrical installations machinery maintenance and repair facilities and fire precautions It is essential that safety considerations be borne in mind at the time of the actual planning and not as an afterthought when the factory has been built Consequently there should be a safety engineer on the planning team from start to finish The submission of plans for new and reconstructed factories to the labour inspectorate or other competent authority for comments or approval is also a useful precaution indeed in some countries it is compulsory Good plans make for economy as well as safety It is much cheaper to modify a plan than to alter a building Once a factory is in operation planning is still essential in a number of fields to ensure the highest possible standards of safety as well as efficiency Processes have to be organised plant has to be arranged for them methods of work have to be decided upon changes will occur from time to time in the kinds of processes carried on there may be minor structural alterations new equipment will have to be acquired All these things need planning Here again better results are obtained more cheaply by planning safety measures beforehand than by improvis ing them afterwards There are a number of principles the manager of a fac
42. refer the matter to the central authority With the assistance of its specialists in medicine chemistry electricity engineering etc the latter will be in a position to assist the labour inspectors and to provide them with any information they require Even inspectors with good technical knowledge are not in a position to deal with all the safety problems which arise in industry Separate inspection services have been organised in most countries for boilers and mines and in some countries also for elevators ports agriculture electricity and other matters The specialisation necessary to make accident prevention work effective in the face of the ever increasing complexities of technology threatens to overload labour inspectorates The desire to avoid this and at the same time take advantage of private facilities has sometimes led governments to make private associations e g associations of manu facturers of boilers acetylene installations and elevators responsible for safety inspection in their particular field In some countries the low levels of salaries offered to inspectors con stitute a serious impediment to efficient inspection since it is impossible to recruit qualified personnel in sufficient numbers Inspectors may be appointed who lack technical knowledge and do not themselves under stand the safety regulations they are supposed to enforce Such inspectors can scarcely be expected to be good advisers It is also undesirable
43. safety meeting if it has been written by the safety engineer and if the manager shows that he is not very familiar with its contents or seems to be in a hurry to finish because he has something else to do As is the case with safety posters films and other means of safety propaganda talks and lectures and conferences can only contribute in a modest way to safety but they do offer an opportunity for direct contact between speaker and audience which is a great advantage Studies have been made of the value of talks and lectures and the results have not been encouraging Hence increasing use is being made of discussion groups in which subjects are discussed either by all present or by a panel of persons who bring out the different aspects of the subject for the benefit of the audience Competitions Many people obtain great pleasure from sporting competitions the idea of safety competitions is obviously one which must have considerable appeal to organisers of safety programmes ks Competitions are usually organised between factories working under similar conditions or between different departments of the same factory Some mental reservations have to be made about them as with indi LESSON 9 PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING 109 viduals there is a possibility of differences in accident rates that are not related to the behaviour of the persons concerned Moreover different departments of an undertaking present different risks and for
44. subjects to which an enormous amount of research has been devoted but industry 14 ACCIDENT PREVENTION generally has benefited from research into chemicals constructional materials traction equipment respirators and many other things Examples of testing institutions are the Belgian Manufacturers Association the German State Material Testing Institute the Study and Research Centre of the French nationalised coal industry the Silicosis Research Institute at Bochum Federal Republic of Germany the Italian National Institute for Accident Prevention the Safety in Mines Research Establishment at Sheffield United Kingdom and the United States Bureau of Mines Questions 1 How did the Industrial Revolution give birth to the accident preven tion movement 2 Describe some of the earliest measures taken to prevent accidents 3 In which parts of the world did accident prevention activities develop first 4 State what you know of the development of accident prevention legislation and activity in your own country 1 More detailed information on research and testing institutions will be found in I L O Safety in Factories Geneva 1949 Safety in Coal Mines Studies and Reports New Series No 33 Vol I Geneva 1953 and International Directory of Institutions Engaged in Study Research and Other Activities in the Field of Occupational Safety and Health 2 vols Geneva 1958 mimeographed THIRD LESSON ACCIDENT I
45. tests on two links showed that they broke when the load was about 2 500 to 2 600 kg Links tested by hammering their narrow end until the long side became the short side did not show any defect A microscopic examination with magnifications of 200 and 1 000 showed ageing phenomena i e changes in the properties of the materia which had occurred with the passage of time These ageing phenomena resulted in decreased resistance to shock such as occurs in working conditions and this had caused the accident 18 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Where an accident is due to unforeseen chemical reactions laboratory tests are also necessary in order to ascertain what exactly happened Example A series of inexplicable fires and explosions occurred in a number of dextrin factories An investigation was made into the chemical properties of the substances present in these factories First a general study was made of the influence of small quantities of different substances added to the dextrin on the explosibility of dextrin dust clouds Next the circumstances which influenced the composition of dust clouds and the possibility of a dust explosion were studied These experiments showed that if the air contained some hundredths of a gram of dextrin dust per litre explosions could be expected different substances added to the air increased the danger It remained to determine the source of ignition Further experiments were made which showed that oxidation started
46. that inspectors be dependent on travelling facilities provided by employers or receive their fees from them such a situation makes it difficult for them to perform their duties with the necessary independence It is most important that inspectors should be technically competent and command the respect of the people with whom they have to deal An inspector with insufficient technical knowledge or not well acquainted 146 ACCIDENT PREVENTION with factory conditions who recommends impracticable or unsuitable safety measures is a nuisance to employers and workers alike and does little to prevent accidents This sort of situation is liable to arise in coun tries where industry is in an early stage of development In cases of imminent danger labour inspectors are sometimes autho rised to order that work should be stopped As this is a very radical measure the power to stop work should be used with the utmost caution For this reason in some countries stoppage of work can only be ordered by a court on the application of a labour inspector In other countries an order may be given by the labour inspector but has to be confirmed by a court within a prescribed period Example An imminent danger exists when a welding torch is used for repairing a gasoline tank truck without measures being taken to prevent an explosion of the mixture of gasoline vapour and air inside the tank Work should be interrupted immediately to eliminate the gasoline vapo
47. the status and activities of safety committees and safety engineers and related matters Among the more technical safety measures discussed in Lessons 4 5 and 6 were good planning by management the use of safe working methods by the workers good order and good housekeeping and the guarding of dangerous machines Management has to organise processes efficiently combining a maximum of production with a minimum of cost and treating safety not as an extra but as part of the process itself Correct working habits should be inculcated by adequate vocational training which must where necessary be followed up in the factory itself Good order and good housekeeping are essential for production as well as for safety and so are guards As regards the psychological aspects of safety it was observed that a working condition conducive to the worker s peace of mind would greatly help to promote safety In the undertaking management has to decide what should be done about all these problems and give the necessary orders The man usually respon sible for carrying these out is the foreman who consequently has a vital part to play in all safety matters 1See p 113 2See Lesson 8 LESSON 11 SAFETY IN THE UNDERTAKING 125 s In large undertakings guidance in safety matters may be given by a safety engineer and the co operation of all concerned organised and encouraged through a safety committee As a rule the personnel depart me
48. the wearer may be exposed and those types should be selected which will reduce the hazards to the minimum attainable in each case LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 57 2 Working clothes should fit well there should be no loose flaps or strings and pockets if any should be few and as small as practicable 3 Loose torn or ragged garments neckties and key chains or watch chains shall not be worn near moving parts of machines 4 When the operations involve a danger of explosion or fire it shall be prohibited during working hours to wear articles such as collars eyeshades cap visors and spectacle frames made of celluloid or other flammable materials 5 Shirts with short sleeves should be worn in preference to shirts with rolled up sleeves 6 Sharp or pointed objects explosive substances or flammable liquids shall not be carried in pockets 7 Persons exposed to flammable explosive or toxic dusts shall not wear clothing having pockets cuffs or turn ups that might collect such dusts Workers clothes and footwear are often completely unsuitable for work in factories Women in particular but sometimes also men work in old clothes and shoes which they consider to be no longer good enough for street wear In some countries local custom obliges women to wear long veils even when working near machines The wearing of clothes with loose attachments has caused many accidents Example An experienced worker started to
49. the workplace has a low ceiling the ladder should not be so long that it cannot be placed correctly see following para graph 22 Portable ladders should be used at a pitch such that the horizontal dis tance from the top support to the foot of the ladder is one quarter of the length of the ladder See observations on paragraph 16 above 23 Crowding on ladders shall not be allowed 92 ACCIDENT PREVENTION As portable ladders are made as light as possible to facilitate trans portation they are not suitable for use by more than one person at a time The practice of having one person go up a ladder holding one part of a heavy object followed by another person supporting the lower part of the object is to be condemned ladders are not made to stand such strains 24 Portable ladders shall not be placed in front of doors opening towards the ladder unless the door is blocked open locked or guarded If this is not done there is a danger that if somebody opens the door the ladder may be brought down with the worker on it 25 Portable ladders shall not be spliced together Splicing ladders may considerably increase the strain on the uprights of each and in this way may weaken them 26 Portable ladders shall not be used as a guy brace or skid or for any other purpose for which they are not intended It is dangerous to use ladders for purposes which may set up ab normal stresses in the uprights since concealed defects
50. this reason interdepartmental competitions are sometimes based not on the actual number of accidents taking place but on the increase or decrease in that number in a prescribed period The department showing the best results is usually awarded a prize for instance a cup which remains in that department unti the end of the next competition period when it goes to the new winner The success of a competition does not depend on who is the winner but on the improvement achieved in accident rates in the factory as a whole Safety competitions are frequent in some countries but practically unknown in others In countries where they are common they are considered to have made a useful contribution to safety but they will lose much of their value if competitors cheat by not reporting injuries Exhibitions Exhibitions are a means of acquainting workers in a very realistic way with hazards and means of eliminating them One frequently encountered type of safety exhibition is the permanent ones found in safety museums Their drawbacks are that it is impossible to keep them up to date for financial reasons that only a smal number of those persons who have anything to do with industrial safety and above all very few workers visit them and the difficulty of proving that working systems demonstrated in a museum will prove effective under normal working conditions in factories and workshops One method of publicising an exhibition is to invite em
51. to lie on floors passageways stair ways or in other places where persons have to work or pass or on eleva tions from which they may fall on persons below LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 73 This provision is necessary to prevent accidents caused by tripping over objects or by falling objects However full compliance can only be expected if suitable containers are available to hold tools not in use during the performance of work Workers should be provided with suitable tool boxes small trolleys or other convenient means of storing tools A simple precaution to prevent tools falling from step ladders is the placing of a slot in the highest tread in which tools can be placed temporarily 10 Suitable and conveniently located cabinets holders or shelves shall be provided at benches or machines for hand tools Persons working at benches or machines should also be provided with proper facilities for storing tools It is important that there should be sufficient space for every tool and that the tools can be stored in such a way that every one can be found easily and that checking does not cause any difficulty The general rule for good housekeeping for overything a place and everything in its place should be strictly applied 11 Hand tools should be a issued through a tool room in which they are stored safely on iacks or shelyes in cabinets or tool boxes b inspected periodically by competent persons and
52. too heavy to carry over considerable distances may be frequently needed for their work Unnecessary transport operations should be avoided As main tenance and repair work may be urgently needed to prevent serious damage to factory equipment or disruption of production or to avert accidents the tools necessary for this work should be immediately available at all times i 13 All repair men should be provided with strong electric flashlights which shall preferably be of the flame proof type On account of fire risks repair men should not use matches or candles to see by in dark places Flame proof flashlights are necessary if highly inflammable substances are present e g in textile factories and flour mills PORTABLE ELECTRICAL APPARATUS Many accidents occur because the casings of portable electrical apparatus such as power drills are carrying mains voltage as a result of some defect inside the apparatus Accidents have also been caused by defects in the socket the plug or the flexible cable When a person touches an electrically charged object there may be a serious even a fatal accident if the voltage is above a certain level or threshold As the mains voltage of electrical installations is higher than this threshold special precautions must always be taken when using portable electrical apparatus One essential measure to prevent accidents of this kind is the earthing of casings This can be done by having an extra wire in
53. turn to a mining research laboratory a laboratory of a technical university or a specialised private laboratory Machine guarding is a field that has benefited greatly from the work of testing laboratories Testing has prevented the introduction of un suitable guards and has yielded valuable information on the structural details of these and other appliances Good results have also been achieved through the testing of grinding wheels chains wire ropes structural parts of scaffolds ladders safety shoes etc Some private laboratories for testing materials and examining con structions and apparatus make important contributions to industrial safety particularly when the latter is a regular feature of their activities As an example mention may be made of the tests and examinations made in the laboratories of the Association of Belgian Manufacturers Association des Industriels de Belgique Here investigations are made on boilers hoisting appliances centrifugal driers welding installations electrical installations chains wire ropes safety belts ladders etc They have the necessary equipment for testing materials in different ways and for chemical and metallographic analysis 1See pp 13 14 2 See The Safe Operation of Overhead Recessing Machines for Woodworking in Occupational Safety and Health Vol IV No 2 Apr June 1954 pp 63 68 LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 149 PRACTICAL WORK BY STATE SER
54. until they become second nature One cause of accidents involving young workers is lack of a sense of responsibility for themselves and others Very serious even fatal accidents have occurred to young persons during breaks Hoisting appliances transport equipment and other potentially dangerous instal lations are an extremely attractive source of amusement for young people during rest hours The following are examples of the kind of accidents this attitude can cause Example During the dinner hour at a printing works two boys began to play with a sack hoist the lifting chain of which was fitted with double hooks supporting a hessian hammock One boy operated the control rope while 1 United Kingdom Ministry of Labour and National Service Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for the Year 1952 London H M Stationery Office 1953 LESSON 10 SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF WORKERS 121 the other sat in the hammock and rode up and down During one of these rides the motion of the hoist was reversed abruptly and the boy in the hammock was ejected violently Example Two boys employed on night shift in a steel rolling mill decided to amuse themselves by playing with two narrow gauge battery operated locomotives While they were putting them back in the shed one boy fell in front of the locomotive he was driving and was killed It would be wrong for management to deny responsibility for these accidents on the ground that horseplay sh
55. use is left with the employee At first sight it might seem that safety would be much better served if the passage read _ 1 For further details see M A GIMBEL Job Safety Analysis in Industrial Safety op cit Ch 10 27 L 0 Introduction to Work Study Geneva 1957 p 69 134 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Metal toe guards or safety boots or shoes shall be worn in operations such as piling pig iron and logs or where heavy materials are being handled However if the management is of the opinion that for the time being it is impossible to enforce this regulation it is much better only to recom mend the use of safety shoes with the intention of replacing this passage by a more mandatory provision as soon as circumstances permit enforce ment of a rule Such a question might be put on the agenda of a safety day or of a safety committee meeting and an endeavour might be made to secure the voluntary co operation of the workers It is of particular importance that instructions which are systemati cally ignored should not be used by management as a means of escaping responsibility for accidents resulting from failure to obey them From the accident prevention viewpoint it may even be necessary to prohibit the use of an appliance if failure to obey safety instructions may result in imminent danger Example In a number of countries there is a rule that the design of acetylene generators should be such that the decomposition of carb
56. was trapped in that position the descending knives would cut off the fingers A better arrangement would be that when the descending screen met some object the knives would be blocked m The guard should protect against unforeseen operational con tingencies not merely against normally expected hazards Often a machine is considered to be adequately guarded when under normal working LESSON 5 MACHINE GUARDING 49 conditions no special risk exists Experience has taught that this is insufficient to prevent accidents The example of the two hand system for metal presses previously mentioned in another connection should also be considered here The system consists of two handles or two push buttons arranged in such a way that in order to start the press the worker has to push both down and thus has to remove both hands from the danger zone of the press before the ram descends However apart from interfering with produc tive efficiency as mentioned earlier this system gives no protection to any other person besides the operator e g to a foreman who has been called to verify the working of the press Not all these requirements for guards can always be satisfied but as far as circumstances permit they should be It will be clear that designing a guard calls for more research and experience than the average employer can be expected to provide It is not surprising therefore that in some countries the State has taken a hand in the de
57. which is empowered to prescribe in a special case what the employer has to do to comply with a parti cular regulation In other countries there is an authority responsible for approving guards In yet others the decision whether a safety precaution is in accordance with the law is a matter for the courts which usually decide after hearing the evidence of safety experts In any case some authority is needed that is in a position to give a valid interpretation of safety regulations In industrially advanced countries safety regulations have been gradually built up over a long period In these countries much ex perience has been acquired with regard to the practical value of safety regulations as well as with regard to the manner of enforcing them In LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 143 some industrially less developed countries where the necessity for safety legislation dates from only a few years back the situation is very different the regulations there are sometimes based on those of the I L O Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments which in turn are based on the experience of the industrialised countries The difference between the two groups of countries is however that in the industrially less developed ones there are often very few persons if any who have experience of safety regulations or are familiar with their history and this circumstance has proved to be an almost insurmountable o
58. work they do it almost automatically and without thinking Accidents sometimes happen to them when for one reason or another something goes wrong with their machines or their work pieces while they continue the usual movements automatically This has happened many times to workers on metal presses If the press has a defect in the clutch mechanism the ram may descend a little later than usual the worker already has his hand under the die to remove the work piece and is hurt by the descending ram In most cases such accidents can be prevented by the installation of a suitable guard Other persons are irritated by monotonous work they 98 ACCIDENT PREVENTION try to find variations in the ever recurring cycle of movements and in this way cause accidents In such cases accidents occur because they are too intellectual for this type of work and not because they are playing with the machine as the findings of the accident investigation sometimes State EXPERIENCE AND INEXPERIENCE On the subject of the influence of the length of service and the experi ence of the worker on accident rates it is equally difficult to draw clear conclusions for the different factors influencing accidents influence one another and cannot be isolated For instance the majority of inexperi enced workers are adolescent and the majority of experienced workers are adult it may be difficult to distinguish between the influence of age and that of experience The
59. 4 ACCIDENT PREVENTION statistics indicating how accidents are distributed among workers with different lengths of service or statistics giving information on accidents in which skilled and unskilled workers working under similar circum stances are involved Statistics showing the relation between the number of accidents and the age of the workers illustrate another interesting aspect of the influence of the human factor Figure 2 gives an example 15 20 24 30 34 40 44 50 54 60 64 70 Fig 2 Percentage distribution of accidents by age A Temporary disablement cases B Fatal and permanent disablement cases Statistics of this kind give interesting information on a number of different factors However it is difficult to interpret this information accurately since it is not immediately apparent whether for instance the differences shown can be attributed solely to the factors mentioned age time of the day or day of the week or whether other factors are also involved The difficulty would be partially overcome if the statistics covered sufficiently large numbers of persons but there would still remain room for doubt on how to interpret them A certain number of reason ably definite conclusions can however be drawn from the statistics shown Figure 2 for instance clearly shows the necessity for giving special attention to the protection of young persons Figure shows that accidents reach a peak towards the end o
60. 9 2 but also as a guarantee that maintenance and repair work will be done correctly thus eliminating the risks due to defective repair work 10 Such tools shall be kept in safe condition and should be inspected at regular interyals by a competent person appointed by the management The observations on Regulation 119 11 apply here also 11 1 Maintenance and repair personnel shall be provided with special tool bags or portable tool boxes of a size sufficient to hold all the hand tools needed for their work and so constructed that they can easily and safely be hoisted on to platforms and other elevated workplaces 2 Where necessary special hand trucks shall be provided for the transport of heavy tools needed in repair and maintenance work As maintenance and repair personnel may have to go anywhere in the factory they should be provided with tool boxes or tool trolleys in which the tools can be placed and fixed in such a way that they are not disturbed even if the box or trolley is tilted This can be done by using boards or rubber sheets with openings closed by a cover into which the different tools fit LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 75 ee re Boxes and trolleys should be so constructed that they can be trans ported without difficulty 12 In large establishments special fixed tool cabinets or tool boxes for maintenance and repair men should be provided in each department particularly where special tools or tools
61. Heat FIRE Fig 6 How fires start The presence of all the three elements represented by the sectors of the circle is necessary to produce a fire One very common fire precaution is the no smoking rule In practice however it is not always observed for some persons find it extremely difficult not to smoke during the four or five consecutive hours of a shift In factories where no special fire risks exist such as metal working establishments the solution sometimes adopted is to prohibit smoking only during the last working hour with a view to ensuring that no unextinguished cigarette ends are left lying around unobserved after working hours when they could start a fire In factories where the fire risk is particularly great such as textile plants a special room is some times provided where workers are allowed to go during working hours for an occasional smoke Smoking should wherever possible be per mitted in canteens so that workers will feel less strongly the need to smoke while at work Flammable liquids can be safely stored in underground tanks In factories however these liquids are not often used in such large quan LESSON 4 FIRE PROTECTION 37 tities as to make this arrangement practicable Very small quantities should never be stored in glass bottles which have often caused fatal accidents but always in metal containers Example A typical example of the accidents which the use of glass bottles can ca
62. ICITY AUTHORITY Accident Prevention in the Use of Troughed Conveyor Belts Safety Booklet No 2 London 1957 LINCOLN EXTENSION INSTITUTE Industrial Materials Handling Cleveland Ohio 1950 New Sourn WALES DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR AND INDUSTRY AND SOCIAL WELFARE A Guide for Riggers Sydney 1954 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Bureau of Labor Statistics Znjuries and Accident Causes in Warehousing Operations 1950 Bulletin 1174 Washington U S Government Printing Office 1955 Spray Painting COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Spray Painting with Safety Industrial Data Sheets S2 Sydney 1955 Welding AMERICAN WELDING SocieTY Safety in Electric and Gas Welding and Cutting Operations ASA ZA9 1 1950 New York 1950 INSTITUTE OF WELDING Health and Safety in Welding London 1956 UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Factory Department Memorandum on Safety Measures Required in the Use of Acetylene Gas and in Oxy acetylene Processes in Factories London H M Stationery Office 1944 Memorandum on Electric Arc Welding Form 329 London H M Sta tionery Office 1956 Industrial Equipment Boilers Pressure Vessels BRITISH OXYGEN COMPANY LTD Safety in the Use of Compressed Gas Cylin ders London 1955 178 ACCIDENT PREVENTION SOUTH AFRICAN BUREAU OF STANDARDS Code of Practice relating to the Filling Handling Storage and Transportation of Com
63. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE ACCIDENT PREVENTION A Workers Education Manual GENEVA 1961 wun 642 First printed April 1961 Second impression August 1962 Third impression September 1963 Fourth impression November 1964 PRINTED BY LA TRIBUNE DE GENEVE GENEVA SWITZERLAND PREFACE In 1956 the I L O inaugurated a programme of workers education with the object of giving the worker a better understanding of the com plexities of present day social and industrial life and helping him to shoulder his responsibilities and safeguard his interests in the world of industry The programme includes the organisation of courses and seminars assistance to institutions responsible for workers education and the publication of the present series of manuals This manual deals with safety in industry a subject of particularly direct interest to workers for it concerns the preservation of life and limb It does not purport to deal comprehensively with the subject of occupational safety the vastness and complexity of which are attested by the number of voluminous works written on each of its various aspects such as safety in coal mining in factories in building and civil engineering in agriculture in forestry in dock work in the use of electricity in the use of and maintenance of elevators or boilers and other specialised subjects Nor does it pretend to cover every occupational field it is in fact addresse
64. In accident investigations it should always be borne in mind that prevention of accidents is much more important than the mere apportioning of blame ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION OF ACCIDENTS The very many types of accidents which occur make it difficult to develop a method of classification and recording that gives information essential for prevention without being too complicated The I L O Classification of Accident Causes In 1923 the First International Conference of Labour Statisticians convened by the I L O recommended that accidents should be classified LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 19 by cause as far as possible in accordance with the following list but with such subdivisions as might be considered necessary i machinery a prime movers b transmission machinery c lifting machinery d working machinery ii transport a railways b ships c vehicles iii explosions fire iv poisonous hot or corrosive substances v electricity vi falls of persons vii stepping on or striking against objects viii falling objects ix falls of ground x handling without machinery xi hand tools xii animals xiii miscellaneous In this plan as in most others each accident is treated as having a single cause In determining causes the criterion usually adopted is that of prevention i e the accident is ascribed to that cause which can be eliminated most easily
65. International Labour Organisation One reason for its foundation given in the Preamble to Part XIII was that it was urgently necessary to improve conditions of labour and in particular the protection of the worker against sickness disease and injury arising out of his employ ment A further argument put forward was that the failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions of labour is an obstacle in the way 158 ACCIDENT PREVENTION of other nations which desire to improve conditions in their own coun tries The Treaty also considered it to be of special and urgent importance that each State should make provision for a system of inspection in order to ensure the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the protection of the employed When the I L O was founded in 1919 it had 42 States Members By 1 March 1961 the number had risen to 97 In 1919 the industrialised countries already had safety laws and regulations with labour inspectorates to watch over their enforcement In factories employers were obliged by these laws and regulations to take certain precautions against accidents in practice however safety standards left much to be desired There may have been several reasons for this state of affairs safety regulations were then not nearly so highly developed as they are now nor labour inspectorates so well organised many safety devices were impracticable because the technology of the processes in which th
66. NVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS Statistics of accidents have proved to be essential for planning accident prevention activities and for assessing their effectiveness It is from statistics that we learn how many accidents occur what kinds of accidents they are how serious they are what classes of workers incur them what machines and other equipment are involved in them what sort of behaviour is associated with them and at what times and places they occur most frequently Statistics provide a bird s eye view as it were of the situation and without them it would be practically impossible to estimate needs or judge results In order that accurate statistics may be compiled it is of course necessary that all accidents be reported to the person authority or institution responsible for compiling the statistics Such reports must provide the kind of information needed for the particular statistical studies in view and in a form that lends itself to statistical treatment The simplest information refers only to the total number of accidents If frequency rates are to be compiled the number of accidents must be studied in relation to the number of hours of exposure to the risk For the compilation of severity rates the amount of time lost will be required in addition For statistics showing the distribution of accidents by cause type of accident nature of injury equipment involved or age and sex of the victim still more information is required
67. PRINCIPLES 81 heating apparatus against frost vibrators water jets compressed air jets mechanical breakers etc In addition for working on gratings or platforms suitable rods poles or other appliances should be readily available The lifebelt should preferably take the form of a harness of the kind shown in figure 34 Harnesses and lifebelts should be examined regularly to make sure that they are in good condition The requirement that the lifeline has to be as short as practicable is essential As already indicated above it is practically impossible to pull up a man engulfed in the mass and consequently every precaution should be taken to see that the worker does not even get his legs buried in it ARS TAO jasy anti EPER oe art nes abe H pete fee st ees stg PU Orel eet Sisa BET Fig 34 Fig 35 Figure 35 shows a method of seeing that there is no slack in the lifeline when the man has to work in the middle of the silo note that two attendants are required In other cases the lifeline should be kept as nearly vertical as possible As the man changes his position the line should be let out or taken in The worker stationed outside should continuously watch his mate inside and always be in such a position that he can pull him up He should secure the lifeline by passing it two or three times round a substantial fixture taking care that for the whole time the man fastened to the line remains in t
68. Prussia the first steps taken to establish a factory inspection system took the form of regulations issued on 9 March 1839 concerning the employment of young workers in factories A circular of the Prussian Minister of the Interior Finance and Education dated 28 May 1845 recommended the appointment of medical inspectors of factories State factory inspectors empowered to deal with matters affecting the safety as well as the health of young persons were appointed for the industrial centres of Diisseldorf Aachen and Arnsberg in 1853 General protection of workers against industrial accidents and diseases was provided for under the industrial code Gewerbeordnung of the North German Federation issued in May 1869 A system of inspection covering industrial health and safety generally was introduced in 1872 in Prussia and at about the same time in the industrial states of Saxony and Baden An Imperial Act of 15 July 1878 made factory inspection compulsory in all the German states The industrial accident insurance legislation under which the system of mutual accident insurance associations was developed dates from 1884 In Belgium industrial safety and health legislation had a rather different origin it derived from the legislation of the Napoleonic era partly from inspection legislation and partly from legislation protecting the public against industrial dangers and nuisances An Act concerning mines smelting works and similar undertakings promul
69. RITIES AND PRIVATE ASSOCIATIONS The Prevention of Industrial Accidents Recommendation No 31 adopted by the International Labour Conference in 1929 contains a comprehensive statement of the principles that should govern the safety activities of governments public authorities industrial associations insurance institutions other bodies and employers and workers The functions assigned to governments and other public authorities are substantially as follows a the collection and utilisation of information on the causes and circumstances of accidents b the study by means of statistics of accidents in each industry as a whole of the special dangers that exist in the several industries the laws determining the incidence of accidents and the effects of measures taken to avoid them c the carrying out of methodical investigations where appropriate with the assistance of institutions or committees set up by individual branches of industry d investigation of physical physiological and psychological fac tors in accidents e encouraging scientific research into the best methods of voca tional guidance and selection and their practical application f establishing central departments to collect and collate statistics relating to industrial accidents z developing and encouraging co operation between all parties interested in the prevention of industrial accidents and particularly between employers and workers h
70. Safety Activities in the Undertaking 124 The Role of Management 0 2 2 462 02 a 125 The Role of the Foreman 2 0080 0 126 The Role of the Safety Engineer 2 044 127 Safety Committees 2 s s a OH we EH we ew 129 Job Safety Analysis 6 4 6 6644 4b ewe ee SE 132 Safety Instructions 4 4 6 a4 42 amp amp amp Se aH Fe A Oe a 133 Discipline acca oe amp be wee ea et ae Soe ee BE eS ER ee SS 134 Introduction of New Workers 2 dade alee 1995 TWELFTH LESSON Industrial Safety Activities of Governments Public Authori ties and Private Associations 6 6 6 oe ee ee ee ee ee 138 Safety Laws and Regulations 288884 140 Enforcement of Laws and Regulations 2 2 2 2 2 80 8 143 Educational and Advisory Work by State Services 146 Research and Testing ooe ei She te ow SE ee BE a a a 147 Practical Work by State Services 2 2 1 we ee ee 149 Co operation between Inspectorates and Employers and Workers 149 Vill ACCIDENT PREVENTION State Owned Industries and Government Contracts Safety Museums and Exhibitions 2 2 068 4 Safety Associations s s s o s a seo osu s ee Standardisation 2 6 a oaa ee hs BS A ee See we a THIRTEENTH LESSON International Safety Activities 1 ee ee BeCGiINNINGS e a a hr Be Gi ee Se ee A ee BE eS ah og The International Labour Organisation 4
71. VICES A very interesting practical contribution to safety has been made by the Swiss National Accident Insurance Institute S U V A in the field of accident prevention in the woodworking industry After designing guards first for circular saws and moulding machines and later for planers and overhead recessing machines the Institute not only made them available to industry by organising their manufacture and distribution but also placed at the disposal of the undertakings concerned highly qualified instructors to demonstrate how the guards should be used under the most varied conditions In this way the workers learned not only how to per form dangerous operations safely but also how to improve the quality and quantity of production This gesture has proved to be extremely useful in limiting the number and in particular the severity of wood working machine accidents The example has so far only been followed by the Netherlands and has not found favour in other countries Another service to industry provided only in the Netherlands and Switzerland consists of assistance in the mounting of certain guards In both countries guards for power presses have been developed which require very accurate mounting to be efficient To ensure that they are not rendered ineffectual by faulty mounting officials of the insurance institute or labour inspection service attend to give advice when they are fitted CO OPERATION BETWEEN INSPECTORATES AND EMPLOYERS
72. accident proneness 6 Is there a relation between health and accident proneness NINTH LESSON PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING The last lesson dealt with some aspects of accident prevention that relate more particularly to the workers physical and mental character istics and explained the special measures which might need to be taken to deal with workers with unhelpful attitudes or unsuitable physical conditions This lesson is concerned with some measures which are aimed directly at the worker himself and are applicable to all workers irrespective of their physical or mental make up namely measures of an educational character There are three main types of educational measures propaganda education and training We shall begin with propaganda which is the most superficial of the three then discuss safety education which is more systematic and thorough and conclude with training which is the most highly specialised and practical type of measure and should ensure that a man is really well able to do his job safely Propaganda is a matter of using stickers and posters organising film shows talks competitions with rewards safety weeks and so on These will be described in turn Safety education may begin in the elementary school and be con tinued in higher schools trade schools and technical colleges It can also be given in special courses and classes and in other ways Practical training can also be given through various c
73. ain purpose of the introduction is to make a personal contact with the newcomer and to show a personal interest in him If the man in charge of the introduction considers the procedure as only a boring routine it will do more harm than good The worker should be made to feel that if he encounters an unexpected difficulty in the course of his work there is somebody to whom he may go for information and advice this will help him to feel at home in the factory and also to feel something like job satisfaction which is necessary for the peace of mind that reduces the risk of accidents Some firms arrange for another meeting with the newcomer about two or three months after his arrival to have a talk about his experiences his needs and his desires On this occasion difficulties which have arisen can be considered and unsatisfactory conditions corrected In such ways labour turnover which is also important from the safety point of view may be reduced Questions 1 To what extent does safety in a factory depend on the management 2 Why is the foreman often called the key man in safety LESSON 11 SAFETY IN THE UNDERTAKING 137 3 What are the duties of a safety engineer 4 What reasons are there for believing that safety committees are useful 5 Why are some safety committees failures 6 How should new workers be introduced into the factory TWELFTH LESSON INDUSTRIAL SAFETY ACTIVITIES OF GOVERNMENTS PUBLIC AUTHO
74. ake available a large number of different types of goggles leaving every worker to make his own choice correct use of the goggles is ensured by regular inspections In such cases a worker is not obliged to wear goggles of types which the management considers suitable but he does not Some workers may not find suitable goggles because they have eye defects It is therefore desirable that the management should arrange for the workers eyes to be tested and for the provision of advice on the most suitable type of safety goggles having regard to the hazards inherent in the job the eye distance etc If necessary advice can be given on the fitting of prescription goggles at the same time There are various kinds of eye accident and different types of goggles have been found necessary according to the work done For instance goggles for workers engaged in chipping riveting caulking scaling dry grinding or similar operations in which flying fragments could pierce the eye have to have mechanically strong lenses while goggles for welders furnacemen and other workers exposed to glare have to have suitable filter lenses 1 Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments R 228 60 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Safety Shoes Safety shoes should protect workers against accidents caused by heavy objects dropping on the feet protruding nails trodden on molten metal acids etc Ordinary leather shoes in good condition give some protect
75. al machinery Later came electricity the use of which gave rise to yet other types of accidents The pattern of risk has also 6 ACCIDENT PREVENTION been changed by the replacement of coal by gas and oil the internal combustion engine too has its dangers The continual spread of mecha nisation and the ever increasing variety of industrial chemicals in use have added yet more problems of protection The most recent hazards to arrive on the scene are those deriving from ionising radiations and atomic power However technological changes do not always result in a net increase in the degree of risk The individual drive for machines is undoubtedly safer than the old line shafting the modern electric motor for cranes is safer than the old steam engine mechanical handling equipment prevents injuries due to over exertion and pneumatic conveyors prevent harmful dusts from entering the atmosphere In recent years it has come to be realised that technological advance cannot be held solely responsible for accidents Accidents occur on the most carefully guarded machine the non slip floor the completely enclosed switchgear and with all sorts of equipment apparently provided with every conceivable safety device Guards and covers may be removed shoes may be unsuitable safety devices may be put out of action people may try out equipment that they are not supposed to touch At any time a worker may feel unwell be absent minded forget something
76. all flame will remain burning near the outside of the cylinder If this goes on for some time dissocia tion of acetylene in the cylinder starts For this reason there should be a special support near the acetylene and oxygen cylinders of a welding set to hold the pipes when the apparatus is not in use Another cause of overheating in a cylinder may be a flame near the connection between the pressure reducing valve and the cylinder valve due to leaking acetylene which has been ignited by a spark or by static electricity This is possible when the two parts have been imperfectly _connected or when the washer used for this connection is damaged welders should always be in possession of a good supply of new washers Leakages of acetylene sometimes also occur near the stem of the cylinder valve this however can be prevented by the use of valves of the mem brane type If a flashback occurs in the acetylene hose the flame may reach the inside of the cylinder passing through the reducing valve Flashbacks may be caused by incorrect handling of the torch or by a defect in the torch such as a metal particle blocking the nozzle or a badly connected torch tip To prevent flashbacks a flame arrester should be placed be tween the hose and the valve but it is equally important that the equip ment be used properly and kept in good condition Another cause of acetylene dissociation is the presence of copper in the cylinder or its accessories this elemen
77. and Other Lifting Gear Safety Pamphlet No 3 seventh edition revised 1949 London H M Stationery Office 1950 Furnaces Ovens Stoves etc UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Factory Department Memorandum on Safety in Design and Use of Gas Heated Ovens and Furnaces Form 1856 London 1955 Hand Tools UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF WorKS Power Hand Tools Advisory Leaflets Nos 18 19 20 London 1951 Ladders AMERICAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION Safety Code for Portable Wood Ladders ASA A14 1 1952 New York 1952 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 179 NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL Ladders Safe Practices Pamphlet No 1 revised Chicago 1957 STANDARDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA S A A Code for Platforms Gang ways Stairs and Ladders CA 10 1938 Sydney 1938 Machinery AMERICAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION Safety Code for Mechanical Power Transmission Apparatus ASA B15 1 1953 New York 1953 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Zhe Safe Installation and Use of Abrasive Wheels Studies and Reports Series F second section No 9 Montreal 1944 UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Factory Department Safety Hints on the Use of Woodworking Machinery London H M Stationery Office 1956 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Bureau of Labor Statistics Wood working Circular Saw Accidents Bulletin 1190 Washington U S Govern ment Printing Office 1956 Fire and Explosion Risks Harmful Subs
78. and directly The possible causes of accidents however are manifold and some of them such as psychological factors cannot yet be analysed statistically Moreover most accidents are due to a combination of factors material physiological psychological organisational educational and other Consequently if the greatest possible benefit is to be derived from accident statistics they must be comprehensive Some countries do in fact publish a great variety of data bearing on accident causation The American Recommended Practice for Compiling Industrial Accident Causes Probably the boldest attempt at evolving a statistical scheme providing information adequate for accident prevention purposes is represented by the American Recommended Practice for Compiling Industrial Accident Causes developed by the American Standards Association This provides for the classification of accident causes according to 1 American Standards Association American Recommended Practice for Com piling Industrial Accident Causes Publication Z16 2 1941 Parts I and II New York 1941 20 ACCIDENT PREVENTION 1 the agency and agency part concerned e g machines elevators boilers 2 the unsafe mechanical or physical condition encountered e g improperly guarded agencies hazardous arrangement around the agency improper illumination improper ventilation unsafe dress 3 the type of accident e g striking against struck by caught in fal
79. and speed by job instructors foremen and voca tional training instructors when they teach a job Safety training should reach as far as the factory gate Many acci dents occur outside the workplace bicycle wheels and feet become trapped in rails workers going to or from their work are knocked down by trucks etc The induction training given by many undertakings to all new employees covers matters such as the organisation of transport within the factory area the traffic rules applied and the precautions which the employees must take when going to their workplaces or when leaving for home The first part of the induction scheme is often instruction in general safety rules Newcomers are taught by safety instructors charge hands or foremen about things such as the transport lanes inside the factory the general housekeeping rules the regulations regarding the use of 1 The information in this section is taken from New York University Center for Safety Education Training for Industrial Accident Prevention published in co operation with the American Museum of Safety New York 1952 2 See Lesson 11 114 ACCIDENT PREVENTION transport equipment safe working with electrical equipment and the precautions to be taken when heavy loads are being transported through the shop In particular youngsters or other persons who have no previous experience of factory work may be told how they can help to keep the factory safe picking up loos
80. arranging for periodical conferences between the state inspection service or other competent bodies and representative organisations of employers and workers in every industry or branch of industry to review the accident situation and discuss proposals for improving it i encouraging the adoption of safety measures such as the estab lishment of works safety organisations co operation between manage LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 139 ment and workers in individual works co operation between employers and workers organisations in an industry co operation between these organisations and the State and with other appropriate bodies j awakening and maintaining the interest of the workers in the prevention of accidents and ensuring their co operation by means of lectures publications films visits to industrial establishments and other appropriate means k establishing or promoting the establishment of permanent safety exhibitions 1 ensuring by indirect means that employers do all in their power to improve the education of their workers in regard to the prevention of accidents and that workers organisations should co operate in this work m arranging for handbooks on accident causation and prevention in particular industries or branches of industry or particular processes to be prepared by the state inspection service or other competent autho rities n arranging for the inclusion in the cur
81. ases an alternative to sharing a safety engineer might be for each undertaking to combine the duties of a safety engineer with other duties e g those of chief of the maintenance and repair department In very small undertakings all safety activities could be entrusted to a foreman SAFETY COMMITTEES 1 Safety committees are established to promote safety by co operation between employer and workers in some countries the law makes their establishment compulsory while in others they are voluntary in character The management should use the safety committee to explain the safety policy of the undertaking for through the committee members it can reach all workers conversely the latter should turn to the committee to put their viwes and suggestions on safety matters to the management The safety committee should help to give workers confidence in the safety policy of the management and help to make the management appreciate the safety experience of the workers In brief the safety committee should contribute to mutual understanding and good team work between manage ment and labour to improve safety 1See Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments op cit Regulation 244 paragraphs 17 25 130 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Safety committees should preferably consist of representatives of both the employer and the workers The employer s representatives should always include the staff members who have direct responsibility for sa
82. atory comments Regulation 119 1 Hand tools for factory use shall be of material of good quality and appropriate for the work for which they will be used Many accidents caused by breakages of tools or parts of tools such as handles occur because the material is of poor quality Tools in general 70 ACCIDENT PREVENTION should be made of best quality steel and handles for hammers axes and similar tools of good quality hickory ash or maple In many coun tries recommendations on the quality of materials for tools are laid down in national standards As in practice it is often difficult to verify the quality of materials tools should be purchased from specialised firms of high repute Tools unsuitable for the work to be done such as hammers of incor rect shape or weight and wrenches which are too long or too short should not be used National standards in different countries deal with these points too In the factory itself it is the responsibility of the tool buyer to see that the right tools are available and the responsibility of the worker to use them in the right way 2 Hand tools shall be used only for the specific purposes for which they were designed The use of hand tools for purposes other than those for which they were designed for instance using a knife as a screwdriver or a spanner as a hammer is dangerous because the tool may break splinter or slip and so cause an accident Tools are often misused because the ri
83. ble because the operator could not see what happened under the needle It eventually had to be replaced by another which besides giving adequate protection permitted the needle to be threaded and the work to be controlled easily g The guard should preferably constitute a built in feature From a constructional point of view much better results are usually obtained 1 See E HELLEN The Application of Electronics in the Field of Industrial Safety in Industrial Safety Survey Geneva I L 0O Vol XXVI No 4 July Aug 1950 pp 121 127 LESSON 5 MACHINE GUARDING 47 when a guard is part of the machine design than when one has to be added to the machine later Example The small hand or electrically operated meat mincer used in factories and also in households has a dangerous nipping point between the endless screw on the machine shaft and the casing near the feed opening Guards to eliminate this hazard were often a nuisance to the worker either during normal work or when cleaning the machine A safe construction fundamentally consisting of a sufficiently long and not too wide feed opening which makes it impossible to reach the dangerous nipping point with the fingers while at the same time permitting normal work and cleaning without difficulty has now been designed h Zhe guard should allow for machine oiling inspection adjustment and repair Where these requirements are not observed it is necessary to remove the gua
84. body wants a ladder just for a moment For this reason defective ladders should be repaired immediately or removed 20 Portable ladders should be equipped with non slip bases when such bases will decrease the hazard of slipping 1 See previous page LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 9 re When using wooden ladders on a concrete floor there will usually be no risk of slipping On the other hand on glazed tiles parquet floors and floors covered with linoleum there is such a danger and special precau tions have to be taken On these floors non slip rubber or lead bases should be used Special attention should be given to the influence of wear on non slip bases Many types are quite satisfactory when they are new but become quite unsuitable after being in use for some time Regular inspection is therefore necessary Most non slip bases are useless when the floor is wet or covered with oil Examples of non slip bases are given in figure 41 v pE DE 3974145454454 PEP hPa Pare PE 44 agt gtatatay tata Pt bt PLE Fig 41 21 The person in charge of repair work for which portable ladders or platforms are required shall see that the ladders and platforms are of the proper type for the work in question Fig 42 Correct pitch of a ladder An adequate supply of portable ladders in itself is not sufficient What is also necessary is to see that the right ladder is chosen for a particular job for instance when
85. bstacle to the enforcement of the regulations A solution to this problem has been sought by sending a number of persons with a suitable technical background from these countries to study safety questions in others with more experience or by sending experi enced advisers to the industrially less developed countries to adapt the regulations to local conditions and to make available experience acquired elsewhere To a certain extent too the lack of knowledge and experience can be remedied by means of manuals Besides safety laws laws dealing with accident insurance also con tribute to safety In many countries employers have been made liable by law to pay compensation in cases of accidents in some the law obliges employers to reimburse insurance costs if an accident is due to insufficient protection while in others the insurance institute increases or decreases premiums according to the safety precautions taken in an undertaking In all these cases the employer has a direct financial interest in ensuring safe working conditions and to this extent the law promotes safety Accident insurance legislation has much more influence on safety when it authorises insurance institutions to issue safety regulations and to supervise their enforcement In this way the administration of accident compensation and prevention are combined in one institution This is useful since the accident prevention department of the insurance institution is immediately info
86. ccidents are attributable to the worker s physical condition Many persons have eye defects without knowing it others suffer from a certain degree of deafness still others suffer from illnesses e g epilepsy which expose them and other persons to abnormal risks Such cases should be given special attention by factory physicians and if it is impossible to eliminate the handicaps suitable work should be selected for those suffering from them if circumstances permit The problem is not how to exclude such persons from work but how to employ them usefully notwithstanding their physical defects or infirmities If a physician is not available the management should try to find a solution and in any case should remember that accidents may be caused by physical defects Closely related to the accidents caused by defects or infirmities are those due to intoxications Examples of such accidents are cases of errors of judgment caused by carbon monoxide inhalation as may occur with crane drivers in foundries and accidents caused by persons intoxicated by alcohol trichlorethylene etc Questions 1 Give some reasons why workers may do dangerous things 2 Discuss whether workers who are satisfied with their conditions of employment are less liable to accidents than workers who are dissatisfied with them 3 Can fatigue lead to accidents If so how 4 Are experienced workers more careless than inexperienced ones 5 What do you know about
87. ce should be placed in closed metal containers a measure that promotes good order and limits fire hazards at the same time Dry clean ventilated store rooms with suitable racks hooks etc should be provided for electric hand tools and other tools chains wire ropes ladders etc and when not in use these items should be kept in their proper places in the store room One aspect of good house keeping in this field is regular inspection and the discarding of defective equipment Containers for inflammable liquids should be completely airtight to prevent any leakage The following are examples of improvements that good housekeeping can bring about 1 Suitable containers for spilled and leaking oil placed under the barrels containing lubricating oil in engine rooms will prevent the floor from becoming oily and therefore slippery 1 See p 115 56 ACCIDENT PREVENTION 2 The removal of vapours in textile dyeing rooms will not only contribute to better visibility and in this way to safety but also help to reduce the cost of repair and maintenance of the building 3 In car repair shops the risks of tripping over tools and engine parts would be lessened if workers were provided with small trolleys containing com partments and drawers to hold a complete set of tools and with spaces for small machine parts removed during repair work Good order and good housekeeping not only reduce accident risks by eliminating
88. cident Causation Are Accidents Due Mainly to Unsafe Equipment or to Unsafe Behaviour Serious Accidents Minor Accidents and Near Accidents Compilation of Accident Statistics 0 0 02 2 28 Calculation of Accident Rates 2 888 Presentation of Statistics 2 2 a ee FourRTH LESSON Some Principles of Accident Prevention 1 Fire Protection Common Fire Hazards 000 2 ee eee Structural Features and Exits 2 2 28 88880804 Fire Extinguishing Equipment 08 8 888 Fire Alarms ad e Jk e638 18S we OE ae Ee ce Bee AS Fire Prevention Organisation 0808 888 e i Precautions against Explosions ie ge see Se oe tae Page I A Aa N m 12 13 13 15 15 17 18 18 19 23 25 26 27 29 31 35 35 37 37 38 38 39 VI ACCIDENT PREVENTION Page FIFTH LESSON Some Principles of Accident Prevention 11 Machine Guarding 42 Conditions To Be Satisfied by Guards 4 43 Guards and Production Costs 0 2 024 4 4 ee a 49 Built in Guards EE ee E oe Bee 50 SIXTH LESSON Some Principles of Accident Prevention 1 Other Protective Mennes o a eh Be Ge aS He ie Be ee ee Re owe SO ee Ste 3 52 Plannidg ores oa a oS eS eS By oe tw cat we et Go te S 52 Good Order and Good Housekeeping 2 2 2 2 2 04 55 Working Clothes by ths fe oh eae de ye ee ee he ae aad 56 Personal Protective Equipment
89. clean a pit under a machine To protect himself from liquid dripping down from the machine he put a cloth on his head fixed it under the chin and left the loose end hanging over his shoulder Some minutes later he was found in the pit decapitated The cloth had been caught by a revolving shaft which was about 1 20 m 4 feet above the bottom of the pit Example In a dairy products plant a painter was working standing on a ladder near a revolving transmission shaft Suddenly his sleeve was caught by the shaft with the result that his clothes were torn to pieces and he suffered several injuries If working clothes are exposed to heavy wear and tear moisture or dirt the employer should provide suitable types of clothing in most countries the workers have to buy their own if this is not done The wearing of veils and other clothes with loose parts which are considered necessary because of national customs or religious opinion are a very difficult problem The only way to eliminate undesirable risks in such cases may be to prohibit the employment of such persons in types of work in which clothes are very liable to be caught in moving machine parts Ordinary working clothes cannot protect the wearer against hot metal acids flying fragments and various other risks here personal protective equipment is required 58 ACCIDENT PREVENTION The wearing of finger rings during working hours has often resulted in the loss of a finger when the rin
90. climb up scaffolding using uprights ledges and other parts of the construction to reach a higher level for maintenance or repair work workers sometimes use primitive and badly constructed apparatus that has hardly any resemblance to an ordinary ladder In countries where portable ladders are in general use they are manufactured in specialised factories and usually made of wood or aluminium alloy On building sites home made ladders are often used The design of a ladder depends on the use that is to be made of it Ladders to be used on building sites have to be more rigid than ladders for maintenance or repair ladders for window cleaners have the rungs placed at larger intervals about 35 cm than is usual for ladders for general purposes about 25 cm As it is desirable to keep the weight of portable ladders down to a minimum the construction is as light as possible hence ladders should LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 87 be handled carefully Aluminium ladders have advantages over wooden ones for they are extremely light However it is dangerous to use metal ladders in the neighbourhood of un insulated electric wires for all metals are good conductors of electricity In some countries the construction of ladders has been standardised and the different types tested This practice has helped considerably to ensure safe construction In 1937 the International Labour Conference adopted a Recommen dation on safety provis
91. commended Practice the result is as follows 1 a Agency ee ew oO ek 00 Machine 00587 Ropemaker b Agency part 0 Gears 2 Unsafe mechanical or physical condition Of Inadequately guarded 3 Accident type 2 Caught between gears 4 Unsafe act 0 Operating without authority 5 Unsafe factor 00 Wilful disregard of instructions For prevention purposes it is sufficient to concentrate on point 2 and to make it a general safety rule that gears shall be completely en closed It will be more difficult to correct factors 4 and 5 It has already been pointed out that no useful purpose will be served by citing circumstances which cannot be prevented hence carelessness negligence absent mindedness and the like should not be considered as main accident causes although they may as already pointed out be contributory factors There are so many different circumstances which disturb the mind of a worker but cannot be eliminated a quarrel witha fellow worker a difference of opinion as to wages with the foreman poor health difficulties at home day dreaming that it is impossible to prevent moments of carelessness or absent mindedness We shall return to this point in the eighth lesson when discussing the psychological aspects of accident prevention SERIOUS ACCIDENTS MINOR ACCIDENTS AND NEAR ACCIDENTS Statistics show that one accident of the kind that is ordinarily com pensable
92. considered shocking from the danger of mutilation disease and immorality by taking among other things measures to reduce the frequency of industrial accidents If one takes the country in which the Industrial Revolution began Great Britain as an example one finds that these humanitarian efforts were first of all directed towards reducing the hours of work and protecting the health of children who were by far the worst sufferers from these conditions and that it was only at a comparatively late stage that any action was taken to prevent accidents in general In the eighteenth century as a result of a remarkable series of inven tions of which the flying shuttle the spinning jenny the mule and the power loom were among the most important the textile industry gradually developed from a cottage industry into a factory industry There arose a great demand for cheap labour and a convenient supply was found among the pauper children who were in the care of the public assistance autho rities of the large towns They worked unknown unprotected and forgotten as a writer described them in 1795 in insanitary conditions for 14 or 15 hours a day During the next 40 or 50 years as a result LESSON 2 ORIGINS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION 9 of more or less continuous agitation much was done to improve their lot l Then attention was turned to the problem of safety The increasing power speed and crowding of machinery were making factorie
93. ction and safety and health The general procedure is for the expert or team of experts to make a survey of industrial conditions legislation and administrative organisation and activities educational and training facilities etc and then to recommend what action should be taken in each field Another form of technical assistance which has been developed in recent years is the training of labour administration personnel Institutes have been set up intended to serve as real socio economic laboratories for the study of all problems connected with the protection of man while at work and to find solutions to them that are as far as possible in accord with local conditions For example the labour institute estab lished in Istanbul has attached to it a number of experts who conduct courses in occupational safety and health for the benefit of labour administration officials from the various countries of the Near and Middle East A similar institute has been established in Mexico City where basic and advanced training in safety and health techniques is given In these institutes equipment is provided to show the way in which safeguards and personal protective equipment can be applied in practice In addition films and film strips are available and a library is at the disposal of the students Experts give courses or conduct seminars and impart instruction on safe working systems and safe working habits The advantage of an education or study centre f
94. ction of women and children against lead poisoning and the prohibition of the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches but during these years no items dealing directly with safety were placed on the agenda However an important contribution was made indirectly in the form of a draft Convention fixing the minimum age for admission of children to industrial employment The I L O first entered the safety field in 1923 when the First International Conference of Labour Statisticians made recommendations on accident rates and the classification of industrial accidents The first safety handbook published by the Office was a report on statistics of accidents due to coupling and uncoupling opera tions on railways which appeared in 1924 Publication of a journal called Industrial Safety Survey was started in 1925 In the same year 1 The title was changed to Occupational Safety and Health in 1951 Publication was discontinued after the foundation of the International Information Centre on Occupational Safety and Health Problems C 1 S in 1959 160 ACCIDENT PREVENTION a Correspondence Committee on Accident Prevention composed of experts from several countries was set up to advise the Office on measures to be taken in that field The first safety Convention that concerning the protection of dockers against accidents was adopted by the Inter national Labour Conference in 1929 and revised in 1932 Recommenda tions on safety concern
95. ction would have a reasonable chance of being successful Some space is usually reserved in works magazines for safety subjects The articles on safety are sometimes intended to be read not only by the worker himself but also by the members of his family Some people think that in this way an influence will be exerted on the worker by the family The same idea bringing safety into the worker s home underlies radio talks and television shows on safety and the distribution of safety calendars Other vehicles for safety propaganda include pamphlets and leaflets safety stamps illustrations and slogans on pay envelopes etc So far as this material brings new ideas to the workers notice it has a certain value If however such propaganda only reminds workers of what is LESSON 9 PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING Li already common knowledge with the intention perhaps of dispelling indifference it is difficult to measure its value It must not be thought that documentation on safety is confined to magazines pamphlets leaflets etc designed primarily for the workers and their families There is a very large and steadily increasing quantity of safety literature consisting of reports of labour inspectorates and research institutions general safety manuals manuals on particular subjects such as electricity boilers and fire protection and all kinds of technical booklets pamphlets data sheets and the like This more scientific and t
96. d War was the end of an epoch especially in western Europe which had enjoyed over 40 years of uninterrupted peace As the war dragged on the feeling gained ground that such horror and cruelty should never occur again and that the restoration of peace should usher in a new era in which people should live in decent conditions and enjoy a measure of what was subsequently to be known as social justice The working classes of many countries looked forward to better living conditions after the war and governments promised that their wishes would be granted At an international workers conference held in Leeds in 1916 various demands were formulated including the follow ing The different countries should bind themselves to develop their legislation on occupational hygiene and safety They should try to unify their legislation for every branch of industry In particular they should organise permanent co operation for common action against industrial poisons defective or dangerous manufacturing processes and occupational diseases At an international trade union conference held in Berne in 1918 proposals for an industrial labour charter incorporating these demands were adopted together with a demand for the reduction of working hours in dangerous industries Other workers congresses made similar demands The Treaty of Versailles put an end to the First World War as far as western Europe was concerned Part XIII of that Treaty established the
97. d almost exclusively to workers in manufacturing industries and will give little specific guidance to the miner the farm worker or the bricklayer Lastly it is not a technical manual It does not pretend to tell people how to prevent every kind of accident or guard every kind of equipment that could be met with in a factory It only purports to explain why safety is important by what methods it is promoted and what kinds of authorities institutions and other organisations are responsible for promoting it The subject of occupational health is to be dealt with in a separate manual and is not touched upon here A number of suggestions for further reading are given at the end of the book CONTENTS SECOND LESSON The Origins of Accident Prevention 0 es Early Safety Legislation 1 ee we ee ee ee te Exchanges of Experience 4 5 ee eee ues Safety Associations dat ee ee ee a ae a Ke Be Testing and Research Institutions 2 28 8084848 THIRD LESSON Accident Investigations and Statistics 2 1 2 ee Causes of Accidents s g go 0 Goes Bow Owe Gm 2S Bo ees Investigation of Accidents 2 1 a ee ee te Analysis and Classification of Accidents 4 4 The I L O Classification of Accident Causes The American Recommended Practice for Compiling Industrial Accident Causes ec cit ced Bee o o i Se eA oe a a Statistics concerning the Human Factor in Ac
98. d of govern ment employer and worker members has various functions which include fixing the agenda of the International Labour Conference and exercising genera control over the activities of the Office and the advisory committees attached to it The International Labour Conference which meets annually is com posed of national delegations made up of representatives of governments and of the most representative organisations of employers and workers in the country concerned One of its functions is to discuss and adopt Conventions and Recommendations many of which as will be seen later deal with matters of occupational safety and health The Conference may also adopt resolutions calling for national or international action in this field The member countries are required to submit Conventions adopted by the Conference to their competent authorities with a view to ratifica tion Recommendations are not subject to ratification and are not bind ing in the same way as Conventions but governments are bound to consider them and decide whether their provisions are acceptable or not The Safety Activities of the I L O ln the early years of the I L O s work relatively little importance was attached to industrial safety The First Session of the International Labour Conference held at Washington in 1919 dealt among other things with the related field of industrial hygiene by adopting Recom mendations on the prevention of anthrax the prote
99. dden by smoke VENTILATION AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL Ventilation whether general ventilation or local exhaust ventilation falls mainly within the province of industrial hygiene but is of some importance from the safety standpoint The same is true of air condition ing Exhaust ventilation for example is one means of removing explosive dusts such as those of aluminium magnesium cork starch and flour from the working atmosphere Flammable vapours in the atmosphere can 66 ACCIDENT PREVENTION be diluted to safe limits by general ventilation or removed altogether by exhaust ventilation Air conditioning can prevent excessive cold and ex cessive heat both of which have been found to be conducive to accidents Ventilation systems however require careful designing this applies particularly to exhaust ventilation systems which if badly designed can be worse than no ventilation at all Exhaust hoods or slots should be so located that no part of the fumes or dusts being removed can enter the worker s breathing zone see figure 24 Fig 24 It is generally known that working on machines with cold hands may result in less accurate working and accidental contact with machine Knives or cutters High temperatures in particular in combination with a high degree of humidity cause unnecessary fatigue It is often stated that the optimum safe temperature in the workroom is about 20 C 68 F in temperate climates lt is howeve
100. dents occur during a certain period it is most improbable that every worker will have had one accident even if the circumstances of all the workers are the same in every respect LESSON 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS 99 To understand this fact let us consider the simplest case of all a group of two workers A and B in which two accidents occur If A has the first accident it does not inevitably follow that B will have the second in fact both A and B still have equal chances of being the one involved Conversely if B has the first accident the second accident may happen either to A or to B We have then four possibilities that A has both accidents that A has the first and B the second that B has the first and A the second and that B has both It will be seen that in two of the four possible courses of events one worker will have both accidents and in the other two each of them will have one The probability that each worker will have one accident is in this case 50 per cent i e two chances out of four in other words the chances are even When the numbers of workers and accidents involved is higher this percentage will be lower In the case of four workers having together four accidents the probability that every worker will have one accident is only 9 per cent i e the chances or odds are about 11 to 1 against but the probability that one worker will have two accidents two workers each one accident and one worker
101. dvantage that the labels can be understood by illiterate persons However it is desirable to add to such a symbol a text indicating a the name of the substances b a description of the main risk or risks c a statement of the main precautions to be taken and d if necessary indication of first aid or other simple measures to be taken in the case of injury or emergency Figs 22 and 23 Examples of labels used for dangerous substances CARBON DISULPHIDE HIGHLY FLAMMABLE VERY POISONOUS VAPOUR TRINITROPHENOL PICRIC ACID Highly volatile and liable to form an explosive mixture with FORMS WITH METALS HIGHLY SENSITIVE air even if the container is apparently empty PICRATES Keep container tightly closed and in cool well ventilated a Keep away from heat open flames and sparks Handle carefully Avoid shock and friction Avoid contact with metal and metal sales Remove carefully che contents of broken packages Fig 22 Picric acid keep away from open flame sparks and any other source of eat Use only with adequate ventilation and avoid breathing vapour Avoid contact with skin eyes and clothing In case of fire extinguish with sand or earth Fig 23 Carbon disulphide LIGHTING As a Safety factor in the physical environment of the worker lighting is important Several investigations into the relation between produc tion and lighting have shown that adequate lighting arranged to suit the
102. e 1886 Similar Acts were passed by Ohio in 1888 Missouri in 1891 and Rhode Island in 1896 7 In the United States as in Europe the first factory l gislation made no provision for the establishment of special enforcement agencies on the assumption that complaints would be made by the injured employees It was however found that employees would not make complaints for fear of being discharged and in the 1860s a beginning was made with the appointment of factory inspectors who could conduct prosecutions without calling upon employees to testify Once again Massachusetts was the first in the field there a state inspectorate was established in 1867 Wisconsin passed factory inspection legislation in 1885 and New York in 1886 After 1885 too the principle of employers liability in respect of employment injury began to appear in the legislation of the different states The growing importance and complexity of industry in western countries where labour inspection services were responsible for the enforcement of safety laws made it necessary to add to the staff of these services a number of specialists suitably qualified to cope with the new and increasingly complicated safety problems which were arising With the assistance of medical electrical chemical and other specialists the labour inspector could become a technical consultant to whom employers and workers could turn and in this capacity he could make a better contribution to safety
103. e fact that such screens may be opened and closed 800 times a day was over looked in their design The design of a guard calls for as much precision as that of a machine and satisfactory results cannot be expected without such precision k The guard should be durable and fire and corrosion resistant Here special attention has to be paid to the choice of the material used If a guard is not durable it soon has to be replaced and many examples show that in such cases replacement is not always made in time with the result that the machine is used unguarded Fire resistant materials are always to be recommended and corrosion resistant materials are neces sary if the guard comes into contact with chemicals or is used in very damp places 1 The guard should not constitute a hazard by itself in particular it should be free of splinters sharp corners rough edges or other sources of accidents There should not be any danger of nipping between moving guards on moving machine parts and a machine part Example A machine for shearing metal was provided with a screen lowered automatically on the table in front of the knives when the machine was started Under normal conditions the screen prevented a hand from entering the danger zone under the knives before the latter descended However if a hand was in the danger zone at the moment the machine was started it might happen that the descending screen pressed the hand on the table and when it
104. e man in charge of first aid treatment or the place where the injured worker should go However safety posters should not be used for situations the remedy ing of which is the exclusive responsibility of the management A poster warning against unsafe power presses should not be used since the management is responsible for their protection and for installing guards LESSON 9 PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING 107 and keeping these in good working order In this connection figure 47 should be considered The poster does not show whether the welder s assistant has been given adequate protective equipment for the eyes Posters of this kind only have real value if they are designed to urge workers to use protective equipment that is actually available Safety posters should never be used to warn against hazards with the intention of enabling management to deny responsibility for acci dents if the warning is not observed Films and Slides A poster gives just one impression of a hazard A film can tell the whole story of an accident showing the environment how the dangerous Situation arose how the accident happened what the consequences were and how it could have been prevented As many persons like going to the cinema accident prevention programme organisers have tried to exploit the possibilities of films to make persons safety minded Here problems arise similar to those already mentioned in connection with safety posters and the same
105. e of Jong social struggles involving strikes and lockouts prosecutions and persecutions In these struggles long years of common action have brought forth feelings of solidarity and a deep distrust of the employers in the workers Today in some countries the workers have extensive rights which are generally accepted by the employers and this distrust has given way more or less to feelings of mutual responsibility In others trade unions hardly exist and workers are not organised except perhaps in very small associations embracing for instance a single factory In techni cally advanced countries we find trade unions guided by persons with an expert knowledge of labour problems and employing technical advisers but in underdeveloped countries there is nothing of the kind Some differences in the attitude of the workers may be traced to religious influences It makes a great difference for instance whether a religion stresses mutual responsibility or teaches a fatalistic acceptance of things as they are 12 170 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Many a worker goes to the factory only to earn money for himself and his family he has no special interest in his job and he may work in the factory for years without any bond forming between his inner self and his work He has little love for his employer or trust in him and he is not likely to take kindly to advice and exhortations on safety or anything else A worker s attitude to industrial safety in
106. e parts thrown around putting sand or ash on spots of oil disposing of oily cotton waste so that spontaneous combustion cannot take place and other things all workers must do whether it is part of their job or not to make their contribution to the general safety of the plant The next stage in training may be instruction for the first job In modern plants job instructors charge hands and foremen are taught to analyse the job before they give instruction to newcomers and parti cularly to identify the various difficulties and hazards which the trainee should learn to deal with 1 The newcomers are taught safe methods of work and the risks are explained to them to make them understand that deviation from safe methods may result in an accident Moreover the job instructor or supervisor should keep an eye on the new comers throughout the training period or until they have acquired the necessary routine to make sure that they do not depart from the methods of working that they have been taught A particularly dangerous time comes when the trainee begins to think he knows the job and to slacken his attention He begins to take risks looks up from his job while his hands continue working and needs extra supervision and tactful explanations in fact he needs follow up on his training Training for a specific job might have to be supplemented by some instruction on common jobs such as lifting heavy loads using transport equipment loading
107. e risers shall be equipped with stair railings on any open side 2 me o p gt Be E o5 eee a a a 14 Stair railings shall be constructed in a permanent and substantial manner of wood pipe structural metal or other material of sufficient strength 15 The height of stair railings from the upper surface of the top rail to the surface of the tread in line with the face of the riser at the forward edge of the tread shall be not less than 76 cm 30 in if the railing is used as a handrail the height shall not be more than 86 cm 34 in Regulation 12 contains these provisions on stan dard railings for platforms Fig 36 A safe stairway LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 83 12 Standard railings shall be at least 90 cm 36 in from the upper surface of the top rail to floor level 13 Standard railings shall have posts not more than 2 m 6 ft 6 in apart and an intermediate rail half way between the top rail and the floor In conclusion mention should be made of the final provisions of Regulation 184 which reads as follows 39 Bins used for storing combustible dry materials shall be of fire resisting construction and provided with lids and an adequate ventilation system 40 Where dry bulk material is piled and removed manually under mining of piles shall not be permitted 41 Special precautions shall be taken where the dry material stored is such as to lead to the formation and
108. e safety engineer it is important that the members should understand why the different safety precautions are taken and be able to judge their practical value Inspections of parts of the undertaking may also reveal how safety measures are carried out and members will be particularly interested to see the effect given to their recommendations 7 The committee should be consulted on all proposals for new safety measures so that as far as possible those finally adopted have the support of both the employer and the workers 8 If a proposal made by the committee is rejected by the manage ment the committee should be informed of the reasons 9 All needful information such as statistics should be given to the committee members not only to keep them informed of the general situation and the accident trend but also to provide them with a sound basis for discussing improvements 132 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Members of safety committees have the general duty of promoting the co operation of all workers in the endeavour to improve safety standards They should try to secure obedience to safety instructions and to counteract indifference and passive resistance The dislike that many persons have of taking orders may be avoided when these are explained by fellow workers who are not in authority but are respected or liked Committee members should try to replace the attitude of I can take care of myself with one of I am a fool to take unnece
109. e saw blade as indicated in figure 12 In the case of a kick back the hands will not then pass the saw blade and cannot come into contact with the saw teeth 2 Working with closed hands in the manner shown in figure 13 will decrease the risk of touching the saw teeth under the hood The importance of teaching safe working habits to young persons is self evident Adult workers often have difficulty in changing working habits and consequently once incorrect habits have been formed it is difficult but not impossible to correct them The system used for Training Within Industry t could be used here Good working habits also include taking proper care of machines and tools keeping them in good condition and in particular keeping cutting tools well shaped and sharp GOOD ORDER AND Goop HOUSEKEEPING A third group of safety measures consists of those related to good order and good housekeeping all over the plant If there is a place for everything and if everything is in its place a considerable number of accidents are likely to be avoided Good order means in the first place the removal of objects obstructing passageways so as to prevent collisions and stumbling and to facilitate escape in emergencies Passageways should be clearly marked off e g with white lines and should not be used for storage of materials Good order also means that materials must be properly stored and waste materials promptly removed Cotton waste for instan
110. e to be translated into practice In France the method of official certification is used The competent authority lays down the general principles to which the protection of a particular type of machine must conform Manufacturers of safety equipment have to submit their devices to a committee which if they are up to standard certifies that they conform to the general principles governing the protection of the machine concerned Once a protective device has been so certified it can be sold and used CONDITIONS TO BE SATISFIED BY GUARDS For purposes of convenience the requirements that a machine guard should satisfy are analysed here on the basis of the relevant provisions of the Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments drawn up by a tripartite technical conference organised by the I L O in Geneva in 1948 to serve as a guide for governments and industries to use as they thought fit in the drawing up of their safety regulations and rules Regulation 82 of this Model Code reads as follows 1 Guards should be so designed constructed and used that they will a provide positive protection b prevent all access to the danger zone during operations c cause the operator no discomfort or inconvenience d not interfere unnecessarily with production e operate automatically or with minimum effort 44 ACCIDENT PREVENTION f be suitable for the job and the machine g preferably constitute a built in feature
111. e way or another mention the theme and in conclusion a programme of entertainment for the workers and their families in a final meeting the co operation of everybody to prevent accidents of the type to which the theme of the safety day related is requested On the next day the new safety equipment will be distributed FORMAL EDUCATION In recent years there has been a growing realisation in a number of countries of the advantages of giving some industrial safety education in 112 ACCIDENT PREVENTION schools and colleges so as to ensure that entrants into industry have at least an idea of the dangers awaiting them and the means by which they can help to obviate them In the United States the Second World War gave a great impetus to the development of safety education In 1941 the Department of Labor sponsored 96 hour safety courses under the Engineering Science and Management War Training Program administered by the United States Office of Education more than 70 000 persons completed them A more advanced course was given to 7 000 persons in armament factories who had completed the first course In 1942 the American Society of Safety Engineers Committee on Co operation with Engineering Colleges recommended that colleges and universities should provide integrated safety instruction as a part of each course regularly taught in the curricu lum and specialised safety courses for undergraduates especially those taking technical courses Towa
112. e with any method or process adopted with a view to minimising occupational hazards 5 All employees shall comply in regard to their conduct with the require ments of this Code Some of the practical everyday tasks covered by these five short paragraphs are keeping gangways clear cleaning up spilled oil replacing guards that have to be removed for any purpose keeping flammable waste in closed metal containers and refraining from smoking in pro hibited areas and from misusing machines or tools Some of the above duties are positive some are negative but they have one thing in common they do not require much initiative The workers however have plenty of opportunities of displaying initiative in the cause of safety if they want to they can become safety delegates they can take an active part in the work of safety committees they can 172 i ACCIDENT PREVENTION stimulate trade union action A great deal will have been achieved when all workers make a passive contribution to safety by obeying safety rules and applying safety principles but the safety movement will not be a complete success until every worker puts his heart and soul into the task of preventing accidents Questions In group or private study individual research on one s own or one s union s situation is an excellent method by which workers can explore the field of accident prevention further To stimulate further study the questions which follow have be
113. eaching safety measures but these had rarely been applied in other factories The activities of Engel Dollfus resulted in the adoption of safety measures applicable in all the textile factories in Mulhouse In 1889 the accident prevention association in Mulhouse published an album containing all the safeguards known at that time to have given satisfaction in the factories where they were in use another idea of Dollfus s It was sent to the international exhibition in Paris where it received much attention for by that time in many countries safety was considered an important industrial problem An improved and expanded second edition was published in 1895 1 It is most interesting to observe that several of the safety devices described in this manual are still recom mended in safety publications At about this time a number of international safety congresses were held in Paris in 1889 in Berne in 1891 and in Milan in 1894 which had a not inconsiderable influence on the legislation of the period The system of promoting safety by exchanges of experience and the publicising of suitable safeguards had been shown to be invaluable but not sufficient to arrive at substantial results It was found for example that those who were responsible for the enforcement of safety measures in the factory itself were not sufficiently independent or had other work to do which prevented them from attending to safety matters alternatively there was no co ope
114. echnical material is useful to inspectors managers safety engineers safety associations and indeed to everyone bearing some responsibility for the promotion of occupational safety Safety Drives From time to time the need is felt to launch an intensive safety drive One way of doing this is the organisation of a safety day or a safety week perhaps on a national scale perhaps in a city perhaps in just one undertaking When the campaign is organised for industrial under takings generally the programme is usually a general one but when it is organised just in one undertaking it may be focused on one particular subject It may well make use of a combination of some of the different items of safety propaganda discussed earlier in this lesson National or regional safety days and weeks are usually patronised by the public authorities such as the Ministry of Labour or the Governor of a state or province and are given much publicity by the press the radio the cinemas etc The campaigns may include exhibitions film shows demonstrations competitions discussions and so on In some cases the nucleus of a factory programme may be a single theme such as safety shoes lifebelts or other safety equipment The programme of a typical safety day might include an exhibition of the appliances talks and film shows to impress on the staff the importance of the measures to be taken competitions and the distribution of cross word puzzles which in som
115. ecording and measuring work injury experience compiling industrial injury rates Standards are valuable largely because they are the result of the co ordinated efforts of all the parties concerned manufacturers users scientists etc Since safety standards enjoy universal approval they have on several occasions been incorporated in official regulations 1 See Lesson 3 154 ACCIDENT PREVENTION For instance there are regulations which require the material used for crane hooks and slings to conform to the national standard prohibit the use of respirators other than those conforming to the national standard or allow only the use of standard electrical appliances One great advantage of standardisation is that it protects manu facturers of approved standard products against complaints by the user or the inspection service moreover users know precisely what they are buying and can thus avoid having to make expensive changes or adjust ments in equipment As international contacts steadily multiply and the advantages of international standards in international trade become more apparent greater efforts are being made in the direction of international standard isation through the International Organisation for Standardisation I S 0 at Geneva However progress is slow and so far almost the only substantial results achieved have been confined to the electrical engineering industry The two I S O agencies working in this field are
116. ect LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES TT from the mains but by current from a completely separate secondary circuit set up by the transformer and in the event of current leaking into the casing the worker will not receive the full shock of the mains current Since the secondary circuit is completely isolated from the earth the danger of touching a live casing is less Fig 33 An electrical power drill with an isolating transformer Earthing of the portable apparatus is unnecessary in this case However as safety is here based on the fact that the tool circuit is completely isolated from earth care should be taken to ensure that the cable of the secondary circuit is in good condition It is advisable to have this cable as short as possible if necessary a long primary cable should be used and the transformer should be placed as near as possible to the point of operation although never at a place where the use of voltages higher than the threshold voltages mentioned earlier is particu larly dangerous e g in boilers double bottoms of ships etc The midpoint of the secondary winding of the transformer should not be earthed To ensure that the apparatus is not used without the transformer the plug at the end of the primary cable and the one used for connecting the apparatus to the secondary cable should be of completely different types Moreover there should be a separate transformer for every appliance Every transforme
117. ectricity falls of persons stepping on or striking against objects falling objects handling without machinery hand tools animals and other causes A third method used is classification according to the mature of the act which gave rise to the accident e g operating equip ment without proper authority working at an unsafe speed making safety devices inoperative using defective or unsafe tools or equipment or using tools or equipment in a dangerous manner overloading crowding poor arrangement of equipment unnecessary exposure to danger the distracting of the attention of the injured person by another worker or failure to use safety devices Accidents may also be classified according to material causes such as improperly guarded or defective equipment improper illumination improper ventilation and unsafe dress Other classifications give information on the age sex and occupa tional experience of the victim the time and nature of the accident or the part of the body injured All these classifications throw some light on the actual causes of industrial accidents but they do little to indicate the circumstances in which they occur For instance it is generally admitted that an accident may be partly due to worry grief ill health bad temper frustration exuberance intoxication or other physical and mental states and that these states may be induced in varying degrees by circumstances inside the factory or outside it Very of
118. electric apparatus 5 Discuss whether power driven gears should always be completely enclosed 6 What dangers are presented by storage bins containing dry bulk materials 7 In what circumstances may workmen be allowed to enter storage bins 8 Describe some precautions to be taken when using acetylene cylinders 9 What should be done when an acetylene cylinder is found to be on fire 10 Mention some of the requirements that a good portable ladder should satisfy 11 What care should be taken of portable ladders to keep them in safe condition 12 Mention some precautions that should be taken by persons using ladders EIGHTH LESSON PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION The last three lessons were concerned with technical aspects of acci dent prevention affecting the workplace and its equipment rather than with the attitude of the worker himself But the latter factor is a vital one in accident causation and accident prevention and cannot be left out of account In discussing this human factor it is usual to talk about physi ology and psychology but as a result of modern scientific discoveries no one is sure where the one begins and the other leaves off It might be more accurate to treat mind and body as a single whole and man as a psycho physical being The subject is infinitely complex and space allows no more than a brief mention of a few of the countless elements in the human fact
119. elmets and other items used in different branches of industry has increased considerably However there are still countries where personal protective equipment is hardly known and where consequently workers are unnecessarily exposed to risks COLOURS NOTICES SIGNS LABELS Colours Colours may be used for a variety of purposes in the interests of safety as the following examples will show 1 General safety colour codes are used to identify danger spots fire protection equipment first aid equipment exits traffic lanes and so on 2 Special colour codes are used to identify the contents of gas cylin ders and piping 3 Suitable colour schemes can improve perception and visibility in workrooms passageways etc 4 Attractive colour schemes for walls ceilings equipment etc can have a good psychological effect An international safety colour code is being drawn up by a Com mittee of the International Organization for Standardization in collab oration with the 1 L O Amber orange yellow is used to indicate danger for example to identify places normally covered by guards so that it is easy to see when the guard is missing red for stop signals emergency stop devices and fire fighting equipment and green for 62 ACCIDENT PREVENTION escape routes first aid stations go traffic signals and safety installa tions generally Columns or other fixed objects near passageways and in fact obstruc tions of all ki
120. en designed to cover a wider field than the matter contained in this lesson They may provide a basis for the review of specific ideas brought out in previous lessons they may also suggest certain subjects for group discussion They are not intended to provide a framework for an exhaustive survey of the whole subject but they will with adaptations and complements help the reader to discover for himself the practical implications of the knowledge acquired from the present course and also possibly to formulate the elements of a constructive union policy in respect of safety The Safet y Situation 1 If your union had to formulate or review its policy with respect to safety matters in a factory what would be the technical information and statistical data it should first obtain to determine that policy and justify subsequent claims or action Some useful lines of investigation will be found in particular in Lessons 3 9 and 11 The Worker s Attitude 2 Are the workers in your factory interested in promoting safety measures How do you recognise this interest What do they do in the interest of safety 3 What factors for instance special dangers of the trade and fre quency of accidents education and propaganda programmes by the union by the employer by the labour inspection services give rise to this attitude In the last two cases did the union co operate and if so how See in particular Lesson 8 4 If there i
121. en head and handle should be secured by a wedge preferably of hard wood Special care Fie 27 what i liable to bappen if he bead of shames should be taken to fix the head of a hammer see also figure 29 at right angles to the handle otherwise the joint is danger ously weakened and when the hammer is used the head may fly up and injure somebody 4 Where there is any risk of an explosive atmosphere being ignited by sparks any hand tools used therein shall be of a non sparking type Explosive atmospheres can be expected in places where inflammable liquids are manufactured handled or stored e g in places where gasoline is stored or calcium carbide con tainers have to be opened In such cases the tools used should be made of Fig 28 If there are inflammable vapours about do not use wood hard rubber cop chisels like this one which produce sparks when hit per beryllium alloy or some other alloy which does not produce sparks when hit 5 Hammers and sledges cold chisels cutters punches and other similar shock tools should be made of carefully selected steel hard enough to withstand blows without mushrooming extensively but not so hard as to chip or break 72 ACCIDENT PREVENTION The hardness of steel shock tools influences safety to a large extent Excessively soft steel will soon mushroom at the point of impact and if the tool is not ground in time small particles will be loosened by a blow and fl
122. ence As already mentioned guards which cause discomfort or inconvenience are put aside by the worker and their usefulness is lost An arrangement combining safety with ease of operation is shown in figure 9 d The guard should not interfere unnecessarily with pro duction For this reason the use of guards such as two hand Systems on metal presses or so called automatic hoods for circular saws should be avoided if other systems exist which give better protection and do not interfere with pro duction However when it is impossible to find such a guard that does not interfere with Fig 9 Reamer guarded by plexiglass screen which does not obstruct the worker s view of the job 46 ACCIDENT PREVENTION production safety should take precedence over considerations of pro duction and imperfect protection should be preferred to an unprotec ted machine e The guard should operate automatically or with minimum effort An example of an automatically operating guard is the hood for the cutter cylinder of a textile shearing machine This hood is connected with the starting mechanism in such a way that the hood cannot be opened when the machine is running and when the hood is open the machine cannot start One type of guard for wood planing machines which has been in use for many years consists of a screen placed above the machine shaft pivoting on a vertical spindle placed at the side of the machine The guard o
123. ence of a defective ladder in the workroom remains to be considered The accident could easily have been avoided if the management had given orders that every defective ladder should immediately be sent to the repair shop and seen to it that those orders were carried out Consequently this is the point where the chain of circumstances could most easily be broken and this is the factor that should be considered as the primary cause of the accident In short LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 17 the primary cause may be defined as the most easily preventable circum stance in the absence of which the accident could not have occurred INVESTIGATION OF ACCIDENTS There are several methods of conducting an accident investigation which are neither too complicated nor too time consuming For minor accidents good results have been obtained by the following method The victim goes to the first aid room and after treatment is given an accident investigation form which he has to take to his foreman the latter fills it in and sends it to the safety engineer who according to circumstances may decide to make a more detailed investigation himself or to take some other action or simply to file it for statistical purposes or for discussion in the safety committee This method has the advantage of stressing the responsibility of the foreman for safety in his department An accident investigation should always be made on the spot It will be
124. ent acetone escaping with the acetylene Acetylene cylinders are normally filled to a pressure of 15 kg cm at 15 C about 200 lb per square inch at 60 F at this pressure dis solved acetylene can be stored without danger The risk of an explosion increases sharply with the pressure in the cylinder and consequently if the latter is substantially above this level say 17 kg cm at 15 C or 230 Ib per square inch at 60 F or higher it is highly advisable to refuse to accept delivery and return the cylinder at once to the filling station For every degree Centigrade by which the temperature rises the pres sure increases by about 0 4 kg cm about 514 lb sq in Therefore cylinders should not be exposed to the direct rays of the sun or to the heat of ovens boilers heating apparatus etc In case of fire acetylene cylinders and other gas cylinders should if possible be removed from the premises to prevent an explosion Heating an acetylene cylinder will result in an increase of pressure not only because acetylene is liberated from the acetone but also because of decomposition known as dissocia tion of the acetylene it is the latter that is particularly dangerous and most liable to cause an explosion When after work has been finished the worker hangs the acetylene and oxygen hoses and the torch on the acetylene cylinder without com LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 85 pletely extinguishing the welding flame a sm
125. ents it is quite possible that the difference is due to the fact that one of them considers an event as an accident while the other does not It is also possible that statistical differences result from the fact that one worker has a slight accident which is included in the statis tics while the other has a near accident which is not The number of accidents incurred by a given person can also be affected by unsafe acts of another person or by defective machine parts which are mat ters completely independent of the mental processes of the injured worker As the attitude of a worker depends to a great extent on the conditions in which he lives inside and outside the factory and as these conditions change in the course of time a worker cannot be considered to retain complete psychological stability for ever and a man who is accident prone during a certain period may well not be during a subsequent period Changing age and experience also influence the situation and all in all it is very difficult to know whether workers considered to be doing similar work simultaneously are really exposed to identical hazards Investigations into accident proneness have shown that it has some thing to do with being distracted for one reason or another with being nervous or calm with taking risks to show independence with bravado and with knowing all about it Accident proneness may also arise when emotional persons do jobs requiring
126. er likely to hide defects Knots and other irregularities in the fibres may cause breakage if a relatively heavy load is placed on the ladder or if it is exposed to shocks As weak spots e g cracks in uprights and rungs can be made invisible by painting the painting of ladders is often forbidden Varnishing is allowed provided that the varnish is transparent and does not pN inspection of the quality of the wood or its condition Regulation 22 of the same code contains the following provisions 1 Every ladder used as a means of communication shall rise at least I m above the highest point to be reached by any person using the ladder or one of the uprights shall be continued to that height to serve as a hand rail at the top 2 Ladders shall not stand on loose bricks or other loose packing but shall have a level and firm footing A firm footing is one of the most important safety precautions to be taken with ladders A particular warning should be given against the extremely dangerous practice of using a ladder which is too short and placing some object under it to make it reach higher this has prion led to accidents 3 Every ladder a shall be securely fixed so that it cannot move from its top or bottom points of rest or b if it cannot be secured at the top shall be securely fastened at the base or aie Not only should the danger of the foot of the ladder slip ping be kept in mind but care should be taken to
127. ey were to be used had been insufficiently studied and more generally public concern for safety was slight Structure and Functions of the I L O The permanent machinery of the International Labour Organisation for the performance of its functions consists essentially of the Inter national Labour Office its Governing Body and the International Labour Conference For special purposes such as the discussion of international standards special conferences of worker employer and government representatives known as tripartite technical conferences may be held and ad hoc committees of experts may be appointed by the Governing Body to examine technical problems The main functions of the International Labour Office in the field of occupational safety are a the preparation and revision of international standards Con ventions Recommendations codes etc b the compilation of technical studies c direct assistance to governments by furnishing experts pro viding fellowships supplying equipment drafting regulations supplying information etc d assistance to national safety organisations research centres employers associations trade unions etc in different countries 1 Preamble to Part XIII of the Treaty LESSON 13 INTERNATIONAL SAFETY ACTIVITIES 159 e the running of an international information centre on occupa tional safety and health problems The Governing Body which is a tripartite body compose
128. f the morning and another in the 2 Based on conditions in Sweden as reported by N ZETTERMAN in Industrial Accidents A Burden on the National Economy op cit LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 25 afternoon These maxima also call for special attention but it is not easy to discover their cause Is it fatigue or is it something in the habits of the workers who perhaps do not always work at the same speed Or are there still other causes Here the statistics suggest that something should be done to improve matters Special investigations seem to be required to discover why accidents are particularly frequent at these times of day and what should be done to reduce their number ARE ACCIDENTS DUE MAINLY TO UNSAFE EQUIPMENT OR TO UNSAFE BEHAVIOUR In safety literature two groups of accidents are often distinguished those due to technological mechanical or physical causes and those due to unsafe behaviour by the worker To the first group belong accidents caused for example by defective parts unguarded machines damaged electric cables and worn out hoisting ropes To the second group belong those resulting from absent mindedness negligence foolhardiness or ignorance of risk The first group is often considered to comprise 15 per cent of all accidents the second 85 per cent and the conclusion is accordingly drawn that attention should be concentrated on the latter group Further examination however will sh
129. fety such as the manager or a deputy the safety engineer foremen and the factory doctor if there is one As many persons as possible should serve on these committees because membership is very likely to stimulate interest in safety Worker members could therefore be appointed for a limited period e g one year so as to allow all the workers to serve on the committee in turn In most cases the workers members will be elected by them but some times they will be nominated by the employer In undertakings with a number of departments there may be a safety committee for each depart ment and a central committee for the whole undertaking To increase the number of workers participating in committee meetings in some undertakings one or two workers who are not members but work in a department that is directly concerned with an item on the agenda may be invited to attend a particular meeting to give their opinions or make proposals The same persons may be invited for two consecutive meetings in the first they can make proposals and at the second they are informed of the action taken on their proposals In some undertakings safety committees have been working success fully for many years and have built up good relations between employer and workers and useful co operation in safety matters In others com mittees have been less successful after a reasonably good start the members have found themselves at a loss for subjects to discuss and ha
130. form them LESSON 1 ACCIDENTS DURING WORK T Questions 1 Do you consider that the prevention of occupational accidents is a serious problem Give reasons for your answer 2 Why is it difficult to explain satisfactorily how accidents happen 3 Describe some of the ways in which endeavours are being made to prevent accidents 4 Discuss whether technological progress is likely to reduce the danger of accidents in industry or not SECOND LESSON THE ORIGINS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION Industrial accidents first began to occur in large numbers some 150 years ago as the revolution in industrial techniques began to make possible large scale mechanised production with the factory as the production unit Some of the conditions to which the Industrial Revo lution gave rise as it ran its triumphant but pitiless course were so atrocious as to create a widespread feeling of horror and a demand for reforms The movement for reform was led by people who felt that they had a moral responsibility for the well being of their fellows Accident preven tion work has from the very beginning owed much to these public spirited men and women whose sense of justice was outraged by the exploitation of the weak and whose sympathy was stirred by their sufferings The aim of the reformers was to persuade or shame the government into protecting the factory workers and above all the children who often lived and worked under conditions which today would be
131. g electrical accidents or ladder accidents for particular classes of workers e g young persons or for other types of information Statistics of the same kind for different years serve to show whether the number of accidents is increasing or decreasing and hence how successful or unsuccessful accident prevention work has been in the undertaking region or industry concerned Statis tics prepared for different undertakings working under more or less the same conditions indicate whether a certain undertaking is better than average or whether it needs substantial improvement from the accident prevention point of view 28 ACCIDENT PREVENTION It is clear therefore that accident statistics should be comparable not only from year to year but also from industry to industry region to region and so far as practicable country to country The principal limitation on the comparability of accident statistics lies in the dual purpose for which they are designed use in accident prevention and use in accident compensation For prevention purposes statistics of accidents should provide complete information on cause frequency industry and occupation as well as on other factors that influence risk Statistics for compensation on the other hand are used mainly for administrative purposes and must show the number of accidents of each degree of severity the length of disability and the amounts paid in compensation for these purposes various legal condi
132. g has been caught in moving machinery Falls on the same level i e tripping slipping etc are among the commonest of all accidents many of them are doubtless due to the wearing of unsuitable footwear The high heels of women s shoes are particularly dangerous on factory floors they are liable to cause falls as a result of poor balance catching in gratings or small irregularities and slipping Falls may also be caused by loose laces and ragged soles or heels PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT The best way of preventing accidents is admittedly the elimination of the hazard for instance by guarding a machine or other piece of equipment but if this is impossible it becomes necessary to protect the worker himself by providing him with a mask goggles safety shoes or some other personal means of protection Fig 15 Typical items of personal protective equipment The history of this equipment runs more or less parallel with that of guards where the designs were unsuitable masks goggles etc were not used as the workers preferred to work unprotected thus exposing themselves to avoidable head eye foot and other injuries Personal protective equipment is still very often considered a nuisance by the worker and it is even more difficult to achieve good results with it than with guards Design and construction are matters of great diffi culty As a rule personal protective equipment is manufactured by pri 1 See The Preventi
133. gated on 21 April 1810 created a system of inspection and although the inspectors had no statutory duties in connection with safety and health they did attend to these matters in practice Subsequently pursuant to an Imperial Decree dated 15 October 1810 the Government issued regulations for the protection of the public from nuisances arising from dangerous unhealthy or obnoxious undertakings and used them to promote industrial safety and health by treating the workers as members of the public Other European countries including Denmark and Switzerland had factory legislation on the statute books by 1840 but it was not until much later in Denmark in 1873 and in Switzerland at the federal 1 Quoted by P CALONI in Echec au risque Paris Soci t d ditions fran aises et internationales 1952 pp 10 11 LESSON 2 ORIGINS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION 11 level after 1877 that effective systems of factory inspection to enforce safety and health standards were established In the United States Massachusetts was the first state to pass an Act for the prevention of accidents in factories This Act dated 11 May 1877 provided for the guarding of belting shafting and gearing prohi bited the cleaning of machinery in motion and required elevators and hoistways to be protected and sufficient exits to be provided in case of fire Massachusetts was also the first state to pass an Act requiring accidents to be reported it was dated 1 Jun
134. ght one is not available when it is wanted If a worker wants a wrench that is missing he will not want to in terrupt his work to look for it he will use one with an open ff ing too large for the nut and e put in filler plates He may forget not only that a wrench so used may slip off the nut but also that it is too long for the nut and that if too much Fig 25 Never do this Use a hammer instead pressure is applied the bolt may snap an accident which in certain circumstances might result in injury to the worker or be other wise damaged with a resultant loss of time The remedy is careful planning of the composition of sets of tools for different workers possibly in consultation with the workers themselves and regular inspec tion to make sure that no tools are missing Every worker who knows his job will certainly use the right tools if they are provided Fig 26 ape 6a ee a preach LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 7D 3 Wooden handles of hand tools shall be a best quality straight grained material b of suitable shape and size and c smooth without splinters or sharp edges A good quality springy wood such as hickory ash or maple should be used for handles The length of the handle will obviously depend on the type of tool hammer axe for which it is used The handle should be shaped to fit the opening of the head of the hammer or axe The joint betwe
135. gy of Accident Prevention LESSON 9 PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING H3 The subjects of non compulsory courses include motor vehicle safety the prevention of accidents at sea and principles of safety inspection At the present time a large number of schools colleges and univer sities in the United States run courses of various kinds on safety in engineering Special attention has been paid here to the United States where educational establishments providing safety courses exist in the greatest numbers but similar facilities do exist in other countries among which particular mention may be made of Canada Italy and the Nordic Countries TRAINING Training of Workers The importance of proper training in safety is attested by the fact that a high proportion of all the accidents which happen occur to people who are new to their jobs and have not yet developed safe working habits The reasons for this are many as was seen in Lesson 8 Often accidents occur because the worker was not aware that there was a risk in other cases he perhaps knew that there was danger but did not know how to avoid it or felt that he need not do so In some cases he did bother about the danger but did not wish to appear afraid These are the kinds of accident which proper training seeks to eliminate Training for safe working is no different from training for efficient working in fact the safety aspect should be and often is stressed equally with quality
136. h A good many of the laws and regulations specifying the dangerous heavy or unhealthy jobs prohibited to young persons include exceptions designed to enable a young person to obtain suitable training for such work Most of them provide too for the lists of prohibited jobs to be revised from time to time in the light of technological progress which may reduce the danger of accidents occurring to young persons Young persons may be protected by the managements of under takings as well as by statutory prohibitions Many occupations can be followed by young persons provided that safe working conditions are maintained Safe working conditions imply correct working habits and great care should be taken to teach them during the period of apprenticeship Safety can never be considered as an accessory to a working method but should be incorporated in the method itself This rule must be 1 See p 114 120 ACCIDENT PREVENTION followed not only in technical schools but also in training courses for newcomers inside the factory and whenever the apprentice has to learn his work by helping an experienced worker If we consider the prohibition of child labour as the first step towards greater safety the second is to provide young persons with adequate safety training facilities if possible in the form of technical schools with teachers well versed in accident prevention This is not only important from the point of view of the work that young person
137. hannels in trade and technical schools in apprentices courses and on the job While generally speaking propaganda seeks to persuade education seeks to provide information and training seeks to provide skill there is really no sharp distinction between them and all have some educational value PROPAGANDA Posters There are all sorts of safety posters and each may help to promote safety in a different way Some are humorous some gruesome some give general advice some demonstrate a particular hazard in a particular operation and so on Posters may be used to deprecate common bad habits show the general advantages of safe working or give detailed 104 ACCIDENT PREVENTION information advice or instructions on particular points Some try to influence the worker by appealing to his pride self love affection curiosity or humour One type of poster known as the positive poster shows the advan tages of caution another type known as the negative poster illustrates the consequences of carelessness Those in favour of positive posters think that showing a good example will result in its being followed A positive poster may be of value for example at a time when workers are worrying about something perhaps family troubles and their atten tion wanders from their work At such times they need encourage ment and it is therefore inadvisable to use negative posters which may cause fear or as it is sometimes called safety
138. has more important things to do than pro mote safety his department is likely to have a bad accident record However having regard to the cost of accidents it might be thought that the foreman who can think only of costs would want to prevent accidents anyhow Moreover he would probably not think that he had more important things than safety to think about unless he was encouraged to do so by a management insufficiently safety minded A foreman may also be overworked and have to neglect some jobs then safety standards may suffer seriously Example A metal press had to be overhauled and repaired After some parts of the press had been replaced the usual guard could no longer be used LESSON 11 SAFETY IN THE UNDERTAKING 127 and some alterations were needed to enable it to be fitted on As the foreman knew that some articles were urgently required he ordered them to be made on the press without waiting for the guard to be fitted so as not to lose time The worker started work and had an accident resulting in mutilation of his right hand As the firm carried its own risks it had to pay about 5 000 direct costs and lost an unknown amount in indirect costs Thus failure to wait a day or two for the guard resulted in a considerable financial loss and what is far worse caused permanent disablement of a worker The foreman should be convinced that accidents are preventable just as he is convinced that wastage of material is pre
139. hat if they make criticisms their superiors will make life difficult for them An employer or senior mana gerial official will seldom object to constructive criticism but sometimes a foreman resents what he feels to be personal criticism in discussions on safety in his department and it may require the joint efforts of the management and the committee to smooth matters out and so allay the fear of reprisals in the workers minds 4 A safety committee must feel that it is backed by the employer This can be ensured by having a member of the management as its chair man providing suitable facilities such as a comfortable well furnished room for meetings allowing the members time off to attend them furnishing secretarial assistance permitting members to visit any place in the factory when there is good reason to do so in the interests of safety and perhaps in other ways 5 The committee should meet regularly for instance once a month One item on the agenda of every meeting should be discussion of any accidents that have occurred in the undertaking since the last meeting The discussions should be directed to determining the cause of each accident and working out measures to prevent its recurrence 6 Committee members accompanied by the safety engineer or another competent person should make periodical inspections of the undertaking In this way they will see conditions for themselves and have opportunities of discussing them with th
140. he acetylene cylinder is observed to be rapidly becoming hotter the cylinder valve must be closed and kept closed If possible the cylinder should be thrown into a canal or a river or be taken to a place where there is no special danger in case of explosion and cooled by a water jet in either case it should be given four or five hours to cool If it is impossible to take such measures an explosion must be expected and the area cordoned off In the case of spontaneous heating the cylinder valve must be closed and kept closed The idea that opening the valve will prevent a dangerous increase in pressure is mistaken it will accelerate the process of decom position and furthermore the aperture of the valve will become blocked by accumulations of soot The foregoing shows how essential it is to be able to close the cylinder at any moment For this reason the key used for turning the valve spindle should always be on or near the cylinder PORTABLE LADDERS Portable ladders are used to give access to scaffolds platforms and other places in buildings under construction and places where people have to go for maintenance and repair work and for many other pur poses Ladders are for instance an important part of the equipment of fire brigades In many countries ladders are in such common use that it seems superfluous to draw attention to the purposes they serve However there are countries where the use of ladders is far from general and workers
141. he bin this line is kept as short as practicable The attendant should be perfectly familiar with the hazards inherent in this type of work He should never change the point of anchorage for the lifeline while the worker in the silo is not in a 2 ACCIDENT PREVENTION safe position that is is not standing on a part of the structure or on a ladder securely fixed to it 37 Workers shall not be permitted to enter bins used for storing dry bulk material until all supply of material to the bin has been discontinued and precautions have been taken against accidental renewal As a rule workers around a silo have no direct control of the filling equipment Hence special precautions have to be taken against un expected starting of the machinery this can be done for instance by locking the switches It is also desirable that during work in the silo the discharge funnel should remain closed 38 Bins used for storing dry bulk material shall be provided with stairways or permanent ladders and platforms where necessary for easy and safe access to all parts with standard railings on both stairways and platforms It is desirable to have fixed ladders inside bins if portable ladders are used they must be adequately fixed to structural parts of the bin On the subject of standard railings Regulation 13 of the Model Code which deals with stairways contains the following recommendations Railings 10 All stairways having four or mor
142. he planning of the various parts of a factory building the designing and installing of equipment that may be housed in it and the handling and storage of the dangerous substances that it may use or manufacture It is not possible in this book to explain in any detail the precautions that should be taken against all the risks that may arise in a factory in relation to the building itself the equipment in it and the processes carried on However it is particularly important that every worker should know the main precau tions to be taken with certain items of equipment in general use such as hand tools portable electrical apparatus gears silos acetylene cylinders and ladders and these are explained in this lesson For purposes of convenience reference is made at times to the relevant provisions of the Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments which was mentioned earlier HAND TOOLS A large number of injuries are caused by hand tools Most of them are not very serious but long periods of absence from work may be necessary if the injury becomes infected The main causes of these acci dents are the use of unsuitable tools the misuse of tools poor main tenance and improper storage Regulations 119 and 211 the latter dealing with the more specific subject of tools for maintenance and repair work of the Model Code contain general recommendations for the preven tion of such accidents these are quoted below with explan
143. hen workers have drunk poisons kept in milk or beer bottles Example A worker seeing a beer bottle near the place of a fellow worker who had gone away for some minutes took the bottle and to play a joke on his mate drank the contents The bottle was in fact filled with mordant and the worker had to be immediately taken to hospital where he was treated for two weeks For the prevention of such accidents labels such as indicated in figures 16 to 21 are often used 1 The symbols were originally designed by a meeting of experts on dangerous substances convened by the I L O 1 See I L O Meeting of Experts on Dangerous Substances 1956 in Occupa tional Safety and Health Vol VII No 2 1957 LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 63 FIGS 16 21 SYMBOLS FOR LABELLING OF DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES Fig 16 Toxic substances Fig 17 Explosive substances Fig 18 Flammable substances Fig 19 Oxidising substances Fig 20 Corrosive substances Fig 21 Radioactive substances 1 The skull and crossbones do not appear on labels intended for the transport of parcels containing radioactive sources other than large sources as defined in the International Atomic Energy Agency s Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials 64 ACCIDENT PREVENTION in 1956 to draw attention to the risks associated with dangerous sub stances some of them have since been modified The use of symbols for this purpose has the a
144. here is a specific reason for the difference For the same mathematical reasons as those mentioned above it must be expected that one group of workers will not have the same number of 100 ACCIDENT PREVENTION accidents as another group working under similar conditions However investigations into the distribution of accidents in a group of workers have led to the conclusion that the differences in the numbers of accidents sustained by different workers cannot be explained entirely in terms of probability or chance Some researches in this field have shown not only that a large proportion of the accidents occurring in a given period happen to a relatively small number of workers but also that this same small group of workers also have more than their share of accidents during a subsequent control period Some workers always have a large number of accidents others are always found in the group with the least accidents and still others move from one group to another It is far from easy to find a satisfactory explanation for this situation There are always many circumstances simultaneously influencing working condi tions and the workers and their circumstances change with time in several ways This makes it extremely difficult to determine the influence of each circumstance separately Moreover it is not sure that in statistics the same meaning is always given to the word accident If two persons meet with a different number of accid
145. here was a ladder with a rung missing in the workroom 2 a worker took that ladder and used it for a small repair job and 3 after finishing the job he came down the ladder without remember ing that there was a rung missing Each of these three factors was required to bring about a situation in which the accident could happen but the accident only took place when all three were present in combination If one of the circumstances could be eliminated the accident could not recur When deciding which factor Should be considered as the cause of the accident it is essential that the one chosen is one which can actually be prevented from recurring this is the only way to achieve practical results in accident prevention To take the third factor insufficient attention of the worker in the first instance it will be very difficult if not impossible to make sure that a worker thinks of his work continuously and never allows his attention to wander even for a moment Consequently this factor should not be considered as the cause of the accident The second factor using a defective ladder could perhaps be dealt with by giving instructions forbidding the use of defective ladders Such instructions however will not be fully effective for it will not always be possible to prevent a worker who wants a ladder just for a moment from taking the first one he sces instead of spending time looking for a suitable one The factor mentioned first pres
146. higher when work goes faster it is not difficult to understand that he may be led to neglect safety in order to increase output It can also be understood that many people will not give up an easier way of working i e one that yields the same results with less trouble just because another way is safer These considerations have already been mentioned when discussing technical aspects of accident prevention Lesson 5 If the worker can work more comfortably without a guard as is sometimes the case with certain old fashioned guards on woodworking machines or give a better finish to the job if it is removed he may well object to working with it especially if he is highly skilled and takes pride in his work Working in a factory with many other persons under foremen over seers and managers the worker may feel that while it is necessary to obey orders he does not want to do so more than is necessary He may want to be his own master in his place and his job and to take care of himself He may object to interference in personal matters even to orders given in his own interest This attitude which is often mere bravado can however be dangerous and lead him to take risks just to prove his independence it should have been counteracted while he was at school or learning his trade The same can be said of ignorance of safe working methods Many difficulties met in accident prevention are due to insufficient vocational training There is ano
147. hing can however be done when there are social workers in the personnel department of the under taking FATIGUE AND BOREDOM Many authorities consider that fatigue increases the risk of accidents and the greater the fatigue the greater the risk but the relation between fatigue and accidents is extremely complex and it is not easy to draw simple conclusions on the subject Fatigue makes a worker less attentive slower in action and neglectful of precautions However the ordinary fatigue of the working day is not Clearly reflected in the accident rates for the different hours of the day In addition the influence of fatigue differs with different persons A worker who is very interested in his job will give all his attention to it and does not feel fatigue while a worker who is not interested at all in his job tends to become inattentive and careless at times when fatigue cannot play an important part in his behaviour Accidents are often related not so much to physical fatigue as to the worker s mental attitude This attitude depends to a high degree on whether he likes his work or not and here again the general environment counts Everything which helps to augment his interest and satisfaction in his work things such as responsibility for the work appreciation of the management and being kept informed of what goes on in the factory will tend to decrease his liability to accidents Some persons are quite satisfied with monotonous
148. hing material but if the nozzle is blocked the appliance will burst Suitable construction and regular control should prevent these accidents Another serious risk arises when extinguishers are filled with a toxic substance such as methyl bromide or carbon tetrachloride there will be a risk of poisoning if the extinguisher leaks or is used in a confined space Such extinguishers should therefore not be used indoors Fire hoses provided with nozzles should be available where practic able and it is important that the connections should fit the equipment of public fire brigades so that the latter can operate in the factory Factories where the risk of fire is great such as textile plants should normally be equipped with sprinkler systems in which water under pressure is carried in a network of pipes near the ceilings of the work rooms The pipes have nozzles closed by metal strips If a fire breaks out the heat melts the nearest strip and water is sprayed into the room FIRE ALARMS An alarm system should be available to warh everybody in case of fire This can be done if the alarm is not given automatically by installing alarm bells whistles or sirens in different parts of the factory and push buttons or handles in all workrooms to operate the alarm if necessary Alarms must be audible everywhere in the factory including workrooms store houses gangways locker rooms lavatories and washrooms FIRE PREVENTION ORGANISATION There
149. hould when necessary be protected against sparks splashes of molten metal or other flying particles Protection against harmful noise is dealt with later in this lesson Lung Protection Lung protection will be required whenever there are undue quantities of harmful elements or a deficiency of oxygen in the atmosphere The 1 Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments R 233 See p 66 LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 61 former may be gases fumes mists or dusts the latter may occur in a badly ventilated place such as a tank or a bin Harmful elements may be toxic corrosive or irritating and if in the form of dusts may cause a pathological lung condition known as pneumoconiosis The commonest of the pneumoconioses is silicosis which is caused by silica dust The subject of respiratory protection is more within the field of health than that of safety and will not be dealt with in any detail here In some countries however cases of gassing are considered as accidents Other Protective Equipment Other examples of personal protective equipment are suits and hoods for workers exposed to corrosive substances safety belts and lifelines for workers in confined spaces where they may be gassed and leggings for workers manipulating molten metal During the last 25 years much progress has been made in many coun tries in the design of suitable personal protective equipment and the number of goggles shoes h
150. ial Welfare Division The Safe Use of Harmful Substances Sydney 1953 Drinker P and Harca T Industrial Dust Second Edition New York London and Toronto McGraw Hill 1954 Sax N Handbook of Dangerous Materials New York Reinhold Publishing Corporation 1951 Radiations Argonne Nationa Laboratory Radiation Safety Guide editor J R Novak Washington Department of Commerce Office of Technical Services 1956 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Manual of Industrial Radiation Protection Part I Convention and Recommendation Part II Model Code of Safety Regulations Jonising Radiations Part IJI General Guide on Protection against Ionising Radiations Part IV Guide on Protection against Ionising Radiations in Industrial Radiography and Fluoroscopy Part V Guide on Protection against Ionising Radiations in the Application of Luminous Compounds Geneva 1959 64 SHERWOOD R J and DUNSTER H J A Short Course on Radiological Pro tection Atomic Energy Research Establishment Harwell London H M Stationery Office 1956 Personal Protective Equipment CAMPBELL D A RIDDELL W J B and MACNALTY A S Eyes in Industry A Comprehensive Book on Eyesight Written for Industrial Workers Lon don New York Toronto Longmans Green and Co 1951 CANADIAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION Code for Head and Eye Protection CSA Z 94 1948 Ottawa 1948 RoyaL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS Eye Protection for Industrial W
151. iate the latter properly All too often a new worker when arriving for the first time at the factory is sent immediately to the department where he is to work and has to wait there till the foreman has time to show him his place and his work He is told a few things and then is left to his own devices The impression a new worker receives from the factory in general and from his own environment in particular is very important Whether he will be interested in the factory and his fellow workers or only in his wages and whether he will feel that he is a full member of a new society or only an outsider will depend to a great extent on the impressions he gains during the first few days The new worker should be shown generally how the factory is run and given an opportunity to ask questions He should be given information on subjects of special interest to him such as wages working hours the canteen the first aid service and welfare facilities The department in which he is to work will be described in greater detail there will be full explanations of the working methods that he has to follow and the hazards to which he may be exposed Safety instructions should be given and explained clearly and fully and all care should be taken to ensure that the worker really understands them The importance of obtaining immediate first aid treatment after an accident should also be stressed so that the worker has no excuse for not reporting minor injuries t
152. ich have occurred in the plant It is normally one of the tasks of the safety inspectors and the safety engineer to instruct the responsible supervisory staff and particu larly the foremen and assistant foremen in the action to be taken when an accident has occurred to ensure proper assessment of the cause and of the means by which a repetition might be avoided in the future Finally the instruction given to senior shop personnel often includes a course in first aid methods of putting out small fires and matters such as the precautions to take and the alarm bell to ring when something untoward happens Training of Departmental Heads Engineers etc The training of middle management personnel today normally includes instruction in regard to occupational safety and health in the 116 ACCIDENT PREVENTION industry concerned and also in regard to the functions and responsibility of persons in these grades in such matters Great progress has been made in many undertakings through training designers of tools and equipment to pay all due regard to the safety aspects of the work in which the tools and equipment are to be used Similarly safety is considered in the design of machine tools the technique of designing proper guards for machines is today an important aspect of the training of machine constructors The training of safety inspectors and safety engineers see Lesson 11 is of course the most thoroughgoing safety training given
153. iciently wide protected against flames and smoke and well separated from each other 3 Wooden stairs spiral stairs elevators and ladders should not count as exits 4 Exits should be signposted and well lit 5 Exits should always be kept unobstructed 6 Outside stairways and fire escapes should not discharge into interior courtyards or blind alleys FIRE EXTINGUISHING EQUIPMENT Fire extinguishing equipment may range from buckets of water or sand to complete sprinkler systems The kind and amount of equipment 1See National Safety Council Accident Prevention Manual second edition Chicago 1951 Ch 17 pp 18 ff 38 ACCIDENT PREVENTION needed will depend on the size and construction of the building to be protected and the processes carried on in it Sometimes it is sufficient to have portable fire extinguishers or even a supply of dry sand or some barrels filled with water Most factories in regions with piped water supplies will have hydrants and hoses As regards portable fire extinguishers care should be taken that they do not constitute a danger in themselves This is sometimes the case with appliances of unsuitable construction containing chemicals which may block the spray nozzle When such an appliance has to be used the chemicals inside are mixed either by the breaking of a seal or just by turning the appliance upside down The pressure inside the cylinder then increases forcing out a jet or spray of extinguis
154. ide does not take place in a gasholder under a movable gas bell This rule is laid down because generators in which this occurs have to be cleaned after a prescribed quantity of carbide has been used In the past however this rule was not fully observed cleaning was often done only when much more carbide had been used than was specified in the instructions The result was that on the water in these generators there floated a kind of lime foam in which small carbide particles were held These particles were not in sufficient contact with the water and became very hot When finally the gas bell was lifted to clean the generator the acetylene in it mixed with the surrounding air and the mixture was ignited by glowing carbide particles An explosion followed the gas bell was blown off and the man in charge of cleaning was killed or very seriously injured To prevent such accidents other types of acetylene generator had to be used for in practice it was impossible to see that the cleaning instructions were obeyed especially in small undertakings DISCIPLINE On several occasions the responsibility of the employer has beed mentioned He is largely responsible for the workers environment ann the way in which work is carried on However it has also been mentioned that sometimes safety rules are not observed and safety appliances are not used by the workers If this occurs because the rules are not suited to the circumstances there is no special rea
155. in such a way that oiling can be done without removing it e g through small openings An example was given earlier figure 11 If this is not practicable or if the gear wheels have to be replaced from time to time the guard should be so designed as to lock when the machine is running This system is used for some textile machines for instance Where such an arrangement is impracticable the guard should be so placed as to inconvenience the worker when open so that if he wants to work comfortably he will have to close it An example of a guard for gears is shown in figure 10 As it is neces sary to change the gears in accordance with the work to be done the guard can pivot on the bolt If in this case the gears had been completely enclosed it would have been necessary to take the guard off each time the gears had to be changed and it is doubtful whether such a guard would always be replaced in practice A guard that only covers the area where two gear wheels meet is insufficient either because it does not prevent a finger from penetrating between the gear wheels from a direction parallel to the shaft or because there is a risk of nipping between the end of the guard and the teeth of the wheel or again because the guard is so made that a small inci dental deformation brings it too close to the teeth and creates a similar risk The risk of nipping between two gear wheels is not their only danger Gears present the same risks as other p
156. in in 1953 by the Italian National Accident Prevention Institute which in collaboration with the I L O organised the First World Congress for the Prevention of Occupational Accidents in Rome in April 1955 The Congress was attended by 1 100 delegates from some 30 countries A Second World Congress of the same kind was held in Brussels in May 1958 It was organised by a committee of the Benelux countries with the collaboration of the I L O About 1 400 delegates from over 40 countries attended the Congress the main theme of which was co operation in the service of safety A Third World Congress was held at Paris in 1961 Other international organisations that have contributed to the pro motion of industrial safety are the International Organisation for Standardisation the International Electrotechnical Commission the International Technical Committee for the Prevention and Extinction of Fires the International Commission on Illumination and the Perma nent International Committee for Acetylene Fusion Welding and Allied Industries and the International Social Security Association The five Nordic Countries Denmark Finland Iceland Norway and Sweden have for many years maintained close collaboration in the safety LESSON 13 INTERNATIONAL SAFETY ACTIVITIES 163 field This step was first decided upon at a meeting of heads of labour inspection departments held at Stockholm in 1927 when the utility of exchanging experiences in matters
157. industrial equipment the duties of employers and workers training medical supervision first aid and medical examinations 2 standardisation i e the laying down of official semi official or unofficial standards concerning for example the safe construction of certain types of industrial equipment safe and hygienic practices or personal protective devices 3 inspection i e the enforcement of mandatory regulations 4 technical research including such matters as investigation of the properties and characteristics of harmful materials the study of machine 1 Department of Statistics Report on the Industrial Accidents Statistics of New Zealand for the Year 1955 Wellington 1957 p 10 2 Accident Facts Chicago National Safety Council 1959 edition p 31 LESSON 1 ACCIDENTS DURING WORK 5 guards the testing of respiratory masks the investigation of methods of preventing gas and dust explosions or the search for the most suitable materials and designs for hoisting ropes and other hoisting equipment 5 medical research including in particular investigation of the physiological and pathological effects of environmental and technological factors and the physical circumstances conducive to accidents 6 psychological research i e investigation of the psychological patterns conducive to accidents 7 statistical research to ascertain what kinds of accidents occur in what numbers to what types of people i
158. ing accident prevention in general and among dockers and responsibility for the protection of power driven machinery were adopted by the Conference for the first time in 1929 A new depar ture was made in 1937 when a temporary committee of experts was appointed to help the Office draft safety provisions for coal mines hitherto the Office had relied on members of the Correspondence Com mittee for help of this kind Industrial Committees began to meet in 1945 Another new step was taken in 1948 when safety provisions for industrial establishments were incorporated in the Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments for the Guidance of Governments and Industry This code was not related to any Convention or Recom mendation and had no binding force whatsoever it was intended solely to serve as a model for drafters of regulations on the subject Technical assistance was expanded and reorganised in 1951 when the United Nations scheme came into operation In the same year the first edition of a catalogue of safety and health films was published The first of a new series of documents called Codes of Practice was drawn up in 1956 They are somewhat more informal than the Model Code The first code of practice dealt with the safety and health of dock workers In 1958 it was decided to publish yet another series of docu ments called manuals i e practical handbooks The first of the series will deal with the prevention and suppressi
159. ing of machines by the manufacturer is generally practicable in the case of guards for transmissions or guards at the point of opera tion where developments have been consolidated and standardised as is the case with calenders in laundries When no standard guard exists it is impossible to do more than indicate that a certain hazard has to be eliminated In some cases it is sufficient for safety regulations to prescribe that the machine should be so designed that it is possible to fit a suitable guard without giving specifications for the guard itself This is the case with the riving knife of a circular saw for the specifications of the knife required depend on those of the saw blade to be used no difficulties will be met later in the matter of guarding if an adequate support for riving knives has been placed on the machine Questions 1 Give some reasons why workmen may fail to use machine guards provided for them 2 Mention some of the requirements that a machine guard should satisfy 3 Describe the potential advantages and drawbacks of machine guarding 4 What are the advantages of built in guards SIXTH LESSON SOME PRINCIPLES OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION HI OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES PLANNING Good planning is as essential in safety as it is in production If a new factory is to be built or an existing factory reconstructed there are many things affecting both safety and production that should be taken into account in the
160. ion CHAPTER V Training and Information Services Training for Management Training for Supervisors Training for Workers Training for Extension Service Officers Informa tion Services CHAPTER Vl Research Technological Research and Testing Economic and Social Research The Organisation of Research CuapTer VII Financial and Physical Facilities Financial Assistance Industrial Estates CHAPTER VIII Co operative Associations Joint Enterprise Co operatives Common Facility Co operatives The Co operative as an Association Organisation and Manage ment Co operation and the State 204 pages l Price 2 12s
161. ion against crushing and piercing but to be really safe a man has to wear shoes with built in steel toe caps and with steel soles inside the leather ones The latter precaution is particularly important for workers on building sites where protruding nails may be common hazards Sometimes special kinds of footwear are necessary For instance electricians should wear non conducting shoes i e shoes with no metal nails and workers in explosives factories should wear non sparking shoes also without metal nails Gloves Gloves should be distributed to workers with due consideration to the hazards as well as to the need to allow free movement for fingers and hands The kind of glove required will vary according to the injury to be prevented puncture cut heat burn chemical burn electric shock radiation burn etc It should be remembered that it is dangerous to wear gloves when working at drilling machines power presses and other machines in which a glove might be caught Hard Hats Workers liable to be struck by falling or flying objects or otherwise exposed to head injuries should wear hard hats or helmets sufficiently strong and at the same time not too heavy Plastic hard hats with cloth linings have proved to be very suitable Aprons Aprons of various materials may be very useful to protect workers against chemical or heat burns wet or oil but they should not be worn when working near machines Ear Protection Ears s
162. ional Labour Conference in 1923 and in the Labour Inspection Convention No 81 and Recommendation No 81 adopted by the Conference in 1947 We shall return to these subjects later in this lesson The functions attributed to governments and public authorities in these international instruments will be seen to fall into various classes safety laws and regulations enforcement investigation education research and testing promotional activities and so on These different branches of activity are described below SAFETY LAWS AND REGULATIONS The Accident Prevention Recommendation 1929 states that any effective system of accident prevention should rest on a basis of statutory requirements This statement is amply justified by experience There are many kinds of safety laws and regulations In countries with parliamentary systems of government there is a clear distinction between a law and a regulation A law is passed by parliament a regula tion is issued by a minister although it may have to be submitted to parliament before it can become effective Passing a law through parlia ment is usually a very laborious process and consequently there is a tendency in many countries to draft safety laws in such a way that they do not frequently have to be resubmitted to the legislature for amendment in the light of subsequent developments This is done by confining such laws to general principles and including a list of subjects on which the compe
163. ional value of posters films and slides 1 This subject is dealt with at greater length in Lesson 14 LESSON 9 PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING 117 4 How can schools and colleges help to promote occupational safety 5 Discuss whether and if so why safety training should be given to a workers on very dangerous jobs b all workers without exception c foremen and other supervisors d managerial staff TENTH LESSON SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF WORKERS So far we have been concerned with aspects of safety and accident prevention that involve all workers but there are certain categories of workers which need special consideration because for one reason or another they are exposed to special risks In many countries some of these groups children young persons and women are the subject of special legislation but there do not appear to be any special safety regulations for the handicapped or the elderly worker Nevertheless the latter groups have formed the subject of a certain amount of study Another special category of workers but of a rather different kind comprises those required to possess an official certificate of competency CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS Young workers need special care for both physiological and psycho logical reasons They usually lack the physical strength of the adult they are apt to act impetuously and they are wanting in experience in short they are both physically and mentally immature
164. ions in the building industry This Recommen dation contains a model code of safety regulations which includes a number of provisions concerning ladders For instance Regulation 3 contains the following 1 all ladders shall be of sound material and be of adequate strength having regard to the loads and strains to which they will be subjected Fig 39 Example of safe ladder construc tion Note how the rungs are mortised into Ladders used on building sites are slots in the uprights usually made of ordinary wood and consequently should have dimensions suitable for the material used and the rough treatment to which they may be exposed An example of a good home made construction is shown in figure 39 The dimensions of this ladder made of ordinary pine should be a if the length of the ladder is not more than 3 m uprights 5x7 cm rungs 2x7 cm b if the length of the ladder is more than 3 m but not more than 5 m uprights 5x10 cm rungs 2 57 cm The uprights are mortised in such a way that the load is suitably distributed between the rungs and the uprights The second provision reads 1 See for instance British Standards Institution Aluminium Ladders Steps and Trestles British Standard 2037 London 1953 88 ACCIDENT PREVENTION 2 The wooden parts used for ladders shall be of good quality shall have long fibres shall be in good condition and shall not be painted or treated in a mann
165. is more to fire protection then fire resistant construction and the provision of fire extinguishing equipment There are also matters such as the organisation and training of fire brigades fire drills and the inspection and maintenance of fire fighting equipment in which the workers themselves have an important part to play LESSON 4 FIRE PROTECTION 39 Firstly every undertaking should have trained fire fighters on each shift large undertakings may have complete brigades and if the risk warrants it a full time fire prevention officer Fire fighters should be kept in training by regular drills Secondly it is essential that undertakings be inspected at suitable intervals for fire risks and to see that all fire fighting equipment is in good condition Some undertakings employ full time watchmen for this purpose Thirdly it is desirable that regular fire drills be organised to make sure that all workers know how to use the fire extinguishing equipment where the nearest exit is and how to leave in good order Fire drills to ensure that exits are sufficient to enable the factory to be evacuated quickly and that the workers know how to leave the premises in an orderly manner should also be organised from time to time However it should not be overlooked that fire drills are expensive as they suddenly stop production and it may take some time before work can be resumed They should therefore not be abused Lastly it is also nece
166. ith the very lowest standards of safety in the country to apply Consequently as a rule laws and regulations lay down a bare minimum standard of safety Moreover they do not usually provide guidance as to how this standard is to be achieved Laws and regulations often have to combine technical with legal phraseology and as a result they are sometimes not easy for the layman to understand A useful practice followed in some countries is to issue booklets explaining the provisions of safety laws in simple language Here are one or two examples of legislative provisions illustrating some of their limitations In the Netherlands the following regulation is in force Wooden ladders should not be painted but coated with clear varnish This rule indicates exactly what has to be done but does not explain that it should be done to prevent defects in the wood being concealed by paint 142 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Mexican legislation contains the following If it is necessary to nail anything use should always be made of a hammer and not of any object because if the tool is not suitable it is likely that the blow will glance off the head of the nail and fall on the worker s fingers Here a safety rule is formulated and the need for such a rule is ex plained as well A New York State regulation reads Each extractor hereafter installed and existing installations where practic able shall be equipped with an interlocking or other appro
167. l an arm or a leg appears at the opening but by then it is probably too late to save his life Such accidents have happened in large silos as well as in small ones and in silos containing sawdust or grain as well as in those containing 1See Ministry of Labour and National Service Factory Department Accidents How They Happen and How to Prevent Them Vol 11 New Series Apr 1952 London H M Stationery Office 80 ACCIDENT PREVENTION sand or gravel Moreover once a man is buried in the mass it is very difficult to pull him out In one case seven men were unable to pull up a man who was buried in sand up to his thighs after some terrible minutes the man disappeared under the sand and died before the silo could be emptied To prevent such accidents it is sometimes considered to be sufficient to provide workers entering bins with a belt attached to a lifeline and have another worker stationed outside to render assistance if necessary These measures have proved to be necessary but insufficient if no special pre cautions have been taken Regulation 184 paragraphs 34 to 41 of the Model Code contains the following provisions on storage bins for dry bulk material 34 Dry bulk material should be stored in bins which will permit removal from the bottom 35 Open top hopper bins containing bulk material which is discharged at the bottom either by hand or by mechanical means shall be covered with gratings which will allow the use of p
168. l material for those who wish for further information on any particular aspect of the subject General ASSOCIATION OF CASUALTY AND SURETY COMPANIES Handbook of Industrial Safety Standards Ninth edition New York 1954 BLAKE Roland P editor Industrial Safety 2nd edition New York Prentice Hall Inc 1953 CANADIAN DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR Safety Manual for Government Depart ments and Crown Agencies Queen s Printer and Controller of Stationery Ottawa 1958 De REAMER R Modern Safety Practices New York John Wiley and Sons Inc London Chapman and Hall Ltd 1958 HernricH H W Industrial Accident Prevention A Scientific Approach 3rd edition New York Toronto and London McGraw Hill 1950 Industrial Accident Prevention A report of the Industrial Safety Committee of the National Joint Advisory Council London H M Stationery Office 1956 INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF OHIO Division of Safety and Hygiene Industrial Safety Service Manual Columbus Ohio 1954 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE International Directory of Institutions Engaged in Study Research and Other Activities in the Field of Occupational Safety and Health 2 vols Geneva 1958 NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL Five Minute Safety Talks for Foremen Book 4 Chicago 1953 Handbook of Accident Prevention for Business and Industry Chicago 1953 How to Start a Safety Programme Chicago 1954 Accident Prevention Manual for industrial Operations
169. l number of persons visited the museums and among them only a few could be con sidered as being directly interested in safety problems Moreover demonstrations of guards in a museum did not convince some people that they were also suitable under factory conditions Some museums have continued along conventional lines and are not very important today Others have been reorganised and developed into institutions which now take an active part in the safety movement One important development was the abandonment of the practice of inviting employers and workers to visit safety museums and the organisation 1 See also p 109 LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 151 of exhibitions in factories instead Itinerant exhibitions of this kind have been organised and placed at the disposal of industry It has thus become possible to provide an undertaking with what it needs at a particular moment for its safety programme Similarly films film strips and slides are no longer used solely for demonstrations in museums but are available to factories Safety museums sometimes open lending libraries and information centres as well Lastly members of the staff of some safety museums are now some times loaned to undertakings and especially to the smaller ones They may go to a factory and stay there for a month or longer to organise safety activities to make inspections and to advise generally on accident prevention This has proved to be an
170. l on same level slip contact with extreme temperatures 4 the unsafe act committed e g operating without authority operating at unsafe speed making safety devices inoperative and 5 the unsafe personal factor involved e g improper attitude lack of knowledge or skill bodily defects 1 Agency and Agency Part a Agency The agency is the object or substance which is most closely associated with the injury and which in general could have been properly guarded or adjusted Agencies are subdivided into major groups such as the following 00 Machines l 01 Pumps and prime movers 02 Elevators 03 Hoisting apparatus 04 Conveyors 05 Boilers and pressure vessels 06 Vehicles 07 Animals 08 Mechanical power transmission apparatus 09 Electric apparatus 10 Hand tools 11 Chemicals Each major group is split up into secondary groups For instance the group entitled machines contains among others the following 0000 Agitators mixers tumblers etc 0004 Buffers polishers sanders grinders 0008 Casting forging and welding machines 0013 Crushing pulverising machines etc 0017 Drilling boring and turning machines b Agency part The agency part is the particular part of the selected agency which is most closely associated with the injury and which in general was defective or not properly guarded For pumps and prime movers for instance the complete list of agenc
171. m the victim the foreman or the department manager he will besides giving the personnel the im pression that he takes safety seriously also emphasise the responsibility of the foreman and the department manager for what happens in their department If the accident is serious the concern of the management might be made manifest in some appropriate way at the hospital or the worker s home In many countries employers usually have a strong feeling of respon sibility for safety and are willing to consider every serious proposal for improving it Employers who do not will draw on themselves the atten tion of the labour inspection services and may even be subjected to pres sure by trade unions However in countries which are technically less developed many employers need education in safety mindedness for they are reluctant to believe that much can be done to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by industrial accidents There are ways of instilling more positive attitudes into employers some of them are described in Lessons 12 and 13 which describe the role of governments safety associations trade unions and other bodies in the promotion of occupational safety THE ROLE OF THE FOREMAN The enforcement of safety measures depends to a great extent on the foreman for the workers are in his charge and their behaviour will be powerfully influenced by his If the foreman wants to devote all his time to production or feels that he
172. major concern in accident prevention work In the early days of the Industrial Revolution it was machinery that caused the spectacular accidents in factories which so aroused public opinion and some of the earliest measures to introduce safety legisla tion and inspection were designed to reduce the dangers inherent in machinery Machinery is still important from the accident prevention point of view in highly industrialised countries it causes only a fairly small minority of industrial accidents usually between 15 and 25 per cent but the severity rate of the accidents it does cause is generally high In the course of time the practice of fitting guards to machines spread gradually but the guards were often unsatisfactory for one reason or another they were unreliable they hampered the work or they needed too much attention Consequently the guards were often taken off and work went on with unprotected machines Usually in fact the designers of guards were mainly concerned with compliance with the law or removal of a risk and gave little thought to the influence of a guard on production or to the nuisance it might represent for the worker Sometimes as in the case of the fencing of dangerous parts of power transmission equipment this attitude did not matter much but in other cases e g with woodworking machinery and metal presses the guards designed were a serious impediment to efficient production The result was that they were rem
173. may result which will one day cause an accident 27 Portable ladders shall be so stored that a they are easy of access b they can be easily and safely withdrawn for use c they are not exposed to the weather excessive heat or excessive dampness d they are exposed to good ventilation and e if horizontal they are sufficiently well supported to avoid sagging and permanent set When a worker wants a ladder he should not have any difficulty in getting one otherwise he may well look for something else that is not so safe e g a box or a pile of objects on which he can stand thus exposing himself to unnecessary risks The fibre structure of wooden ladders may be damaged by exposure to the weather excessive heat or dampness or by storage in a badly ventilated place The weakening may not be immediately visible with the result that a defective ladder which is liable to break at any time may be left in use Sagging may result in permanent deformation and weakening if ladders are not properly supported when in a horizontal position of course long ladders will be most liable to sag LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 93 Questions 1 Mention some of the precautions that should be taken with hand tools 2 What can be done to promote the safe use of hand tools by main tenance and repair men 3 Why can portable electric apparatus be dangerous 4 What are the maximum voltages considered safe for portable
174. means of solving them have been tried Humour is often introduced into a film as is the case with posters to overcome objections to receiving orders and advice The situation in a factory should be shown accurately to prevent the film giving the impression that it is not based on normal working conditions The feelings of the workers and their customs and circum stances should be carefully reflected As films have to show the situation to which the worker is accustomed and to consider his way of thinking the same film is not necessarily suitable for different countries For instance a film may show a factory with workers who start work in an unsafe way Before a worker can complete his wrong working sequence and endanger himself or others a girl arrives in the picture holding back his hand or in some other way preventing an accident from happening and indicating how the work should be done safely In countries where women are to a considerable degree emancipated workers will watch the film with some amusement In countries where the emancipation of women has hardly begun however workers will consider that if even a woman knows the job better than the workers in the picture the latter must be abysmally stupid Films made for specific instructional purposes are more valuable than those in the nature of general propaganda and are particularly useful for explaining new safety devices or new working methods Films can give oral explanations sho
175. momentarily cease to concentrate on his work or suffer from some other condition that may lead to an accident It is not surprising therefore that increasing attention is being paid to accident risks inherent in human behaviour in the factory or other workplaces The war on accidents has developed from the tentative and sporadic measures of a century ago into a full scale campaign in which almost every conceivable weapon ranging from imposing codes of regulations down to cartoons is being used In this war great successes have been achieved but final victory the reduction of accident frequency and severity rates to the lowest figures attainable by human effort is a long way off It is not possible to fix a definite goal for accident prevention but there is a wide measure of agreement among factory inspectors and other safety experts that most accidents can be prevented Companies with good safety organisation have actually proved that this is so in a large number of cases If every undertaking in each industry were to reduce its accident rate to that attained by the few companies with the best safety records in the industry then without much doubt the world accident total would only be a fraction of what it is now In the following pages an attempt is made to give a general idea of what accident prevention involves in the way of resources and effort describing some of the tasks that have to be performed and the agencies established to per
176. n Industrial Lighting Bulletin No 1 Sydney 1945 Colour in Factory and Office Industrial Data Sheets Series C 1 Sydney 1953 Industrial Services Division Artificial Lighting Industrial Data Sheet L 1 Sydney 1958 ILLUMINATING ENGINEERING Society Lighting Handbook Second edition New York 1952 UNITED KINGDOM Home Office Lighting in Factories and Workshops Welfare Pamphlet No 7 Fifth edition London H M Stationery Office 1937 Floors Stairs Platforms AMERICAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION Safety Code for Floor and Wall Openings Railings and Toe Boards ASA A12 1932 New York 1932 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Safe Access Above Ground Level Industrial Data Sheets S3 Sydney 1956 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 177 NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL Floors and Flooring Safe Practices Pamphlet No il revised Chicago 1939 Stairs and Ramps Safe Practices Pamphlet No 2 Chicago 1942 Noise Harris C M editor Handbook of Noise Control New York Toronto London McGraw Hill 1957 Industrial Processes Handling Storage and Transport of Materials ANDERSON T McC Manual Lifting and Handling London Industrial Wel fare Society Inc and Central Council for Physical Recreation 1952 CEMENT MAKERS FEDERATION Accident Prevention Advisory Committee Safety Precautions in the Tipping of Materials Safety Pamphlet 2 London 1955 CENTRAL ELECTR
177. n 1840 by the statistician Louis Ren Villerm one reads of children of 6 and 8 years of age working in a standing position for 16 to 17 hours a day badly fed badly dressed obliged to walk long distances to the workshop at 5 o clock in the morning and returning home exhausted at night In France too some zealous reformers among whom several Alsatian textile manufacturers were conspicuous strove to mitigate the sufferings of the mill children and in their efforts originated the movement for the prevention of industrial accidents Engel Dollfus who in 1867 founded an association in Mulhouse for the prevention of factory accidents and for the exchange of experience in safety problems was a man of high social principles which he expressed in the following words The employer owes more than wages to his workers It is his duty to take care of their moral and physical condition and this purely moral obligation 10 ACCIDENT PREVENTION which cannot be replaced by any kind of wages should take precedence over considerations of private interest The first piece of factory legislation in France was an Act dated 22 March 1841 on the employment of children in industrial undertakings factories and workshops using mechanical power or carrying on con tinuous processes and in factories employing more than 20 workers It also provided for a system of inspection but safety legislation in the strict sense was not introduced until 1893 In
178. n of international accident statistics By 1891 it had a secretariat and 600 corresponding associates in different countries and aimed to become an International Industrial Accident Office A second international industrial accident congress was held in Berne in September 1891 several papers on accident prevention were read Other conferences of the same kind were held in Milan in 1894 Brussels in 1897 and Paris in 1900 at the latter 18 countries were represented Another step forward in the international organisation of accident prevention may be seen in the foundation of the International Associa tion for the Legal Protection of Workers in 1898 Under the auspices of this Association an International Labour Office was established at LESSON 13 INTERNATIONAL SAFETY ACTIVITIES 157 Basle which in 1902 began the publication of an international bulletin of labour legislation numerous safety regulations were published in this periodical The Association itself also took an interest in industrial safety and accident statistics By the time of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 industrial safety had assumed such importance that the authors of the Treaty of Versailles specifically mentioned in the preamble to its labour clauses the protection of the worker against injury arising out of his employment as one of the measures to improve conditions of labour for which there was an urgent need THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION The First Worl
179. n overhead recessing machines were introduced in the wood working industry they were completely unguarded or provided with clumsy guards at the point of operation Serious accidents happened to workers who occasionally came into accidental contact with the tool perhaps because of an unsuitable working method perhaps as a result of workpieces being kicked back or thrown out by the machine With a view to remedying this situation the Swiss National Accident Insurance Institute S U V A undertook research by studying the different types of work done on these machines and developed a guard with the assistance of operators and heads of undertakings Subse quently some manufacturers fitted their new machines with these guards thus testifying to the value of the work performed by the Institute The testing of materials from the safety standpoint is often done by inspection services in co operation with specialised laboratories for the inspection service itself may not be equipped for the purpose Tests are important as a means of discovering the cause of an accident in which a broken chain wire rope rod or other piece plays a part They enable conclusions to be drawn as to whether the cause of the accident was the use of the wrong material overloading or treating in a wrong way e g incorrect heat treatment of steel In some cases the co operation of the boiler inspection service is requested for the investigations in others the inspectorate may
180. n what operations and from what causes 8 education involving the teaching of safety as a subject in engineer ing colleges trade schools or apprenticeship courses 9 training i e the practical instruction of workers and especially new workers in safety matters 10 persuasion i e the employment of various methods of publicity and appeal to develop safety mindedness 11 insurance i e the provision of financial incentives to promote accident prevention in the form for instance of reductions in premiums payable by factories where safety measures of a high standard are taken and 12 safety measures within the individual undertaking It may be said that in the last resort the value of the first 11 items will depend very largely on the effectiveness of the last It is in under takings that accidents occur and the accident pattern in a given under taking may be determined very largely by the degree of safety mindedness shown by all those who work in it It will be clear from this list that accident prevention requires the co operation of many kinds of people legislators government officials technologists physicians psychologists statisticians teachers and of course the employers and workers themselves ACCIDENTS AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION TODAY The first great change for hundreds perhaps for thousands of years in the nature of industrial hazards came with the introduction of steam powered industri
181. nal Hazards to Young Workers Bulletin No 144 Washington 1951 Building Civil Engineering ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF AMERICA INC Manual of Accident Prevention in Construction Fourth revised edition Washington 1952 New SouTH WALES DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR AND INDUSTRY AND SOCIAL WELFARE A Guide for Scaffolders Sydney A H Pettifer Government Printer 1954 ROSSNAGEL W E Handbook of Rigging in Construction and Industrial Operations New York Toronto London McGraw Hill 1950 Transport MCFARLAND R A and MOSELEY A L Human Factors in Highway Transport Safety Boston Harvard School of Public Health 1954 UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE FAR EAST Inci dence of Railway Accidents and Measures for Prevention Bangkok 1957 PUBLICATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Subscription Rates and Prices I International Labour Review Monthly Articles on economic and social topics A statistical supplement gives information on employment unemployment wages consumer prices etc Annual subscription 7 50 52s 6d 30 Sw frs Price per number 75 cents 5s 3d 3 Sw frs Il Official Bulletin Issued quarterly Official documents and information concerning the Inter national Labour Organisation including the texts adopted by its annual Conference and other meetings Price per number 1 7s 4 Sw frs Annual subscription 3 50 24s 6d 14 Sw frs Ill Legi
182. nds are often painted with inclined yellow and black lines which contrast well with their surroundings traffic lanes may be marked with white lines Notices and Signs Notices and signs can also serve a variety of purposes They can convey instructions warnings or general information They are not a general substitute for protective measures and safety instructions but can very usefully supplement them No Smoking is one of the commonest examples of an instruc tional notice it is a reminder of the danger of smoking in places with a fire risk Another common use of notices is to prohibit the opening of locked valves and switches controlling equipment on which maintenance work is being done Quite a number of notices and signs can be used to regulate transport in the factory High Voltage Level Crossing and Caution Men at Work are other examples of warning notices Informational notices serve to indicate the whereabouts of exits first aid posts etc Resort to notices and signs should not be carried to excess or they will most likely be ignored Labels Dangerous substances and the containers for such substances should be properly labelled Many accidents occur because toxic corrosive flammable or other dangerous substances are kept in containers that do not show that the contents are dangerous or even worse in containers destined for ordinary drinks Very serious accidents have occurred w
183. ndustry Safety Programmes in Occupational Safety and Health Vol IV No 1 Jan Mar 1954 p 28 LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 147 c 3 m Fig 48 4 If overhead line shaft drive mechanical belt shifters provided 5 Belts and pulleys fully enclosed 6 Operator Stops machine before oiling or cleaning 7 Inspection panel Operator does not open while machine is in operation 8 Machine firmly anchored 9 Guard covering exposed gears 10 Floors free of oil ties tie buckles or obstructions etc 11 Spiked apron or beater covered Operator does not open while machine is in operation 12 Operator Rake provided and used for cleaning out motes 13 Protruding shaft ends or revolving shafting guarded A very important contribution to accident prevention is made by the reports periodicals leaflets posters etc published by labour inspection services and insurance institutes These publications contain excellent material for the student of industrial safety RESEARCH AND TESTING The vast development of technology has led labour inspectorates and other state services to set up laboratories for the analysis of dangerous 148 ACCIDENT PREVENTION chemical substances for testing materials and equipment and for research on dangerous working methods Inspection services have acquired much experience in this field and they have done valuable research work Example Whe
184. nery Convention 1963 No 119 ratified by four countries Prevention of Industrial Accidents Recommendation 1929 No 31 Power Driven Machinery Recommendation 1929 No 32 Protection against Accidents Dockers Reciprocity Recommendation 1929 No 33 Protection against Accidents Dockers Consultation of Organisations Recommendation 1929 No 34 Safety Provisions Building Recommendation 1937 No 53 with its appended Model Code Inspection Building Recommendation 1937 No 54 Co operation in Accident Prevention Building Recommendation 1937 No 55 Vocational Education Building Recommendation 1937 No 56 Protection of Workers Health Recommendation 1953 No 97 Occupational Health Services Recommendation 1959 No 112 Radiation Protection Recommendation 1960 No 114 Guarding of Machinery Recommendation 1963 No 118 OTHER INTERNATIONAL BODIES Apart from the International Labour Organisation there are a number of intergovernmental organisations all European which are concerned 1 The text of the earlier instruments can be found in I L O Conventions and Recom mendations 1919 1949 Geneva 1949 The numbers of ratifications given corres pond to those registered on 1 June 1964 With respect to the origin nature and use of international labour Conventions and Recommendations see I L O International Labour Standards Geneva 1959 162 ACCIDENT PREVENTION to some exten
185. neurosis The users of negative posters on the other hand think that workers do not realise the hazards to which they are exposed and consequently should be shown the risks in a realistic way and that to achieve results deeper impressions must be made than can be made by positive posters Figure 43 shows an example of a negative poster published by the Egyptian Ministry of Commerce and Industry while figure 44 illustrates the positive approach r F WES tf PA Sassou Pe EN PORTANT DES BARRES OU DES POUTRELLES DE FER PRENEZ GARDE DE TOUCHER LES CABLES ELECTRIQUES Fig 43 When carrying iron bars or rods Fig 44 Condition in which hammers beware of overhead power lines should be maintained Both groups agree that safety posters should be chosen with due con sideration to the mentality of the workers concerned and that this mentality differs from industry to industry and from country to country LESSON 9 PROPAGANDA EDUCATION TRAINING 105 Experience has shown that it is very difficult to design safety posters which have more than a momen tary effect on workers Several proposals have been made to meet this difficulty One is that the artist who designs a poster should make sure that the details are right a technician should verify that it is technically correct and a psychologist should advise on whether the desired impression will be made Some people recommend posters showing photographs others prefer drawi
186. nformation on the accident situation so as to warn them of the dangers to which they are exposed keep their interest alive and make them safety 1 Accident Rates op cit p 50 32 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Handling goods Miscellane ous causes Power driven machinery Persons falling Struck by falling body Use of hand tools Stepping on or striking objects Fig 3 Total number of accidents per year by cause in thousands 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Fig 4 Number of fatal accidents per year by cause LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 33 minded Accordingly it is sometimes desirable to present statistical data not only in figures but also in pictures The latter often attract attention better than figures and are the only means of making statistics under standable to persons who cannot read or write In countries where a large part of the population is illiterate the publication of sketches and drawings giving facts about accidents and their effects possibly by trade unions might well prove an extremely effective instrument for instilling safety mindedness into the workers Examples of accident records in pictorial form are given in figures 3 4 and 5 Fig 5 Percentage distribution of injuries by part of body affected Questions 1 What kinds of occurrences can be considered to be causes of accidents 2 What purposes are served by investigating accidents 3 What d
187. ng Example In a flour mill large quantities of dust had settled on beams window sills and other parts of the building When a small fire started one day workers tried to extinguish the fire with a hose However the force of the water jet whipped up a cloud of dust which was ignited by the fire and caused a minor explosion which shook all the dust settled on beams and other parts of the building loose The result was a second explosion this time sufficiently powerful to destroy the entire plant A whole series of precautions are necessary in the manufacture handling storage and use of commercial explosives They will not be dealt with here As regards explosive air gas and air vapour mixtures the best line of defence is to prevent their formation or if this is not practicable to dilute them beyond the lower explosive limit by general ventilation or remove them at the source by local exhaust ventilation 1 There are voluminous regulations and handbooks on this subject See for example Institute of Makers of Explosives Safety in the Handling and Use of Explos ives Pamphlet No 17 revised edition New York 1951 Some provisions on the subject will also be found in Chapters III and X of I L O Model Code of Safety Regu lations for Industrial Establishments for the Guidance of Governments and Industry Geneva 1950 LESSON 4 FIRE PROTECTION 4 Where there is a risk of dust explosions inside apparatus the oxygen content
188. ngs Photo graphs show real events and in particular provide a means of illustrating situations in the undertaking concerned Drawings have the advantage of showing just the one thing that needs special attention and omitting all non essential details Figure 45 is an example of a good and simple drawing published in England Safety posters should be displayed in places where workers usually spend some time when not working such as the factory entrance and locker rooms As regards canteens some people think that they should be places for rest and recreation providing a complete contrast to the factory itself and that posters reminding workers of the workshop and the job should not be displayed there Bulletin boards for posters should be agreeable to the eye and properly maintained They should be attractively painted glass fronted and well lighted To stimulate the interest of the workers in the boards notices and objects relating to safety in general or to a recent accident should be displayed on the same board Such objects may be for instance safety shoes or goggles damaged during the performance of normal work Only a small number of different posters should be displayed simultaneously and they should be changed periodically possibly at intervals of one or two weeks even daily renewal has been proposed Safety posters can only be an accessory means of improving safety they cannot replace good housekeeping correct planning good w
189. none at all is 56 per cent in other words the chances are slightly better than even Consequently if in such a group during a given period one of these workers has had two accidents and another none this fact by itself is not a reason to blame the one or to give a bonus to the one who had none neither does it indicate that the one who had two accidents was working in a more dangerous manner than the one who did not have any Similar calculations can be made for more complicated cases e g for cases with a large number of workers and a smaller number of accidents For instance if five accidents happen in a group of ten workers the odds are about 14 to 1 against one worker having two accidents a probability of 744 per cent consequently there is no special reason for blaming a worker who has two accidents even though other workers in completely similar circumstances have none The odds on any one worker s not having any accidents at all are considerably better than even about 5 to 3 precisely because one member of the group may have more than one The probability that one worker will have three accidents is 0 8 per cent or about one chance in 125 such a worker should from the statistical point of view be suspected of suffering from accident proneness The conclusion to be drawn from these considerations is that when workers have more accidents than others working under the same condi tions it is possible but not certain that t
190. nt will be responsible for recruiting new employees and for vocational training inside the undertaking In small undertakings the principles of promoting safety are the same as those in large ones but the organisa tion of safety work is of course much simpler One problem which frequently arises is that of whether an under taking should have both a safety engineer and a safety committee As the safety engineer is a safety expert while the safety committee s primary duty is to establish effective co operation between employer and workers in the field of safety there is room for both However in smaller under takings there is not enough work to provide full time employment for a safety engineer but there is scope for a safety committee In the smallest undertakings the need for a safety committee is less apparent since per sonal contact between management supervisory staff and workers is much easier to establish and personnel relations are more intimate The Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments recom mends the appointment of a safety committee in each department in which at least 25 workers are regularly employed In a very small under taking instead of a full scale safety committee there should be one or more workers safety delegates with roughly the same duties as members of a safety committee THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT The slogan safety begins at the top clearly states the essential condition fo
191. ntain only general provisions concerning safety and health although in particularly hazardous occupations and where the safety of the general public is involved they may include detailed rules and requirements Generally any differences between the union and the employers regarding safety and welfare may be referred to the regular grievance or other joint machinery for adjustment Under some agree ments such matters are referred to a special safety committee which may be a joint management union committee or one composed solely of union members Others require the employer to maintain first aid facilities in the plant and injured employees to report accidents Since the employer is usually required to report all accidents under workmen s compensation legislation most agreements do not contain clauses on the subject Co operation between unions and employers in the United States takes a number of forms Some unions provide for equal representation with the management on safety committees the union representatives being appointed or elected directly Others submit a given number of names of members to the management which makes the final selection of a predetermined number e g three names from a list of ten In some cases the union nominees have to be approved by their foremen Sweden is a country in which co operation between the unions and the other main parties interested in safety the Government and the employers is highly organised
192. o operation between countries to promote industrial safety has been carried a stage further by technical assistance schemes such as those sponsored by the United Nations the Colombo Plan countries the International Labour Organisation and the United States Govern ment The essence of such schemes ts the rendering of assistance by the wealthier and more experienced countries to the poorer and less experi enced ones The Internationa Labour Organisation has rendered direct assistance to governments by furnishing information on request by collaborating in the drafting of laws and regulations and both under its own pro gramme and under the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance by despatching experts to undertake surveys and furnish advice in the fields of occupational safety and health and labour inspection The Office has also supplied technical equipment for laboratory and demonstration purposes and has granted a very large 164 ACCIDENT PREVENTION number of fellowships to officials in various countries for the study of safety and health questions in other countries In 1956 128 experts were sent out 206 fellowships awarded and 91 workers placed in different industries to improve their technical knowl edge During recent years experts have been sent to some 30 countries in all parts of the world to advise on the reorganisation of occupational safety and health services labour conditions safety in mines labour inspe
193. o the first aid service Something should be 136 ACCIDENT PREVENTION said of the importance of good order and good housekeeping It is most important that the newcomer be introduced to his foreman and the workers in his neighbourhood The methods used to introduce new personnel will differ from undertaking to undertaking The introduction may take place during a talk in the personnel department or in the safety engineer s office or even in the factory department concerned and may be conducted by a member of the personnel department the foreman or an experienced worker In some cases the introduction includes an explanation of the technology of the undertaking and a plan or model is shown to make things clear In other cases illustrations are provided by a film strip or a film Though it may be necessary for formal reasons to provide a new worker with a copy of the factory regulations and instructions it cannot be expected that he will fully understand them or even that he will read them carefully During his introduction such regulations and instructions should be explained as far as they are of immediate concern to him After the explanation the correct way of working should be shown and the worker should be allowed to try it himself to make sure that he has understood it Subsequently regular checks should be made to ensure that his work is done in the prescribed way and that no departures from safe working habits have occurred The m
194. o you think of the classification of accident causes recom mended by the I L O 4 Do you think that the American Recommended Practice for Com piling Industrial Accident Causes is better than the I L O classification Give reasons for your answer 5 Are so called technical and human causes of accidents related If so in what ways 34 ACCIDENT PREVENTION 6 What is the significance of near accidents for accident prevention purposes 7 Mention some of the steps that must be taken to enable accident Statistics to be compiled on a uniform basis 8 What is meant by accident rates 9 Describe the principal uses of the different kinds of accident Statistics FOURTH LESSON SOME PRINCIPLES OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION I FIRE PROTECTION Many factory fires start outside working hours In such cases there is of course no risk of personal accident but the resulting loss of employ ment makes such fires both an economic and a social calamity Fires occurring during working hours however constitute a very real danger to workers Example In 1956 an old four storeyed factory building containing worsted spinning and twisting machines in which 41 persons were working was destroyed by fire eight persons all working above the ground floor were killed and three injured The fire started on the ground floor when the flame of a plumber s blowlamp ignited waste wool fibres on the ceiling joists and the fire spread rapidly from
195. ocks of other shapes has never been felt the standardised round block has not given rise to difficulties Another problem is that the use that will be made of a machine is not always known to the manufacturer while the type of guard required depends on this use Example A metal press used exclusively for making objects from metal strips as is the case in the canning industry should be guarded with a fixed enclosure of the ram to make the machine safe and ensure maximum pro duction when the machine is used for different types of work an interlocked movable screen is necessary Finally some guards are not fixed to the machine but to the floor the wall or the ceiling near the machine Example If in a woodworking factory very large workpieces have to be handled it is necessary to keep the machine tables of circular saws and moulding machines free from any obstruction and to hang the hood or other guard from the ceiling to fix it on the wall or to place it on the floor near the machine delivery of the machine with a guard attached to it would be impracticable 1 See I L O Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments op cit Regulation 6 para 2 The builders manufacturers and vendors shall comply with the provisions of this Code concerning the protection of machines apparatus or vessels and the packing and working of flammable explosive or toxic substances LESSON 5 MACHINE GUARDING 51 The guard
196. of industrial safety and hygiene was generally recognised and it was agreed to hold similar meetings every year and general meetings of labour inspectors every three years Among other things these countries have set up joint committees on personal protective equipment and the safeguarding of machines Safety topics have also been dealt with by international federations of trade unions such as those for coal miners transport workers and woodworkers It was the coal miners unions which first urged the International Labour Organisation to take action to reduce the accident toll in the mines the transport workers are interested in such matters as safety in road transport the safety of track maintenance staff and the introduction of automatic couplings on railways and the woodworkers have advocated inter alia the preparation of an international Conven tion for the protection of workers using power driven tools in the forestry and woodworking industries A European Federation of Associations of Safety Engineers and Heads of Safety Departments was founded in 1952 in Brussels by dele gates from Belgium the Federal Republic of Germany and the Nether lands Other international safety activities have included meetings of directors of safety museums Berlin 1929 London 1931 an inter national safety poster competition Rome 1949 and a meeting of a committee on accident prevention films Geneva 1929 INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE C
197. of the air may be reduced by removing some air and replacing it by an inert gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide Preventing dangerous dust concentrations in dust exhaust systems is in the first place a matter of proper design Correct operation may reduce the risks still further for instance it is advisable to keep the exhaust machinery running a few minutes after the machines it serves have stopped In this way the ducting will be purged and the danger that starting the exhaust fans may whirl up dangerous clouds in them is eliminated Questions 1 Mention some common fire hazards and means of eliminating them 2 What requirements should building exits satisfy 3 What precautions are required with portable fire extinguishers 4 How should fire protection be organised in a factory 5 Name some explosive dusts FIFTH LESSON SOME PRINCIPLES OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION Il MACHINE GUARDING It is customary to divide machinery into a number of categories namely prime movers transmissions and working machines all of which exhibit considerable variety It is not therefore possible here to deal in detail with the guarding of machinery Even the guarding of a single machine may be complicated if it has belts gears and a number of different tools This lesson will accordingly be confined to the general aspects of the problem of guards Machinery was largely responsible for the need for safety precautions and has always been a matter of
198. of their health and safety Young persons under 18 or 20 years of ag also need special attention from the safety standpoint In many countries the law requires them to undergo medical examinations to ascertain their fitness for work before they are admitted to employment and to remain under medical supervision until they reach a certain age which varies between 18 and 21 years according to the country The subject is dealt with in two international labour Conventions adopted in 1946 one for industrial and one for non industrial employment In several countries the law places restrictions on the work of young persons in order to prevent their employment in dangerous conditions This phrase covers work that directly exposes workers to danger e g work that has to be done at considerable heights on buildings under construc tion work that brings the worker into contact with very toxic substances such as white lead or cyanides work classified as heavy such as stoking steam boilers work that lays on the worker great responsibility towards fellow workers such as the operating of certain machines work for which adequate protection does not yet exist such as certain types of work on metal presses and work that demands a particularly high degree of concentration such as work on electrical installations Restrictions are also frequently placed on the employment of young persons in some types of work which are clearly harmful to their healt
199. okers to break up bridging of the stored material but which will prevent workers from falling into the bins These gratings give easier access to the stored materials with pokers than gangways do because it is possible to stand on them at any point above the material However in very large silos the gratings required would be impossibly large and suitable well guarded gangways and platforms should be installed at the top of the silo 36 Where it is necessary for workers to enter bins for storing dry bulk material a each worker shall be provided with and shall use a lifebelt attached to a lifeline that is as short as practicable and securely fastened to a fixed object and b another worker shall be stationed outside during the entire operation to render such assistance as is needed Working rules should prescribe that only the person in charge of the work may decide whether it is necessary to enter a bin To do away as far as possible with the need for entering bins the latter should at the time of construction be equipped with every possible safety feature for instance they should have adequate funnels for emptying and gratings at the top Where this is impracticable openings should be made in the walls to enable blocked material to be freed with poles or by other means Depending on circumstances and the kind of material stored in the bins such precautions can be completed by equipping them with LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF
200. ome justification wonder why they are not available and may well feel that they have a legitimate grievance Safety Literature The types of safety propaganda so far described can also be used for illiterate workers Documents unless they consist entirely of pictures are only of value for workers who can read The subject matter of safety literature is practically inexhaustible and the stream of safety publications is unending In many countries safety magazines appear regularly containing illustrated articles de scribing new safeguards the results of investigations and research in the field of industrial safety new ways of preventing accidents etc There are Other periodicals designed not so much to pass on new knowledge as to disseminate knowledge of existing techniques to a wider public It is important that editors of periodicals should be aware of their responsi bility in particular they should make sure that what is recommended is really based on experience and practice All too often articles are published which describe safety measures used only in one single case or even not in actual use at all but merely proposed Such articles may do more harm than good The reader of course before taking any steps to make practical use of the ideas contained in an article must use his judgment to determine whether they are applicable in his own particular context and whether the experience quoted is sufficient to imply that their introdu
201. ommitted D U N The unsafe act is that violation of a commonly accepted safe pro cedure which resulted in the selected accident type Unsafe acts include Operating without authority failure to secure or warn Operating or working at unsafe speed Making safety devices inoperative Using unsafe equipment hands instead of equipment or equip ment unsafely Unsafe loading placing mixing combining Taking unsafe position or posture u N aA D 5 The Unsafe Personal Factor The unsafe personal factor is the mental or bodily characteristic which permitted or occasioned the selected unsafe act 22 ACCIDENT PREVENTION This factor is divided into groups such as O Improper attitude 1 Lack of knowledge or skill 2 Bodily defects Each group is subdivided in a detailed classification For instance under improper attitude we find 00 Wilful disregard of instructions Ol Violent temper 02 Absent mindedness 03 Wilful intent to injure 04 Nervous excitable etc 05 Failure to understand instructions If this system of classifying an accident is used for the ladder accident mentioned earlier the following might be the findings 1 a Agency 19000 Miscellaneous agency 19501 Ladder b Agency part E Not applicable 2 Unsafe mechanical or physical condition 1 Defect of agency 17 Decayed aged worn cracked etc missing rung 3 Accident type
202. ompilation of Accidents Statistics AMERICAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION Method of Compiling Industrial Injury Rates ASA Z16 1 1945 New York 1945 American Recommended Practice for Compiling Industrial Accident Causes Parts I and Il ASA Z 16 2 1941 New York 1941 Agriculture Forestry INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Occupational Safety and Health in Forestry Operations Geneva 1957 Accident Prevention in the Timber Industry Report submitted to the Tri partite Technical Meeting on the Timber Industry Geneva 1958 NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL Farm Safety Aids Chicago 1957 Mining Quarrying Oil Production AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE Safe Practices in Drilling Operations Second edition New York 1953 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Accident Prevention in Mines Other Than Coal Mines Tripartite Technical Meeting on Mines Other Than Coal Mines Report II Geneva 1957 NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL Safety in Quarry Operations Third edition Chicago 1954 STATE OF TEXAS BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Safe Practices Manual for Oil Well Drilling Operations Austin 1950 182 ACCIDENT PREVENTION e TOMLINSON W L Fundamentals of Coal Mine Accident Prevention United States Bureau of Mines Pittsburgh 1959 UNITED STATES BUREAU OF MINES Bituminous Coal Miner s Safety Course Washington U S Government Printing Office UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Bureau of Labor Standards Mining Other Than Coal Occupatio
203. on Safety Association of Ontario Canada and the Trade Association for Accident Prevention in Building and Civil Engineering in France Then there are industrial associations that are not wholly safety associations but have safety departments or otherwise engage in a wide range of safety activities Examples are the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers the Associated General Contractors of America and the Japan Coal Association 152 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Some large insurance companies such as the Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin U S A also have safety departments Other examples of various kinds of association that engage in one way or another in safety activities are the Ahmedabad Textile Industry s Research Association in India the American Society of Safety Engineers the Algerian Association of Owners of Steam and Electric Plant the British Colour Council the Italian Centre for Safety Officers the Safety Engineering Society Melbourne the German Federation of Electrical Engineers and the Association of German Inspection Engineers The activities of these associations are as varied as their forms It will scarcely be possible here to describe all the safety activities of all the types of safety association but the types of work that they carry on include the following 1 Organisation of national safety congresses 2 Organisation of safety exhibitions 3 Training of safety officers and
204. on of Falls by R P Brake in J ndustrial Safety op cit p 283 LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 59 vate firms but in some cases research work has been done by labour inspection services government research laboratories and insurance institutes Standards for safety goggles gloves shoes hats etc have been drawn up by national standards institutes Goggles One of the most difficult problems in accident prevention is the prevention of eye accidents of which there are far too many Persons not accustomed to using prescription spectacles usually reject safety goggles as being a nuisance and causing discomfort but quite satis factory safety goggles are now becoming available in increasing numbers However it is not enough to have good goggles they must be worn and much effort in the way of disciplinary action education and persua sion may be required to induce workers to wear them Workers who think that the risk of an eye accident is a very real one will wear safety goggles willingly but those who think the risk very small will object This difficulty can be overcome in different ways In some under takings places in which a real risk of eye accidents is considered to exist may be entered only if goggles are worn Consequently in these places all workers wear goggles during the whole working time and any man who does not will at the very least have an unpleasant feeling of not belonging Other factories m
205. on of dust in mining tun nelling and quarrying In 1958 too the first edition of a directory of institutions and associations engaged in safety and health activities in all parts of the world appeared Lastly plans are being made to publish a comprehensive encyclopaedia of occupational safety and health This brief survey gives a general idea of both the development and the variety of some of the I L O s main safety activities In so far as our subject is concerned the work of the I L O is dealt with in greater detail in the appropriate lessons of this manual For those who wish to make a more detailed study of the I L O s work in the field of safety the pamphlet Safety and Health of Workers The Task of the International Labour Organisation gives a condensed but comprehensive review of the subject In addition the following international labour Conventions and Recommendations are of special interest 1 Geneva I L O 1958 LESSON 13 INTERNATIONAL SAFETY ACTIVITIES 161 Marking of Weight Packages Transported by Vessels Convention 1929 No 27 ratified by 43 countries Protection against Accidents Dockers Convention Revised 1932 No 32 ratified by 26 countries Safety Provisions Building Convention 1937 No 62 ratified by 19 countries Labour Inspection Convention 1947 No 81 ratified by 58 countries Radiation Protection Convention 1960 No 115 ratified by ten countries Guarding of Machi
206. onal Standardisation of Labour Statistics Studies and Reports New Series No 53 Geneva 1959 and American Standards Association American Standard Method of Recording and Measuring Work Injury Experience Publication Z 16 1 1954 R 1959 New York 1959 30 ACCIDENT PREVENTION hand recommends that the rate be calculated per million man hours of exposure Consequently the American rate is 1 000 times the rate recommended by the Conference of Labour Statisticians Example If in the example given for the calculation of the frequency rate the number of days lost as a result of the 60 accidents was 1 200 the severity rate S would be as follows _ 1 200 x 1 000 1 140 000 This means that in a year about one day was lost per 1 000 man hours under the American system 1 053 days per million man hours or on the basis of 2 400 hours of work per year 2 4 days per worker 1 053 The calculation of severity rates is more difficult where an accident gives rise to permanent disability or death To cover such cases there is usually a national schedule specifying the number of days to be counted as lost time charges for statistical purposes for each type of disability The American standard contains such a schedule which assigns time charges for losses of limbs or impairment of functions The maximum time charge is 6 000 days in case of death and smaller amounts are charged for loss of or damage to the different parts of the body
207. oney has proved to be an altogether pernicious institution for all too often unions have attempted to get work classified as dangerous rather than have the danger removed where it exists THE WORKER S ATTITUDE In the preceding lessons the different aspects of industrial safety have been dealt with The economic and financial consequences of accidents have been described and it has been seen that though economic con siderations are important they are not the essential reason for safety activities which is the moral obligation to protect the workers from physical danger From this point of view the various kinds of preventive measures and the responsibilities of the various parties concerned have been examined We may now well ask what the worker himself thinks about all this and what he does and must do in the interest of his own safety and that of his fellow worker This question is difficult to answer because there are fundamental differences in the living conditions of the workers their attitudes to their work and their ways of thinking in different parts of the world It may be assumed that workers want decent working conditions In many countries they have shown a dislike of working conditions regulated solely by the employer s patronage or favours They want conditions conforming to their conceptions of rightness justice and equity Where such is the case they may well feel that such conditions have usually been won as the outcom
208. or which operate to endanger or to protect the worker or his fellow men This lesson will therefore be concerned only with general matters and some frequently discussed problems such as industrial relations accident proneness of individuals and fatigue Some means of prevention that may be considered to be in the psychological domain propaganda education and training will be discussed later 1 To simplify matters the physiological and psychological elements will be treated separately Briefly the task of the psychologist in the field of accident prevention is to discover in what circumstances and for what reasons persons and more especially workers behave in such a way as to endanger themselves or others ATTITUDES TOWARDS SAFETY There are many possible answers to the question why does a worker do a job in an unsafe way when he could do it in a safe way The worker may consider the unsafe way easier less troublesome or faster he may think that the unsafe way is the best one he may consider safety precau tions unnecessary because he is convinced that he can look after himself 1See Lesson 9 LESSON 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS 95 in all circumstances he may feel that as a man of experience he can quite well determine his own way of working or he may be ignorant or unaware of the safe method It may be assumed that as a rule a factory worker desires to earn wages as high as circumstances permit if wages are
209. or industrial safety is that its equipment and other resources can be more extensive than those of a single expert The disadvantage however is that when persons from different countries come to such a centre it is not easy to convince them that the methods taught there can be translated into practice in the circumstances of their own countries Often courses in an education centre are considered by participants as interesting sources of informa tion on accident prevention but devoid of practical value for their own countries Moreover the teachers in an education centre come into contact only with the persons attending the courses while advisers working in the field can meet all persons interested in safety problems including officials employers and workers Advantage has been taken of fellowships to send foremen and work ers from technically less developed countries to more advanced ones LESSON 13 INTERNATIONAL SAFETY ACTIVITIES i65 to enable them to improve their skills and knowledge Though these fellowships have not been awarded primarily to enable fellows to acquire familiarity with safe working conditions nevertheless a stay for some months in a modern factory may give them a good idea of the importance of adequate safety precautions A new development in technical assistance is the organisation by the International Labour Office of training courses for labour inspectors safety engineers and other key personnel The first two s
210. orkers Technical Pamphlet No 2 London 1951 The Use and Abuse of Protective Equipment London 1956 U S DEPARTMENT OF THE Navy Office of Industrial Relations Safety Division U S Navy Manual of Safety Equipment Washington 1954 Education Training COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION Safety Education in Industrial Schools mer Bulletin 332 Harrisburg Pa 1938 CUTTER W A and ELKOW J D Training for Industrial Accident Prevention New York University Division of General Education Center for Safety Education New York 1952 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 181 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Catalogue of Occupational Safety and Health Films Fourth edition Geneva 1960 NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL Teaching Safety to New Employees Safe Practices Pamphlet No 54 Chicago 1941 UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Shop Safety Education Albany N Y UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO University Extension Advanced Course in Accident Prevention Toronto 1952 Works Safety Organisation CUTTER W A Organization and Functions of the Safety Department New York University Division of General Education Center for Safety Educa tion Research Report No 18 New York 1951 ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS Works Safety Organi sation Safety Organisation Pamphlet No 1 fifth edition London 1953 Works Safety Committees Safety Organisation Pamphlet No 3 London 1952 C
211. orkers have a definite responsibility to give guidance and supervision The number of accidents in which young persons are involved might well be reduced considerably if this responsibility were more generally exercised One well known cause of accidents to young workers is pressure from their elders to step up output Here the older worker bears a grave responsibility for he is not merely refraining from eliminating a risk but is actually creating one Some idea of the kinds of things that workers can do to promote safety can be obtained from the Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments to which we have referred so often Regula tion 5 Obligations of Employees contains the following provisions 1 Every employee shall co operate with the employer in carrying out the provisions of this Code 2 Every employee shall forthwith report to the employer or the foreman any defect that he may discover in the industrial establishment or the appliances used therein 3 Every employee shall make proper use of all safeguards safety devices and other appliances furnished in accordance with this Code for his protection or the protection of others and shall obey all safety instructions made or approved by the competent authority pertaining to his work 4 No employee shall interfere with remove displace damage or destroy any safety devices or other appliances furnished for his protection or the protection of others or interfer
212. orking habits and suitable guards but they should stimulate workers to think z STOW SAFELY WHEN ALOFT Fig 45 A drawn poster 106 ACCIDENT PREVENTION more about safety They have the advantage that they can be used anywhere both in large undertakings and in small workshops at little cost Posters can be useful for instructional purposes If for instance a special type of guard is not adjusted correctly as is often the case with the riving knife of a circular saw or if an unsafe working method is followed e g if loads are slung on the hook of a crane in the wrong way the situation should be remedied by giving suitable instructions but at the same time posters can be used as a reminder to indicate the correct way of dealing with these matters Figures 46 and 47 are examples of a poster giving an instruction gene a janet sat aa A N t tat soa mnt ae WU Fig 46 Never take a chance with Fig 47 The assistant should wear worn ladders protective clothing too Safety posters can also be used to illustrate a general rule If for instance in a factory injuries often result in infections and investigation shows that this is due to neglect of small injuries and failure to ask for first aid treatment the management may decide to display posters for one week in the different departments of the undertaking indicating the importance of first aid To these should be added a notice with the name of th
213. ould not occur and that the accidents happened to persons unauthorised to handle the equipment concerned The management must realise that such accidents often do happen that measures for their prevention have to be taken and that here too it is more important to prevent accidents occurring than to assign the blame once they have occurred This is particularly true in cases where it is easy to cut off power or lock control handles As usual good order and good supervision can do much to prevent such accidents WOMEN Generally speaking the safety rules applying to men are equally valid for women workers In some cases however special additional measures have to be taken to protect women from certain occupational risks because of their maternity functions An indirect accident risk arises if women employed in factories are permitted to take their children to work with them for children may play in the proximity of running machines or come into contact with dangerous substances This is the case in some cotton spinning mills where women work on winding machines at the same time taking care of their little children some of whom play on the floor between the machines during the whole working time and in plant for sorting uncleaned wool in which women in charge of sorting are accompanied by babies and assisted by somewhat older children The children are exposed to a very real risk of anthrax In all such cases a cr che would not only provide
214. oved by the workers replaced whenever an inspector came by and removed again as soon as he had left the factory Work was done on these machines LESSON 5 MACHINE GUARDING 43 without guards and the machines remained as dangerous as previously Sometimes machines would be delivered with the same guards which would never be used for as long as 20 or 30 years thus the fact that a particular type of guard remained in use for so long did not necessarily mean that it had proved its worth In some countries machine guarding has been promoted by the setting up of committees to study means of protecting a particular type of machine Such committees often consist of representatives of the labour inspectorate the social insurance authority machinery manu facturers and purchasers and workers In Great Britain for instance they have produced new ideas for the protection of machinery used in the textile and rubber industries and of metal presses The committee system has been used in the Netherlands to study the protection of elevators the transportation and storage of flammable liquids and other matters It has proved valuable not only for dealing with difficult technical problems but also in cases where adequate safety precautions were an important factor in the cost of the equipment as is the case with elevators In addition this way of dealing with safety problems does much to ensure the co operation of all concerned when recommendations hav
215. ow that many accidents which are placed in the larger group for instance accidents resulting from poor organisation in the factory for which the worker is not necessarily to blame might equally well be placed in the smaller group An accident is very seldom due solely to unsafe behaviour As already stated accidents are usually caused by a group of circumstances one of these may be unsafe behaviour but in all probability unsafe physical conditions are present as well and so it would be equally justifiable to classify the accident as due to unsafe mechanical or physical conditions In practice it will be possible to classify the great majority of accidents in such a way that an unsafe act by a worker is not given as the primary cause i e the factor on which efforts to prevent a recurrence of the accident should be concentrated The following example is an illustra tion of how this is done Example A 15 year old boy had the job of cleaning the gangways of a workroom and was told not to clean under the machines When he saw oil on the floor under a rope making machine he cleaned that part of the floor also but as he did so the cotton waste used for cleaning became caught between two gear wheels just above the floor and protected by a hood on the top and sides As he tried to pull out the cotton his hand was caught between the gears and badly mutilated 26 ACCIDENT PREVENTION If this accident is analysed in terms of the American Re
216. pectors should encourage the collaboration of employers managing staff and workers for the promotion of personal caution safety methods and the perfecting of safety equipment d that inspectors should endeavour to promote the improvement and perfecting of measures of health and safety The provisions concerning the organisation of inspectorates include a recommendation that in view of the difficult scientific and technical questions which arise under the conditions of modern industry experts having competent medical engineering electrical or other scientific training and experience should be employed by the State The Recommendation further states that inspectors should possess a high standard of technical training and experience be persons of good general education and by their character and abilities be capable of acquiring the confidence of all parties One important point made is that inspectors should be given such a status and standard of remunera tion as to secure their freedom from any improper external influences As regards standards of inspection it is suggested that as far as possible every establishment should undergo a general inspection at least once a year and that unsatisfactory or particularly dangerous or unhealthy establishments should be inspected much more frequently The Recommendation stresses the importance of co operation between the inspectorate employers and workers Labour inspection services usuall
217. pens when the wood on the machine table touches it and closes when the wood has passed the machine shaft Such guards are often styled automatic guards but they cannot be said to work automatic ally They are completely unsatisfactory because they also open when a hand accidentally touches the screen and thus fail to give protection at the moment when it is most needed Such a guard does not operate automatically at the critical moment One special type of automatic guard is the electronic guard working with photo electric cells In this system parallel light rays are projected in front of the danger zone of a machine Interruption of these rays stops the machine or prevents it from starting Such systems have as a rule a high sensitivity and the absence of movable parts in front of the worker is also an advantage but special care has to be taken to make sure that the beam is sufficiently wide and placed in such a way that all access to the danger zone is prevented during operations f The guard should be suitable for the job and the machine Too often guards have been constructed which while giving real protection are not at all suitable for the job and are consequently not used Example A sewing machine factory designed a guard to prevent fingers being pierced by the descending needle The danger zone was perfectly pro tected but the guard made it very difficult to thread the needle and normal control of the work was impossi
218. ployers and workers to come and visit it but a much more effective one is to take the exhibition where they can see it Examples of this approach are itinerant and factory exhibitions These usually deal with a very limited number of subjects and are organised either by safety associations acting on behalf of local industry or a single undertaking or by an undertaking for itself The best results can be expected when such an exhibition is combined with other safety activities having a limited objective For instance the management of a factory in which large numbers of eye accidents occur may decide to organise an exhibition of appliances for eye protection as the beginning of a campaign against accidents causing injury to eyes In another case it may be of interest to organise an exhibition of scaffolding parts showing how they should be assembled and used Attention can also be focused on safety questions by an exhibition of objects dealing with recent accidents in the factory such as a broken 110 ACCIDENT PREVENTION grinding wheel the flying pieces of which were caught by the hood or a hard hat damaged by a falling object in this case the object should also be shown Such an exhibition shows the practical value of safety precautions It is most important that the means of protection exhibited should actually be available to the workers A very unfortunate im pression will be produced if this is not done for the workers will with s
219. posite seems to be the case Welfare measures designed to make the worker s life more comfortable also make it safer Workers behaviour usually reflects their material and psychological environment Reasonable wages good human relations inside the factory good understanding between management and labour correct decisions on questions of promotion and at the same time well cared for workplaces sanitary facilities much better than good enough for a worker welfare facilities all these material and intangible factors influence a worker s behaviour and have been found to be conducive to greater safety As the same factors have a considerable influence on labour turnover they also increase safety indirectly by making for stability among the personnel Insecurity of employment is almost certainly a factor making for accidents When workers fear dismissal they may well be in an emotion ally unbalanced state which will make them more liable to have accidents In countries with social secu ritylegislation guaranteeing payment of at least a part of wages in case of absence from work caused by an accident but not in cases of ordinary unemployment it even happens that accidents are caused wilfully to provide an income during an impending period of unemployment However such cases are not within the scope of ordinary accident prevention work Good order good housekeeping and adequately guarded machines are examples of environmental
220. pressed Gases in Steel Cylinders SABS 019 1951 Pretoria 1951 STANDARDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA A S Code for Compressed Gas Cylinders Sydney 1950 Electrical Installations ELECTRIC SUPPLY AUTHORITY Engineers Institute of New Zealand Safety Manual Wellington 1957 Memorandum by the Senior Electrical Inspector of Factories on the Electricity Regulations Fourth Edition London H M Stationery Office 1951 Static Electrification in British Journal of Applied Physics Supplement No 2 London Institute of Physics 1953 Elevators Lifting Appliances AMERICAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION Safety Code for Elevators Dumbwaiters and Escalators ASA A17 1 1937 New York 1937 Safety Code for Cranes Derricks and Hoists ASA B30 2 1943 New York 1943 American Recommended Practice for the Inspection of Elevators Inspectors Manual ASA A17 2 1945 New York 1945 HARD FIBRE CORDAGE FEDERATION Lifting Tackle London 1956 INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Safety in the Construction and Use of Lifts Studies and Reports Series F second section No 8 Geneva 1939 STATE ELECTRICITY COMMISSION OF VICTORIA Safety Instruction Manual for the Operation and Maintenance of Overhead Travelling Cranes Melbourne 1957 UNITED KINGDOM MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE Factory Department The Use of Derrick Cranes Safety Pamphlet No 15 London H M Stationery Office 1956 The Use of Chains
221. prevent the top of the ladder slipping side Fig 40 Never do this The ladder may slip sideways Move it along ways c if fastening at the base is also impossible shall have a nian stationed at the foot to prevent slipping ee Wasa La li ify 4 The undue sagging of ladders shall be prevented LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 89 Long ladders e g those used for giving access to scaffolds should be fixed by braces to the scaffold construction at suitable intervals to prevent undue sagging 5 Ladders shall be equally and properly supported on each upright When placing a ladder care should be taken that each of the two uprights has a firm footing so that the load on the ladder is equally shared by both 6 Where ladders connect different floors a the ladders shall be staggered and b a protective landing with the smallest possible opening shall be provided at each floor It is desirable not to use ladders which are too long and sometimes two or three have to be used to connect different levels If the ladders are staggered all of them can be used simultaneously without danger of overloading any one or of persons on the lower ladders being hurt by an object dropped by a person on a higher one 7 A ladder having a missing or defective rung shall not be used The ladder accident described in Lesson 3 will be remembered 8 No ladder having any rung which depends for its support on nails
222. promotion than when he was merely an official responsible for enforcing the law In some countries assistance in the promotion of safe working condi tions has come from social insurance institutions These institutions have to pay compensation in case of accidents and are interested in accident prevention as a means of limiting the cost of social insurance Their activities in this field have included the issue of enforceable safety rules and the publication of safety pamphlets for different branches of industry Such a system has been followed in Germany since 1884 it resulted in that country having two different state services labour inspection and social insurance both of them responsible to some extent 12 ACCIDENT PREVENTION for accident prevention an arrangement that has given rise to some administrative problems In the United States as the number of states to pass laws concerning employers liability in respect of employment injury increased the employers liability was gradually taken over by insurance companies The latter appointed inspectors to supervise safety measures in the insured undertakings and in this way they entered the accident prevention field EXCHANGES OF EXPERIENCE The idea of Engel Dollfus of exchanging experience on safety matters between different undertakings gave a powerful stimulus to the introduc tion of suitable precautions in industry Earlier individual undertakings had sometimes taken far r
223. quently among elderly than among young and middle aged workers 1 There is also some evidence that the average severity of accidents increases with age For instance in Sweden while persons over 60 years of age accounted for about one fifth of all disablement cases they accounted for nearly one third of the cases with disablement of over 50 per cent At present however the reliable data available are too scanty to permit of any firm conclusions HANDICAPPED WORKERS There are at present very considerable numbers of blind crippled and otherwise handicapped workers many of them owing their disabilities to war wounds in industry Provided that they are given work suited to their capabilities there is no need to take any special safety precautions in respect of them CERTIFICATED PERSONNEL The safe operation of some installations such as steam boilers steam engines electrical plant cranes and locomotives depends to a considerable extent on the competency of the personnel responsible for operating them In some countries such installations can only be operated by holders of official certificates of competency Some of the regulations covering the qualifications examination certification and employment of such workers are very comprehensive For instance the regulations concerning operating engineers of steam compressor or refrigeration 1 Riksf rsdkringsanstalten Olycksfall i arbete dr 1954 Stockholm 1957 LESSON 10
224. r b will include 1 the planning of new buildings or the alteration of existing ones 2 the acquisition of new machines and other equipment 3 the condition of existing equipment 4 arrangements forthe testing maintenance and repair of equipment 5 safety devices of all kinds 6 personal protective equipment 7 fire protection The safety engineer has a special status when work has to be done that calls for extraordinary precautions e g welding tanks used for highly flammable liquids In such cases he is no longer just an adviser work should not start until he has given his permission As a rule he has to provide the department in charge of the work with a written permit indicating the precautions to be taken and while the work is going on he will supervise it very closely When during a plant inspection the safety engineer discovers an imminent and serious danger he usually has the authority to order a stoppage of work until the necessary precautions have been taken to permit it to be continued safely There have been differences of opinion as to the position that the safety engineer should occupy in the factory hierarchy but there is a wide measure of agreement that he should have a high rank and report directly to the top management LESSON 11 SAFETY IN THE UNDERTAKING 129 Small undertakings that cannot afford a full time safety engineer may combine to share the services of one Example During the construc
225. r truer to say that the opti mum safe temperature depends on a number of factors including the relative humidity and the physical effort demanded by the work Noisg There is no hard and fast definition of excessive noise but there is a wide measure of agreement that any sound intensity above 90 decibels is objectionable to workers and that high pitched sounds may be objec tionable at lower intensities Intensities above 90 decibels are commonly encountered in riveting operations circular sawing weaving sheds boiler shops and aircraft engine testing shops t See for instance H M VERNON Industrial Fatigue and Efficiency London Routledge 1921 LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 67 Excessive noise makes communication between workers very difficult makes hearing of warning signals impossible causes misunderstandings and may lead to permanent loss of hearing For these reasons noise should not be overlooked when dealing with safety In addition noise can be extremely tiring and in this respect it has the same ill effects as other types of fatigue Safety precautions against noise take the form of specially designed machines to prevent noise measures to absorb noise and vibrations and where absorption is impracticable limiting the number of persons exposed to excessive noise as far as possible In the last resort ear plugs can be worn Although working at a noisy machine may be unavoidable it is often unnecessary
226. r successful safety work in an undertaking Foremen safety engineers and other staff members can never achieve substantial results if the management does not take the lead in promoting and maintaining high safety standards The influence of management must be manifest in all that has to do with the working environment and the handling of the people in the undertaking Environmental factors which have proved their worth as means of reducing the number of accidents include cleanliness efficient production high quality equipment machines with individual motors excellent lighting carefully chosen colours for ceilings walls and machines an adequate air conditioning system and suitable seats The management s concern for safety must also be attested by such things as properly guarded machines the adequate protection of danger spots the provision of suitable tools and their proper maintenance ample provision of good personal protective equipment regular maintenance and repair services 126 ACCIDENT PREVENTION and good housekeeping Where such things are lacking the workers will never believe that management really bothers about safety and in all probability they will not bother either The management should leave no doubts in the minds of the employ ees that it is particularly concerned about accidents If for instance after a serious accident the manager not only looks at the accident report but also obtains first hand information fro
227. r used for safety purposes should have the primary and secondary windings completely separated so that even in the case of a defect the two cannot come into contact Experience has taught that proper maintenance of portable tools and daily inspection after working hours can reduce the number of accidents considerably Lastly attention should be drawn to a dangerous aspect of portable electric apparatus which can easily be overlooked Some equipment has been so designed and manufactured as to leave a small metal portion not earthed e g a metal switch recessed into an insulated handle and yet liable to become electrically charged with consequent danger to the user Workers using apparatus of this kind should be particularly circumspect 78 ACCIDENT PREVENTION GEARS Regulation 76 of the Model Code makes the following recommenda tions for the safeguarding of gears 1 Exposed power driven gears shall be guarded in one of the following ways a with a complete enclosure b if the gear wheels are of the solid disc type with a band guard cover ing the face of the gear and having flanges extending inward beyond the root of the teeth on the exposed side or sides 2 Hand operated gears shall be guarded in a manner similar to that prescribed for power driven gears whenever they present a hazard Generally speaking the danger inherent in gears can only be elimin ated by enclosing them completely The guard should be constructed
228. ration between management and workers or the workers themselves were opposed to the new measures At the Berne Congress the employers representatives suggested that these difficulties should be overcome by promulgating safety laws and 1 Gesellschaft zur Verh tung von Fabrikunfallen Sammlung von Vorrichtungen und Apparaten zur Verh tung von Unf llen an Maschinen 1895 second edition Mul house 1895 LESSON 2 ORIGINS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION 13 by setting up state inspection services for their enforcement in this way safeguarding dangerous places would become a statutory obligation Moreover to make sure that the obligation should be a real one state inspectors not influenced by local conditions should be appointed to see that the law was enforced Three years later at the Milan Congress this proposal was put forward again in addition it was proposed that governments should promote the founding and functioning of safety associations organised by private persons to promote action aimed at improving the safety and protecting the health of the workers State labour inspectors were to co operate with these associations SAFETY ASSOCIATIONS Most of the voluntary safety organisations in existence are of even more recent origin than safety legislation As far as is known the oldest safety organisation in the world is the Mulhouse Accident Prevention Association founded in 1867 to which reference has already been made Other Eu
229. rd for each of these operations in practice it is often not replaced with the result that the machine is unguarded when next used Such difficulties have been encountered in particular with guards for power transmission equipment Example A machine pulley near the floor with a belt running on an overhead pulley of the transmission shaft should be protected by a steel angle frame at least 6 feet in height with panels filled by perforated steel plates For oiling and inspection the guard should be provided with a small door near the pulley with inclined hinges Such a door closes by gravity when left in the open position In this way access to the pulley is easy and at the same time protection of the dangerous parts is guaranteed more or less automatically Figures 10 and 11 represent two types of non removable guards designed to permit oiling and other maintenance operations to be performed without difficulty Fig 10 1 and j Zhe guard should withstand long use and normal wear and shock with minimum maintenance It might seem unnecessary to mention this point particularly since all guards should satisfy these requirements However many guards are constructed in a very flimsy way perhaps because some home made device is considered sufficient perhaps because 48 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Fig If insufficient allowance is made for ordinary wear and tear Movable screens on metal presses have often proved defective because th
230. rds the end of the war the National Safety Council provided funds for the University of California the Georgia School of Technology the Illinois Institute of Technology and New York University to enable them to integrate safety engineering into their curricula Similar measures were taken at the University of Mary land The President s Conference on Industrial Safety has also made recommendations concerning the development of safety education One is that teachers authors and publishers should be encouraged to include appropriate safety references in textbooks laboratory manuals and other instructional materials Another is that engineering colleges should enable students to specialise as safety engineers An example of a university non technical safety course is that provided by the Center for Safety Education at New York University It comprises 16 subjects of which the following nine are compulsory SC 1 Accident Prevention Its Background Objectives and Rela tionships SC 2 The Philosophy and Basic Principles of Accident Prevention SC 3 Industrial Hazards Mechanical and Personal Control Methods SC 4 Safety Directors and Safety Engineers Their Qualifications Duties and Responsibilities SC 5 Safety Organisation Values and Limitations SC 6 Management and Supervision in Accident Prevention SC 7 Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases SC 8 Fire Prevention and Protection Inspection SC 16 Psycholo
231. release of explosive or toxic mixtures These last three provisions remind us that there are still other hazards in storage bins For instance a danger of suffocation exists in silos where there is a shortage of oxygen which can be expected where cereals are stored If necessary the atmosphere in silos should be tested before persons enter the bin and fresh air helmets should be worn ACETYLENE CYLINDERS Acetylene cylinders are made of steel they are filled with acetylene dissolved in acetone They should be handled carefully to prevent damage which might lead to bursting of the cylinder or leakage through the cylinder valve they should also be protected against excessive heat which would cause an increase of internal pressure and perhaps an explosion Acetylene cylinders should therefore not be banged jolted violently dropped or thrown about When being loaded on or unloaded from a Fig 37 A simple carrying device for acetylene cylinders 84 ACCIDENT PREVENTION truck a cylinder should be lowered gently into place In the workroom the cylinder should be prevented from falling by being fixed to the wall or a column by a collar or a chain in such a way that it can easily be removed in case of fire see figure 38 Right Fig 38 Ways of storing acetylene cylinders During transportation the valve should be protected by a steel cap When in use the cylinder should be kept in an upright or nearly upright position to prev
232. repair shops machine parts are often cleaned with gasoline The substitution of kerosene paraffin reduces fire risks considerably As already stated the planning of repair and maintenance work is just as important from the safety viewpoint as the planning of layout and processes The breakage of some machine part is often the cause not only of an accident but also of an interruption of work Regular in spections good maintenance and prompt repair will help considerably to improve the efficiency of work and reduce the number of accidents Here are some examples 1 In the chemical industry inner baskets of hydro extractors have some times burst owing to corrosion by substances which have dried in them Regular inspection of the extractors and replacement of corroded baskets in time could have prevented such accidents 2 Accidents caused by broken chains or wires are often due to lack of regular inspection 3 Many fatal accidents caused by electricity happen with electric hand tools which have been damaged in normal use and have not been regularly examined As a result casings carry mains voltage and when a worker touches them in unfavourable conditions he is killed 54 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Particular care should be taken with the organisation of tool rooms These rooms should have inspection and repair facilities to ensure that no dangerous tools such as mushroomed chisels and defective electrical tools are given out to workers
233. rhythmic co ordination or monotonous work LESSON 8 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECTS 101 The complicated problem of accident proneness is not limited to the foregoing considerations Some persons can easily give their attention to many things others concentrate on one and experience difficulties when they have to divide their attention These differences in attention to the environment have a bearing on accidents that depends on the type of work that has to be done A crane driver for instance has not only to see how to pick up and transport a load but also to watch the movements of persons in the machine hall where he is working If his mental constitution does not permit him to pay attention more or less simultaneously to a number of different things there will be a kind of accident proneness that may result in accidents not to himself but to other persons Accidents can be caused by the influence of an earlier accident If once an accident has happened and the worker finds himself in a similar situation to that before the accident or has to continue work on the same type of machine he may develop feelings of uncertainty fear resentment etc which may be conducive to another accident Another source of accidents resulting from the psychological attitude of the worker is the desire to show off knowledge courage or skill He wants to feel important to attract attention to be admired Excessive haste that is working too fa
234. rican Recommended Practice remains probably the best classification of accident causes yet published It is however only a recommendation and with the exception of a few of the states of the United States it is hardly used at all in official statistics In fact few countries publish classifications which go into anything like so much detail STATISTICS CONCERNING THE HUMAN FACTOR IN ACCIDENT CAUSATION Statistics have also been compiled to give an idea of how accidents are distributed over the different hours of a working day and how many accidents happen on each day of the week Such information is very interesting for here the general environment remains constant and the human factor is much more likely to be the cause of variations As a rule more accidents have been found to occur near the end of the morn ing and near the end of the afternoon shift than at other times Figure 1 gives an example of such statistics presented in graphic form 14 14 12 10 f 8 10 12 4 16 18 20 22 24 2 4 Fig 1 Percentage distribution of accidents by time of the day The question whether more experienced workers have more or fewer accidents than less experienced ones can be discussed with the aid of t Based on conditions in Sweden as reported by N ZETTERMAN in Industrial Accidents A Burden on the National Economy in Occupational Safety and Health Geneva I L O Vol I No 2 Apr June 1951 pp 61 62 2
235. ricula of elementary schools of lessons designed to inculcate habits of carefulness and in the curricula of continuation and vocational schools of lessons in accident prevention and first aid o prescribing by law the measures required to ensure an adequate standard of safety p examining plans for the construction or substantial alteration of industrial establishments q consulting representative organisations of employers and workers before issuing administrative orders or regulations for the prevention of accidents r providing for the collaboration of the workers in securing the observance of safety regulations s endeavouring to secure that accident insurance institutions or companies take into account in assessing the premium for an under taking the measures taken in it for the protection of the workers t inducing accident insurance institutions and companies to co operate in the work of accident prevention This is a fairly comprehensive programme of activity for the State but it is not all the State should do It will be noticed that little is said about the extremely important subject of the organisation and functions of the state inspection service These are dealt with in a Recommenda tion No 20 concerning the general principles for the organisation of systems of inspection to secure the enforcement of laws and regulations 140 ACCIDENT PREVENTION for the protection of workers adopted by the Internat
236. rmed of accidents One advantage of having safety work done by social insurance institutes is the ease with which funds can be provided for research educational and other work It is a sound policy to invest money in this way for it will yield a high return in the form of a reduction in the number of compensable accidents ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS Not very long after the first safety legislation was passed governments realised from the evidence that it would be ineffective unless some means could be found of enforcing it After some experimenting with different enforcement agencies the great majority of countries eventually estab 144 ACCIDENT PREVENTION lished state labour inspectorates factory inspectorates or similar enforcement agencies In some countries however this function is wholly or partly entrusted to other bodies such as trade unions or associations of boiler owners Reference has already been made to the general principles for the organisation of labour inspectorates set out in a Recommendation adopted by the International Labour Conference in 1923 1 On the specific subject of safety the Recommendation includes the following provisions a one of the essential duties of inspectors should be to investigate accidents with a view to ascertaining by what measures they can be prevented b that inspectors should inform and advise employers respecting the best standards of health and safety c that ins
237. ropean countries gradually followed the French example The Belgian Manufacturers Association for the Prevention of Industrial Accidents was founded in 1890 and its Italian counterpart in 1894 The Swedish Workers Protection Association dates from 1905 The British National Safety First Association now the Royal Society for the Preven tion of Accidents did not come into existence until after the First World War The National Safety Council of the United States was founded in 1913 The Cuban National Safety Council apparently the first of its kind in Latin America goes back only to 1936 The first safety associa tion to be founded in Africa seems to have been the Cape Province Safety First Association dating from 1936 In Asia the Japanese Indus trial Welfare Society founded in 1928 was the first to appear the second was the Safety First Association of India founded in 1931 The National Safety Council of Australia and the New South Wales Safety First Asso ciation both began activity in 1927 TESTING AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS Two other types of institution rendered necessary by the progress of technology are those engaged in the testing of industrial materials and equipment and those concerned with research in fields such as technology physiology and psychology Mining is perhaps the industry for which most safety research has been done gas explosions dust explosions fires electrical equipment and haulage equipment are among the
238. rotruding parts of a revolving shaft 1 For the protection of mechanical power transmission equipment in general see 1 L 0 Guide for Labour Inspectors Studies and Reports New Series No 41 Geneva 1955 LESSON 7 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 79 os catching loose clothes or materials such as fibres yarns cords etc Spoked gears may cause accidents when a hand or some object penetrates among the spokes The hazards of gears on machines turned by hand are often under estimated as may be seen from the following example Example In a small bakery a hand driven machine was used for cutting dough in the shape of biscuits As this machine was seldom used was hand driven and was designed to be used by one person and as only a father and his grown up son worked in the bakery guarding the gears of the machine was thought to be unnecessary One day the machine was being used by the father and son together the father turning the handwheel and the son feeding the machine with dough Suddenly the son s hand caught between the gears and before he could shout to his father to stop turning the wheel he had lost the tips of two fingers Accidents like this show that it is essential to enclose gears completely whether they are slow running or fast running and whether they are hand driven or power driven LARGE CONTAINERS SILOS BINS FOR DRY BULK MATERIALS 1 Fatal accidents have occurred in hoppers and bins containing dry bulk ma
239. s lack of interest for an active safety attitude what are its causes Examples ignorance of risks underestimation of risks lack of LESSON 14 SAFETY AND THE WORKERS On solidarity between workers What remedies are there to this situation In particular what can the union do The Trade Unions 5 What safety provisions appear in the collective agreement covering your factory 6 Are there first aid facilities in the plant 7 Are injured employees requested or required to report accidents 8 What is the procedure for dealing with differences between the union and the employer on safety questions 9 Is there a plant safety committee Is it a union committee or a joint body In the latter case how are the worker members appointed Do they receive specialised training for this job from the union or otherwise 10 In what ways e g literature campaigns exhibitions films is safety promoted How does the union co operate in this educational effort 11 Zs there a joint or tripartite safety body at the industrial or national level SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING A list of works of a fairly general character dealing with some of the commonest aspects of occupational safety is given below A detailed bibliography covering the whole field of occupational safety would be much too long to be included in this manual but the references included many of which themselves have bibliographies will doubtless provide much usefu
240. s more and more dangerous Engels writing of conditions in 1844 remarked that there were so many cripples in Manchester that the inhabitants looked like an army which had just returned from a campaign It is almost im possible today to realise the indignation with which some of the mill owners received the suggestion that they should be held responsible for any accidents that occurred on their premises But no matter how stub bornly they resisted the tide of opinion was running against them and thanks to the combined and persistent efforts of philanthropists inspec tors statesmen members of parliament journalists and others some effective safety provisions were incorporated in the Factories Act of 1844 EARLY SAFETY LEGISLATION The first tangible achievement of the reformers was actually the adoption in 1802 of an Act for the preservation of the health and morals of apprentices and others employed in mills and factories The inspection of these mills and factories was entrusted to honorary visitors chosen from among the local magistrates and the clergy An amending Act of 1833 created a government inspectorate but it was not until 1844 that clauses relating to the fencing of machinery the provision of other safeguards and the reporting of accidents were inserted in the Act In other countries the lot of the children was sometimes little better In an account of conditions in the cotton wool and silk industries in France compiled i
241. s that occurred and 71 1 per cent of all the time lost as a result of accidents The percentage distribu tion of industrial accidents in New Zealand in 19551 was as follows hand ling of objects 29 0 per cent machinery 20 4 per cent hand tools 16 1 per cent falls of persons 10 9 per cent vehicles 5 6 per cent stepping on or striking against objects 4 6 per cent falling or otherwise moving objects 3 6 per cent and other causes 9 8 per cent Lastly in the United States recent figures compiled on the basis of statistics of fatal compen sable work injuries for six states gave the following distribution manual handling of objects 24 4 per cent falls on the same level 9 5 per cent falls from one level to another 8 5 per cent impact of falling or moving objects 10 1 per cent machinery 9 8 per cent motor vehicles 5 6 per cent other vehicles 2 0 per cent stepping on or striking against objects 6 6 per cent hand tools 6 5 per cent electricity heat and explosives 3 1 per cent elevators hoists and conveyors 2 3 per cent engines and motors 0 4 per cent and other causes 8 6 per cent How ACCIDENTS ARE PREVENTED The various means generally used at the present time to promote industrial safety may be classified as follows 1 regulations i e mandatory prescriptions concerning such matters as general working conditions the design construction maintenance Inspection testing and operation of
242. s will have to do in factories later it is equally important for maintaining safe working conditions in the schools themselves where relatively large numbers of serious accidents still occur The following are examples of what can happen if these precepts are neglected Example An apprentice blacksmith was hammering an iron bar on an anvil and a steel splinter from the hammer flew into his eye the eye was lost and the boy had to change his job Better maintenance of hand tools and the wearing of suitable safety goggles would have prevented the accident Example A 15 year old apprentice in the woodworking shop of a technical school was working on a circular saw which was not adequately protected The boy s left hand came into contact with the sawblade and three fingers were severed Finally when young persons leave school or finish their training courses and enter the factory to start ordinary work it all too often hap pens that the safe working methods they have been taught are looked down on by the older workers this attitude often intimidates the new arrivals and in order to be like the others they abandon their safe working methods and follow the general practice Much safety educa tional work has been wasted because of such attitudes The teaching of safe working practices is not sufficient conditions in the factory must be such as to encourage their use and steps must be taken to ensure that their use continues
243. sants recruited from the villages and remain only for a short period in industry They are often illiterate It is therefore not surprising that they show little interest in accident prevention If it is true that workers generally have a very limited interest in accident prevention one may ask whether the situation is likely to improve Seeing that for many many years all the efforts made to arouse and intensify their interest have had only a very limited success it cannot be expected that the situation will improve rapidly but there can be little doubt that in the long run safety education in its various forms will pay good dividends In any case it would be unthinkable to abandon the struggle The solidarity constantly shown by workers in times of trouble should manifest itself in the field by safety Every worker has a duty and a responsibility to protect his fellow workers from accidents A man s LESSON 14 SAFETY AND THE WORKERS 171 attitude must not be Am I my brother s keeper he must not stand aside when he sees a fellow worker taking serious risks for this would be a grave breach of duty It was stated earlier that the accident frequency rate among young workers is relatively high This is due sometimes to insufficient knowledge of risks but more often to unnecessary actions motivated by a desire to do more than is absolutely necessary to satisfy curiosity or to indulge in horseplay Here the older and more experienced w
244. sels and drills which have mush roomed under hammer blows and taught the importance of using safety equipment such as goggles or screens shielding grinding wheels etc Training of Job Instructors Job Setters and Supervisors Particular emphasis is placed today in most industrial undertakings on the training of supervisory or educational staff in the requirements of job safety in the application of safe practices to work and particularly in the teaching of safe practices to newcomers A great number of courses have been designed for this purpose A recent example is the job safety course for supervisors devised by the United Kingdom Ministry of Labour and subsequently incorporated in the general training scheme for supervisors known as T W J Training Within Industry The general purpose of this course is to make the participants aware of the importance of the part they play in safety work in the factory and to teach them how to identify risks and to plan and instruct in safe methods for the job Most of the other courses have the same general purpose and content and may in addition contain specific instruction in regard to safe methods of work in a particular industry or occupation Some undertakings organise safety discussion groups for their super visors where the responsibilities of instructors and charge hands super visors and other staff in charge of the work of others are underlined and where case studies are made of accidents wh
245. side the cable attached to a third pin in the plug which is connected to a good earth through the socket This method is not however completely reliable because the electric cable of portable apparatus is often carried or dragged about and sometimes laid on floors and it is liable to be trodden on or otherwise maltreated with the result that sometimes a wire breaks If the earth wire is the one affected the break is often not immediately discovered and if subsequently an internal fault develops in the appliance 1 The generally accepted thresholds are three phase and earthed neutral alterna ting current 42 volts single phase alternating current 24 volts direct current 110 volts 76 ACCIDENT PREVENTION the casing may become live and the next time the appliance is used the worker may receive a severe shock The broken earth wire may even touch one of the live wires and cause the casing to carry mains voltage Safer therefore is the system according to which in addition to the earth wire described above one end of a loose wire is attached to the casing of the apparatus and the other to an earthed point This type of earthing is more reliable but its efficacy depends on the worker since he is responsible for attaching the second earth wire before plugging in the apparatus Figure 32 shows an electrical hand drill with a socket outlet well earthed to a fixed earth conductor or to an earth pipe e g the main water supply pipe gas
246. signing of guards and by drawing on all the inventive resources of the country provided industry with guards which are usually far superior to any home made device GUARDS AND PRODUCTION COSTS A suitable guard may not only give adequate protection but at the same time improve the quality and quantity of the work done on the machine in other words the guard will be not only a means of protec tion but also a tool that facilitates work This is one reason why a sufficient knowledge of the technical factors embodied in a particular machine is the essential basis for any attempt to make it safe and that sometimes an efficient working method must be found before the design ing of a guard can begin This approach has proved to be particularly valuable for the protection of woodworking machinery and it has also resulted in the designing of completely new systems for guarding machines such as metal presses and grinding wheels The Swiss National Accident Insurance Institute was among the first to apply the principle that firstly an efficient way of operating the machine must be found and secondly the guard must facilitate operation as well as protect the operator Many employers and in particular small employers desire to keep the cost of guards as low as possible They often forget that guards which give incomplete protection may fail to prevent an accident and thus may prove in the end much more expensive than an effective guard
247. slative Series Issued in instalments every two months A collection in English of labour laws and regulations from many countries Annual subscription 7 50 52s 6d 30 Sw frs Individual texts at varying prices IV Year Book of Labour Statistics Employment unemployment hours of work wages prices industrial injuries industrial disputes etc Published at the end of each year Price paper 86 42s 24 Sw frs cloth 7 49s 28 Sw frs V Minutes of the Governing Body Published session by session Annual subscription 5 35s 20 Sw frs VI Documents of the International Labour Conference Reports prepared for each item on the agenda of the annual Conference Record of Proceedings including committee reports and decisions adopted Annual subscription 10 70s 40 Sw frs Individual documents at varying prices VII Studies and Reports on economic and social subjects At varying prices VOI Other Publications Practical manuals international works of reference etc At varying prices Inclusive subscription to all I L O publications per year 50 17 10s 200 Sw frs Publications and catalogues may be obtained from the International Labour Office Geneva or from any of its Field Offices Branch Offices or National Correspondents PUBLICATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE Services for Small scale Industry Studies and Reports New Series No 61 A positive approach to
248. son to criticise the workers behaviour It is another matter however if a worker does not use guards because he thinks them to be unnecessary Here the problem is 1 Model Code of Safety Regulations for Industrial Establishments op cit Regulation 234 paragraph 6 Ibid Regulation 191 paragraph 20 LESSON 11 SAFETY IN THE UNDERTAKING B5 one of enforcing normal factory discipline if the attitude of the worker endangers himself or his mates disciplinary measures will have to be taken It may even be necessary to dismiss the worker but this cannot be considered the most satisfactory way of settling the matter Sometimes the law makes the use of guards and other safety equip ment an obligation and states that workers who do not fulfil this obliga tion are guilty of an offence The legal responsibility of workers for safety is as a rule limited to cases specified in the law and the general responsibilities of the employer are not affected INTRODUCTION OF NEW WORKERS Special care should be taken over introducing a new worker to the undertaking He should be acquainted with the new environment and told what is expected of him He should also have the hazards to which he may be exposed explained to him and be shown how he can avoid them by correct working methods and by obeying safety rules One of the reasons why statistics show a relatively high number of accidents among newly engaged workers is doubtless failure to init
249. ssary risks They are more likely to be successful the more workers are given a voice in the formulating of safety regulations The co operation of the com mittee is particularly valuable when the time comes to inform workers of safety regulations instructions and the like a task more difficult than it seems It is not sufficient to give workers a booklet of safety instructions the contents must be explained to them if necessary several times to ensure that they are understood On the other hand safety committee members are in a position to inform the management of the practical value of instructions given and of improvements in them likely to make them more effective In some undertakings the chairman of the safety committee is autho rised to invite a worker who has had an accident to explain how it hap pened so that if it was partly due to a mistake or fault on his part the latter can be pointed out to him Whether such an arrangement can be recommended or not depends entirely on the personality of the chairman If he deals with such cases tactfully an advantage will be gained in that the criticisms of the worker s behaviour will come not from the foreman who is responsible for safety and is in addition his direct superior but from a more neutral person who is concerned solely with accident prevention Lastly a member of a safety committee should not forget that one of his main duties is to report hazardous conditions to the safe
250. ssary to ensure close co operation with the local fire brigade In some factories the telephone number of the fire brigade is indicated near every telephone so that anybody can call in the fire brigade if necessary Some factories however arrange for workers to call the factory telephone exchange which then calls the fire brigade The practice whereby the factory telephone operator is authorised to call the fire brigade only if certain specified members of the factory personnel so request is undesirable it has caused delays in cases of fire that have sometimes proved to be extremely costly PRECAUTIONS AGAINST EXPLOSIONS In some factories precautions are necessary not only against fire risks but also against the risk of explosions which can be very violent and destructive Explosions may be caused by substances such as commercial ex plosives or by concentrations of certain vapours gases and dusts in the air Trinitrotoluene fulminate of mercury and lead azide are examples of commercial explosives Dusts that may be explosive when mixed with air include organic dusts such as those of flour sugar starch and cork and some metallic dusts such as those of aluminium and magnesium Among the vapours and gases that may cause an explosion when mixed with air are acetylene butylene n carbon monoxide ether hydrogen sulphide and methanol Not all mixtures of such gases and vapours with air are explosive the mixture must contain the righ
251. ssociations do 8 Jn what ways can standardisation contribute to safety THIRTEENTH LESSON INTERNATIONAL SAFETY ACTIVITIES International action for accident prevention did not develop on any considerable scale until nearly a century after national action had begun It is following the lines of national development but in many respects it is still very incomplete BEGINNINGS A modest beginning of international co operation in accident pre vention may perhaps be seen in one of the congresses to which we have referred several times namely the International Industrial Accident Congress held in Paris on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of the year 1889 It was organised by a committee of 30 persons with some concern with or interest in accident prevention and compensation designated by a French Ministerial Order of 26 December 1888 The Congress which was concerned both with prevention and with compen sation was divided into three sections the first dealing with technical questions the second with statistics and administration and the third with economic questions and legislation The delegates recommended the establishment of a permanent inter national body to compile the experience gained in the different countries and suggested the best procedure to be followed in the future As a result a permanent international committee was set up in 1890 one of its specific tasks was to endeavour to find a basis for the compilatio
252. st for one s mental and physical capacity may also result in accidents The opposite is no better the worker who is not sure of his skill or of himself may be accident prone because he cannot act in time There are of course degrees of accident proneness while one bad psychological factor say vanity may not be particularly dangerous the combination of several say vanity carelessness and nervousness in one person probably will be Some people aware of their defects can do much others little depending on their personalities to correct and to control them and consequently capacity for correction must be taken into account If it were possible to find out what factors in the mentality of a person have a direct bearing on the chances of his having an accident and if those factors could be measured by some kind of psychological examination or test there would be ways of assessing accident proneness in workers before they are given a job However this would not be the final solution of the problem for the end in view is not exclusion of a person from industrial work but employing him in a place where he does not encounter a particular risk Hence the problem is ultimately a technical one that of safeguarding the workers environment in such a way that accident prone persons have open to them the largest possible number of jobs not involving them in serious risks 102 ACCIDENT PREVENTION PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS Some a
253. st of industrial acci dents but few attempts have been made to assess it accurately An American author estimated a few years ago that each lost time injury i e an injury involving absence from work for a certain time in industrial employment in the United States cost the employer approxi mately 1 800 According to the same author the American Social Security Administration estimated that in a typical year it paid out compensation amounting to approximately 535 million while the National Safety Council estimated its medical expenses at 130 million making a total direct expenditure of 665 million The number of lost time injuries which gave rise to this expenditure was 1 950 000 thus the average direct cost of each was 340 It is often asserted that the indirect costs of an accident in lost output lost wages or damage to property average four times the direct costs medical treatment and compensation If this assertion is accepted the indirect costs work out at 1 360 per injured person moreover to this sum should be added 128 representing the overhead expenditure of the compensation insurance schemes The total cost of each lost time accident thus comes to 1 828 The 4 1 ratio of indirect to direct costs is not applicable to all countries but even if it is as low as 2 1 there can still be no questioning the fact that accidents are costly in all countries How ACCIDENTS ARE CAUSED All industrial accidents are either
254. sualties in the armed forces of the United Kingdom excluding merchant seamen averaged 3 462 killed 752 missing and 3 912 wounded a total of 8 126 During the six years from 1939 to 1944 in manufacturing industry alone including docks and shipyards the monthly average was 107 deaths and 22 002 injuries In the United States armed forces during the Second World War the average monthly losses were 6 084 killed 763 missing and 15 161 injured a total of 22 088 while the monthly average of industrial casualties during the years 1942 44 was 1 219 persons killed 121 permanently and totally disabled 7 051 permanently and partially disabled and 152 356 temporarily dis abled a total of 160 747 It can thus be seen that in these two countries industrial injuries caused more casualties leaving aside for the moment all questions of relative severity than the operations of a major war Today some countries Japan the United States regularly report over 2 million occupation accidents a year and others France the Federal Republic of Germany Italy over a million Many countries including some of the largest or most highly industrialised do not publish any figures but it is fairly safe to assume that over 15 million occupational 2 ACCIDENT PREVENTION accidents occur throughout the world every year a staggering number when considered in terms of the suffering sorrow and waste they cause Much has been written about the economic co
255. t when in contact with acety lene forms an explosive compound For this reason there should be no copper in any apparatus which comes into contact with acetylene Un fortunately this rule is not always observed Acetylene pressure gauges are sometimes fitted with copper Bourdon springs or the springs may have been soldered with copper to the casing of the gauge However alloys containing less than 63 per cent of copper are not dangerous in this respect Thus acetylene dissociation in an acetylene cylinder may begin either with or without external application of heat In both cases a part of the cylinder will become hot What is to be done then If there is a small flame near the cylinder valve the former should first be extinguished and the valve closed The cause of the incident should be investigated and defects repaired and every five minutes for an hour the cylinder head temperature should be checked to ascertain whether dissociation has started If the flame is of some size the same procedure should be followed but in this case it will be necessary to wear gloves to shut the valve If the flames are so fierce that the valve cannot be closed they should be extinguished with a fire extinguisher preferably one filled with carbon 86 ACCIDENT PREVENTION dioxide If such an extinguisher is not available a blanket or a wet cloth should be used It is also possible but not easy to put out the flames with a water jet If a part of t
256. t proportion of 40 ACCIDENT PREVENTION the two ingredients This proportion lies between what are known as the upper and lower explosive limits For instance any atmosphere containing at least 2 5 per cent and at most 80 per cent of acetylene is explosive Example In a basement a worker was repairing an ammonia refrigerator Suddenly a large quantity of the gas escaped from the apparatus and the air ammonia mixture was ignited by an open gas flame The resulting explosion completely destroyed the ground floor of the building Mixtures of gasoline vapour and air have caused many explosions e g in car repair shops Example During repair work on a car gasoline was spilled on the floor Gasoline vapour spread through the workroom and through a small office where it was ignited by an open electric radiator used for heating the office The whole building was burned down A dust explosion occurs when a suitable mixture of flammable dust and air is ignited by a heat source of sufficient intensity for instance when a cloud of dust is ignited by a flame a spark or a very hot object such as a carbon filament electric bulb Dangerous concentrations of dust in the air may be present for example in workrooms pneumatic con veyors milling equipment and dust exhaust systems The sources of ignition may be open flames poorly maintained power transmission equipment unsuitable electrical installations static elec tricity and even smoki
257. t with the prevention of occupational accidents They are the Economic Commission for Europe an agency of the United Nations and the Western European Union formerly the Brussels Treaty Organi sation of which the Governments of Belgium France the Federal Republic of Germany Italy Luxembourg the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are members In addition international conferences are held from time to time which discuss various safety problems A first regional conference on factory inspection services organised by the International Labour Office was held at The Hague in October 1935 for the western European countries The main subject under dis cussion was the organisation of factory inspection in industrial under takings including collaboration with employers and workers At the British National Safety Congress of 1935 a number of delegates from foreign safety organisations joined with the National Safety First Association in a discussion on international aspects of accident preven tion One outcome of the discussion was an invitation to the Netherlands delegates to explore the possibility of organising an international safety conference in their country This conference took place at Amsterdam in April 1937 Further conferences of the same kind were contemplated but the idea had to be shelved as a result of the events of the next few years However the idea of an international safety congress was not abandoned It was taken up aga
258. tances Radiations Fire and Explosion Risks BIRCHALL J D The Classification of Fire Hazards and Extinction Methods London Ernest Benn 1952 Bonp H and KimBa tL W Y Industrial Fire Brigades Training Manual Boston National Fire Protection Association 1954 Fire Prevention Standard Recommendations London Ernest Benn 1955 INSTITUTE OF MAKERS OF EXPLosives Safety in the Handling and Use of Explosives Pamphlet No 17 New York 1951 MINTON A S and THomas W editors Hazardous Industries London Institution of Fire Engineers 1953 NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION National Fire Codes 1 Flammable Liquids Gases Chemicals and Explosives 1951 Ul The Prevention of Dust Explosions 1950 IH Building Construction and Equipment 1951 IV Extinguishing and Alarm Equipment 1951 Boston ORGANISATION FOR EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CO OPERATION Fire Prevention and Control Paris 1952 STECHER G E and LENDALL H N Fire Prevention and Protection Funda mentals Philadelphia The Spectator 1953 Harmful Substances ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH CHEMICAL MANUFACTURERS Marking Containers of Hazardous Chemicals Second edition London 1958 BRISTOL SMELTING CORPORATION Lro Acid Handling Avonmouth 1950 180 ACCIDENT PREVENTION Ciry oF Los ANGELES Bureau of Fire Prevention Dangerous Chemicals Code Los Angeles 1951 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SER vice Industr
259. te owned or state controlled industries In these in dustries the standard of safety could be brought up to a level that would make them models for private industry Again government contracts with private firms for the construction of roads and buildings the delivery of machines etc provide governments with opportunities for stipulating the safety measures that have to be taken in carrying out the contract SAFETY MUSEUMS AND EXHIBITIONS Safety museums may be said to have originated in the interna tional safety congresses held at the end of the nineteenth century A new way of propagating knowledge of safeguards was proposed at the Milan Congress 1894 although it had been mentioned still earlier at a hygiene congress held in Vienna 1887 The proposal was to establish social museums where the public could see models and obtain infor mation on social insurance and in particular on accident prevention The original purpose of safety museums was to show the best and most modern means of protecting workers against the risks of their work for instance specimens of effective guards for different machines of personal safety equipment and of other means of preventing accidents and disease In practice this purpose could never be completely achieved and the earliest safety museums were partial failures for there was not money enough to keep them fully equipped and up to date There were other difficulties Only a relatively smal
260. ten too an accident is the result of a combination of circumstances of a technological physiological and psychological nature Some of them will be considered in subsequent lessons However it can be said that the most common causes of accidents are to be found not in the most dangerous machines such as circular saws spindle moulding machines and power presses or the most dangerous substances such as explosives and volatile flammable liquids but in quite ordinary actions like stumbling falling the faulty handling of goods or use of hand tools and being struck by falling objects The truth of this statement can be illustrated statistically According to the French industrial accident statistics for 19584 for instance handling of goods accounted for 34 5 per cent of all accidents and 18 7 per cent of all time lost working surfaces i e the floors or tables on 1 Caisse nationale de s curit sociale Statistiques technologiques d accidents du travail ann e 1958 Remarques Paris Chaix 1960 p 9 4 ACCIDENT PREVENTION which the work is performed for 16 5 per cent of accidents and 12 9 per cent of time lost machines for 11 5 per cent of accidents and 17 1 per cent of time lost elevated workplaces for 8 4 per cent of accidents and 18 9 per cent of time lost and hand tools for 7 3 per cent of acci dents and 3 5 per cent of time lost Thus these factors between them accounted for 78 2 per cent of all the accident
261. tent minister has the power to issue more detailed regulations For instance the United Kingdom Factories Act of 1937 contains a provision which reads as follows 60 1 Where the Secretary of State is satisfied that any manufacture machinery plant process or description of manual labour used in factories is of such a nature as to cause risk of bodily injury to persons employed in connection therewith or any class of those persons he may subject to the provisions of this Act make such special regulations as appear to him to be reasonably practicable to meet the necessity of the case The Factories Machinery and Building Works Act of 1941 of the Union of South Africa is more specific it mentions over 20 subjects on which the Governor General may make regulations Some examples are a the measures taken to secure cleanliness safety and preservation of health in or about factories b the clothing safety devices and protective articles to be provided by employers in certain circumstances c the first aid equipment to be provided by occupiers of factories LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 141 d the steps to be taken by the owners of buildings used or intended for use as factories or places where machinery is used in connection with the structure of such buildings or otherwise in order to prevent or extinguish fires and to ensure the safety in the event of fire of persons in such buildings e
262. terials when persons have entered them to try to start the material moving after it had stopped for one reason or another The following is typical of the kind of accident which may occur Under certain circumstances the material stored in a bin or silo is liable to stop flowing out though the outlet funnel at the bottom is open Sometimes this is due to the construction the unsuitable shape of the bin and in particular of the bottom or the unsuitability of the funnels for the material stored In other cases stoppage is due to momentary causes such as settling of the material damp and frost When the flow stops the material in most cases is blocked in the bin either in the form of a bridge an enclosed cavity not visible from the top or in the shape of a funnel or a chimney The first reaction of the worker who sees that the flow has stopped is to try to restart it by pushing a pole or some other implement up through the funnel opening This may work for a time but then there may be another stoppage Next the worker goes to the top of the bin and standing on a platform tries to start the material moving with a shovel or a bar If his attempts fail he takes a ladder places it inside the silo descends walks over the material and tries again Suddenly as the mass starts to move he may lose his footing and be engulfed before he has even had time to cry for help At the mouth of the funnel under the silo his mates will notice nothing amiss unti
263. the International Commission on Rules for the Approval of Electrical Equipment C E E and the International Electrotechnical Commission I E C The C E E to which about 15 European countries belong has already succeeded in framing a considerable number of recommenda tions concerning the safety of electrical apparatus and materials while the I E C which is world wide has drawn up a large number of safety standards Standardisation can become an important safeguard to ensure that only safe appliances and machines are sent to technically underdeveloped countries In some countries two types of machines are manufactured one well guarded and destined for countries with advanced safety requirements and one without guards for the others This practice should be abandoned but it will continue until world wide safety standards exist Questions 1 Mention some of the things that governments can do to promote occupational safety 2 Mention some of the ways in which laws and regulations are a effective and b ineffective in promoting safety 3 What measures do governments take to get safety laws and regula tions obeyed 4 What requirements should a state labour inspection service satisfy LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 155 5 Why is co operation between the labour inspection service employers and workers essential 6 Name some uses of safety exhibitions 7 What kinds of work can voluntary safety a
264. the conditions governing the erection installation working and use of any machinery and the duties responsibilities and qualifications of the user or person in charge of or erecting such machinery Many regulations have been issued under the United Kingdom Factories Act Among the subjects with which they deal are lighting chemical works the manufacture of aerated waters the blasting of castings eye protection the manufacture and decoration of pottery cotton spinning woodworking machinery the lifting of heavy weights spray painting electricity lifting machines operations at unfenced ma chinery milling machines grinding of metals plant railways acetylene the manufacture or celluloid the grinding of magnesium luminising and the training of young persons to operate dangerous machines This short list is enough to show how complicated safety legislation is becoming Indeed the factory safety regulations of quite a number of countries would make up substantial volumes say 500 pages of a book like this one Although the amount of safety legislation is increasing rapidly laws and regulations by themselves can never be enough to achieve the highest attainable standard of safety They can only embody provisions that a are enforceable without too much difficulty and b can be applied by all those responsible for applying them This means that they have to be as simple as possible and not too difficult for those under takings w
265. the problem of improving labour condi tions and standards of living of workers in small firms This volume is intended primarily for readers concerned with advisory educational or other services or facilities for small scale industrialists particularly in the developing countries but also to some extent for individual heads of small firms The exposition is supplemented by practical examples and case studies drawn from a number of countries at different stages of industrial development illustrating types of organisation and methods that have been used successfully in differing circumstances to aid small scale industries CONTENTS CHAPTER Small scale Industry and Economic Growth What is Small scale Industry The mportance of Small scale Industry The Impact of Economic Growth on Small scale In dustry The Role of Small scale Industry in Economic Develop ment Types of Assistance to Small scale Industry CHAPTER II Some Characteristics and Needs of Small scale Industry Finance Raw Materials Marketing Production Labour Management _CaapterR IIT Some Problems of Small scale Industrial Extension Services Problems of Organisation The Choice of Extension Mcthods Some Specific Extension Services International Technical Assistance CHAPTER IV Consultancy Services Subjects and Types of Consultation Qualifications of Con sultants Consultancy Methods Questions of Implementat
266. ther point that should not be forgotten when considering the reasons why so many persons do not co operate in ensuring maximum safety A person needs a powerful imagination to realise what an accident really can mean to him it is very difficult if not impossible to realise what losing a leg or one s eyesight means and to put oneself in the place of a man who has The general psychological patterns of individuals are not exactly the same in all parts of the world and consequently the workers attitude to safety problems differs somewhat from region to region In countries in the early stages of industrialisation workers are often unaware of the _ possibilities of accident prevention work and consider accidents more or less as they consider diseases namely unavoidable mysterious afflictions that have to be suffered like bad weather Much can be done to alter this attitude by placing suitable emphasis on safety questions during vocational training 96 ACCIDENT PREVENTION ENVIRONMENT AND FREQUENCY OF ACCIDENTS The worker s environment constitutes an important psychological factor in safety It has been observed in many undertakings that the frequency of accidents is influenced by the general atmosphere When relations between employers and workers are bad when workers are dissatisfied with wages working hours or other labour conditions the number of accidents tends to increase while in periods when industrial relations are good the op
267. tion of a power station by a group of co operating firms each one took care of a part of the construction steelwork brickwork boilers and engines electrical installations etc These firms joined together to appoint one safety engineer for the whole site In this case the co operating firms were not small ones but each was represented by a relatively small number of workers The need for one safety engineer to look after all the workers on the site was demonstrated by the fact that one of the firms protected dangerous places only as long as its own workers had to work near them so that when the workers from other firms took over they found the places completely unprotected Moreover difficulties arose as to who had to provide guards When a safety engineer was appointed problems of this kind were settled safety was improved and everybody was satisfied Example A number of small road construction firms convinced that a separate safety engineer for every firm was too expensive but also that observing safety precautions could only be an advantage for everybody concerned decided to co operate on safety matters Here too the arrangement adopted satisfied the firms concerned Sometimes an arrangement of this kind may be difficult to bring about A safety engineer has to deal with many aspects of the under taking and many owners of small firms are reluctant to introduce anyone into their undertaking who also works for other firms In such c
268. tions to which the granting of com pensation is subject are incorporated in the definition of an accident Failure to appreciate the distinction between these two uses has proved a serious obstacle to the utilisation of accident statistics for purposes of prevention Statistics to be used for accident prevention purposes should not be designed primarily to meet the requirements of workmen s com pensation authorities To give accident statistics the highest possible degree of comparability for prevention purposes the following principles must be applied 1 Accident statistics should be compiled on the basis of a uniform definition of industrial accidents framed for the purposes of prevention in general and the measurement of the importance of the risk rates in particular All accidents as thus defined should be reported and tabulated uniformly 2 Frequency and severity rates should be compiled on the basis of uniform methods there should be uniform definitions of accidents uniform methods of estimating the time of exposure to risk and uniform methods of statement of the risk rates 3 The classification of industries and occupations for the purposes of accident statistics should everywhere be uniform 4 The classification of causes and accidents should be uniform and the principles used for determining the causes of accidents should be the same in all cases It is not absolutely essential that national statistics should be com
269. to any industrial staff These persons must be able to study operations from the safety angle identify risks and design safe working methods or equipment enabling the machines and tools to be safely handled They must have a sound knowledge of the laws and regulations and the safety rules applying to the industry concerned and the methods of investigation and reporting required by insurance companies factory inspectorates and other outside agencies with which the undertaking has relations Many factory inspectorates voluntary associations for the prevention of accidents and employers central organisations organise special courses for such safety officials to help prepare them for their highly specialised work Training of Workers Representatives Finally a few words should be said about the training courses organised by many trade unions for the purpose of educating workers representatives on safety committees and shop safety representatives of workers in plants 1 These courses normally give instruction in the laws regulations and rules applying to the industry concerned the general policy of the trade union in regard to safety work joint consultation on safety questions with management and other matters which might be of use to a workers representative in a plant Questions 1 Describe some means by which safety propaganda is disseminated 2 How can safety posters contribute to accident prevention 3 Compare the educat
270. to expose workers in charge of preparatory work to the same noise this group can be placed in a separate workroom For example thousands of looms are still constructed in such a way that weaving sheds are among the noisiest workrooms So long as this situation cannot be changed workers preparing weaving beams should not work in the weaving shed but in an adjacent room properly separated and isolated from the noisy looms Questions l Mention some ways in which planning can improve safety standards 2 What is the value of good working habits 3 Give some examples of good housekeeping 4 What kinds of working clothes are dangerous a around machinery b near fires c in explosive atmospheres 5 What sorts of injuries might be avoided by the wearing of i a hard hats b safety boots c safety goggles d respirators 6 Do you think all workers should wear safety goggles Give reasons Sor your answer 68 ACCIDENT PREVENTION 7 Mention some of the uses made of colours for accident prevention purposes 8 How can labels help to prevent accidents 9 Mention some of the requirements that good lighting should satisfy 10 What bearing has ventilation on safety 11 How can noise be dangerous SEVENTH LESSON SOME PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF ACCIDENT PREVENTION PRINCIPLES It has become apparent from the preceding lessons that many volumes could be written about the safety measures desirable in t
271. to note that the first resolution submitted to the American Federation of Labor in 1892 was one from the Metal Polishers Union calling for efficient factory inspection laws and mechanical exhaust ventilation There is an increasing tendency in different countries for unions to set up safety committees of their own or to employ safety specialists The Swedish unions have laid great stress on safety education and have been very active in organising lectures research study groups correspondence courses and special safety campaigns It is all to the good that trade unions should strive to secure better wages working hours holidays social security benefits and other means of improving the living conditions of their members but it might be said too that the first duty of trade unions is to do what they can to keep their members alive and intact Good living conditions are of no use to a dead man a widow s pension cannot replace a dead husband and no amount of compensation will restore sight to a blind man In conclusion mention should be made of one sort of union activity in this field which is not conducive to safety Cases have occurred in which trade unions have demanded additional payment for their members LESSON 14 SAFETY AND THE WORKERS 169 known as danger money for work considered to be particularly dan gerous Safety is not promoted in this way for the work and the risks remain the same whatever the rate of payment Danger m
272. tory can generally follow in planning for safe and efficient production Here are some examples LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 53 a Keep the handling of materials and articles to the minimum b Provide safe walking surfaces on floors stairs platforms gangways etc c Provide adequate space for machinery and equipment d Provide safe access to every place to which workers have to go e Provide for the safety of maintenance and repair personnel such as window cleaners and of men working on overhead equipment f Provide safe transport facilities g Provide adequate means of escape in case of fire h Allow for expansion i Isolate dangerous processes such as spray painting and processes with high fire or explosion risks j If possible only buy machines with built in safety devices The following are some examples of measures that can be taken to reduce accident risks in the production process 1 In the woodworking industry tenoning can be done more safely on a moulding machine than on a circular saw and consequently a moulding machine should be made available for such work 2 In rubber shoe factories benzene rubber solutions are used to glue different parts together As benzene vapours which can cause serious blood diseases may escape into the factory premises benzene should be replaced by gasoline which although about as inflammable as benzene is much less toxic 3 In garages and car
273. ty engineer immediately and not to wait till the next meeting to do so Jos SAFETY ANALYSIS Just as productivity can benefit from work study job analysis so can safety benefit from job safety analysis What is more the two are inti mately bound together the work study man cannot ignore safety and the safety man cannot ignore productivity considerations Job safety analysis whether effected as part of work study or not can do much to eliminate the hazards of a job The analysis isolates every single operation in a job examines the hazards of each and indicates what should be done about them It involves the examination of work LESSON 11 SAFETY IN THE UNDERTAKING 133 permits drawings and tools the qualifications required of the worker doing the job and the instructions and training that he needs One way in which work study can simplify the task of job safety analysis is by eliminating unnecessary operations and simplifying com plicated ones It is well known for instance that large numbers of factory accidents occur during the handling of materials If work study can reduce the number of operations in which materials have to be handled it will ipso facto remove potential causes of accidents SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS Another safety measure used in factories is the issue of safety instruc tions for handling materials operating machines or other kinds of work Such instructions cannot replace protective devices but may be useful
274. type of work to be done may result in a maximum of production and a minimum of inefficiency and thereby in all probability help indirectly to reduce the number of accidents To the extent that accidents result from fatigue adequate lighting is a preventive measure and for many years the relation between poor lighting and high accident rates has been demonstrated in quite a number of publications Factors in illumination that are contributory causes of accidents include direct glare reflected glare from the work and dark shadows sudden passing from bright surroundings into darkness or vice versa LESSON 6 OTHER PROTECTIVE MEASURES 65 may also be dangerous Sometimes also what appears to be carelessness may be the result of difficulty in seeing The following are two examples of accidents caused by abrupt transi tion from bright light to darkness Example During the night materials were being stored with a crane The place where they were stored was lighted with a shaded acetylene lamp of high intensity The lampshade caused a strong contrast between the lighted area and the adjacent areas which were in complete darkness Suddenly the crane slewed and a man walking in the dark sector was hit by the load and Seriously injured It was impossible for the crane driver whose eyes were accustomed to the light of the acetylene lamp to adapt his vision fast enough to see what was going on outside the lighted area in time to avert the accident
275. uch courses attendance at which was restricted to persons from European countries were on protection against ionising radiations They were held at Harwell and Oxford United Kingdom in the summer of 1958 and at Saclay France in 1960 Lastly a proposal has been made in various quarters to establish pilot factories in underdeveloped countries which could serve as models in respect of safety and from which all ranks in industry could take practical lessons however no steps to set up such factories have as yet been taken Questions 1 Give reasons why international action should be taken to promote occupational safety 2 Mention some of the activities developed by the I L O in the occupa tional safety field 3 Mention some safety activities of regional organisations 4 What can be done to promote safety under technical assistance schemes FOURTEENTH LESSON TRADE UNIONS AND WORKERS AND INDUSTRIAL SAFETY TRADE UNIONS Workers unions have a very direct interest in promoting safety for in nearly all cases it is workers who are killed and injured in accidents There are many ways in which unions can contribute to safety and in fact some of them have taken direct action to ensure high standards of safety One important measure which unions can take is to have safety provisions included in collective agreements This has been done for instance by several unions in the United States Most of the agreements involved co
276. ur or to fill the tank with an inert gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide Example The hoisting of materials above a place where men are working creates an imminent danger of injury from falling objects As long as the men have to be at that place no hoisting should be performed EDUCATIONAL AND ADVISORY WORK BY STATE SERVICES Safety programmes courses and demonstrations have also been de veloped by state services in particular for the smaller undertakings in some branches of industry For instance the Bureau of Labor Standards of the United States Department of Labor has prepared flow charts showing the sequence of plant operations with the principal hazards A six month safety programme has been devised and assistance is given in carrying it out At the end of the period the results are assessed by calculating accident rates and by comparing the figures with the situation before the programme began A follow up programme exists to continue the safety activities Figure 48 shows an inspection sheet for a bale breaker in the cotton industry used in the safety programme The figure indicates the points to which special attention should be paid in the interest of safety These are 1 Operator Stands to one side when cutting bale ties not in front of tie being cut Wears gloves and goggles when handling bale ties Uses tie cutter to cut bale ties 2 Motor frames grounded 3 Sufficient light without glare See Special I
277. use is that of the worker who was filling a glass bottle with gasoline from a metal can holding the container in one hand and the bottle in the other Suddenly the glass bottle fell on the floor and smashed and the contents splashed over the floor and the worker s clothes The gasoline vapour was ignited by a stove which was near the worker and caused a fire The worker s clothes also caught fire and the man died the following day from his injuries STRUCTURAL FEATURES AND EXITS The first line of defence against fire is in the construction of the build ing itself Industrial buildings should be sufficiently fire resistant having regard to the fire risks inherent in the processes carried on inside This is of course primarily a matter for architects and designers but some aspects of the problem are matters in which the workers themselves can give invaluable assistance for instance points 4 and 5 in the list of recommendations below Fire resistant construction should ensure that structural parts do not readily burn and that fires cannot spread through the building either horizontally or vertically through walls floors doors elevator shafts stair wells or ventilating ducts Exits are most important and should conform to the following general rules 1 No part of the building should be far from an exit leading to the outside the distance depending on the degree of hazard 2 Each floor should have at least two exits suff
278. ve lost interest Investigations into circumstances that have had a favour able influence on the work of safety committees or been responsible for their failure have shown the following considerations to be of particular importance 1 The items on the agenda of every meeting must be carefully prepared so that if necessary the chairman can give the members clear guidance on every point that may come up The discussion must never be allowed to become confused In some factories the first item on the agenda of every meeting is communications from the management which convey information of general interest concerning for instance new developments and plans The general atmosphere of committee meetings has sometimes been improved by giving members an opportunity of discussing subjects of particular interest to them even if those subjects are not strictly within the field of safety Everything possible should be done to keep the committee interested in its work 2 Failure has often been due to overlooking the fact that promoting safety is a matter not only of goodwill but also of competence This does LESSON 11 SAFETY IN THE UNDERTAKING 131 not mean that every member of a safety committee has to be a safety expert but it does mean that enough members should know enough about safety to make the committee competent to perform its task 3 Worker members should always feel free to express their opin ions and should not have cause to fear t
279. ved device that will prevent the cover being opened while the basket is in motion and also prevent the operation of the basket while the cover is open In this case the purpose of the guard is indicated but no information is given as to how this purpose can be achieved or against what hazard the precaution is necessary Safety regulations often use general terms which require an explana tion to make their intention clear For instance they may lay down that measures should be taken without indicating what measures that suitable guards should be used without mentioning what in that particular case suitable means that precautions have to be taken in good time without fixing a period that measures are not necessary when machine parts are safe by position without prescribing in what circumstances the position can be considered to be safe In practice the changes which are continually taking place in many sections of industry make it impossible to avoid such vague general expressions To mention all the details of guards in a regulation would result in a very unwieldy document and even if it were possible to compile it the regulation might well prove a serious impediment to new ideas on safety and new develop ments in safety engineering To meet the difficulties created by wording regulations in general terms in some countries the legislation names an authority e g an official of the labour inspection service
280. ventable and that working methods can be improved He should know what safety demands in different situations where necessary he should be able to obtain guidance from the safety engineer or if there is none from some repre sentative of the management He has to give continuous attention to the hazards of the equipment and processes in his department For instance he has to see that guards are correctly mounted and used that machines and tools are properly maintained and repaired that correct working methods are followed and that no unsafe practices are tolerated For the workers the foreman represents the management He has to see that the intentions and orders of the management are carried out by exerting his personal authority and influence If the foreman does not take safety seriously those under him will not either On the other hand if he is convinced of the importance of safety if he shows that safety has to be considered all the time and if he himself does everything that reasonably can be done to prevent accidents workers will follow his example THE ROLE OF THE SAFETY ENGINEER While the foreman is the man responsible for the enforcement of safety measures the safety engineer or the factory safety inspector or other factory safety official performing similar duties is the general adviser on safety As he is only an adviser the success of his work must depend a good deal on his character but he will always need the support
281. w laboratory tests analyse technical processes explain difficult and complicated matters in a methodical way and reproduce a rapid sequence of events in slow motion Nevertheless 108 l ACCIDENT PREVENTION demonstrations will often make a more vivid impression and at the same time furnish opportunities for the audience to ask questions and discuss particular points Slides have some advantages over films they can be projected for as long as desirable more detailed explanations can be given and questions can be asked However slides have the same limitations as posters Sometimes there is advantage in combining films and slides A film giving a general impression of the subject may be followed by slides bringing out the main points of the film which can then be discussed in detail It may be that television will also eventually be used for industrial safety education for it enables actual scenes in a factory to be shown in the lecture room and so makes it possible to discuss questions with the audience without disturbing work in the factory Talks Lectures and Conferences With talks lectures and conferences much depends on the speaker s understanding of the audience If he knows how to hold the attention of those who listen to him he may have some influence on them What is most essential is that the audience should feel that he is sincere For instance little can be expected from a speech by the manager of an undertaking at a
282. y associa tion the Workers Protection Association which publishes a periodical organises exhibitions and performs other functions In Sweden the unions are represented on the Labour Protection Board the supreme authority for labour inspection and also on the advisory councils attached to the 11 labour inspection districts into which the country is divided An arrangement which has existed for many years in the United Kingdom is of particular interest In some industries standing joint com mittees the membership of which includes trade union representatives have been set up to discuss and make recommendations on safety matters Sometimes agreements are concluded between the labour inspectorate employers and workers in sectors where no such committees exist Examples of joint standing committees are those for drop forging power presses and paper mills Tripartite agreements have been concluded for drop forging the tinplate factories paper mills textile machinery manu facturing and other sectors of industry In some countries trade unions actually assist the labour inspection services Sometimes this is achieved by including in the inspection service officials appointed for a specific period by the workers who help with the enforcement of regulations dealing with working conditions 168 ACCIDENT PREVENTION In other cases inspecting officials are recruited among trade union leaders In Norway a special system of particular
283. y have to supervise the enforcement of all labour protection laws such as those dealing with safety health working hours rest periods the protection of female and child labour and minimum wages In addition they have to advise employers and workers 1 The main general provisions of this Recommendation were subsequently embodied in a Convention the Labour Inspection Convention 1947 No 81 3 See also I L O Guide for Labour Inspectors Studies and Reports New Series No 41 Geneva 1955 and the Labour Inspection Convention 1947 No 81 LESSON 12 ACTIVITIES OF AUTHORITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS 145 on social questions and keep the government informed of social condi tions in the country Normally the inspection service has a headquarters staff with experts in different fields and administrative personnel To facilitate the perfor mance of the inspectorate s duties the country is divided into districts each one under a district superintendent assisted by district inspectors and administrative personnel The district inspectors make the factory inspections including safety inspections under the general guidance of the district superintendent They should be sufficiently familiar with the safety laws and regulations to be in a position to explain them and to advise on the best ways of complying with them If they themselves require information on tech nical questions they may ask the district superintendent who if necessary may
284. y off endangering persons in the neighbourhood and in particular their eyes Excessively hard steel too may splinter on impact such splinters sometimes penetrate very deeply into the eye and sight may be entirely lost To eliminate these risks steel used for shock tools must be neither too soft nor too hard the limits are often laid down 6 Heads of shock tools should be dressed or ground to a suitable radius on the edge as soon as they begin to mushroom or crack The risks of flying splinters can be reduced by rounding the edges of hammers anvils etc see figure 29 E ti Fig 29 7 Hand tools should be tempered dressed and repaired only by properly qualified persons As the properties of steel depend on the way in which it has been hardened and tempered this work should be done only by competent persons who are fully aware of the consequences of changes in tempera ture or treatment Repair work should also be done only by qualified persons this to prevent damage to the tools or to the materials from which they are made 8 When not in use sharp edged or sharp pointed hand tools shall be provided with protection for the edges or points The protection of sharp edges and points of tools prevents injury by accidental contact and at the same time protects tools from damage by impact against stone floors or other objects The protection may consist of leather sheaths or hoods 9 Hand tools shall not be allowed
285. y parts is the following O Belts pulleys chains and sprockets cables and sheaves or gears i Moving parts not elsewhere classified 2 Ignition heating or cooling system parts LESSON 3 ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS AND STATISTICS 21 Frame bed etc Valves etc Gaskets packing etc Safety devices Flywheel Parts of pumps and prime movers not elsewhere classified Oou Air BW 2 Unsafe Mechanical or Physical Condition The unsafe mechanical or physical condition is the specific reason why the selected agency was unsafe Under this heading are classified matters such as QO Improperly guarded agencies 1 Defects of agencies 2 Hazardous arrangement procedure etc in on or around the selected agency 3 Improper illumination 4 Improper ventilation 5 Unsafe dress or apparel 3 Type of Accident Type of accident refers to the manner in which the injured person came into contact with or became exposed to the object or substance which caused the accident or the movement of the injured person which resulted in the injury The following are examples O Striking against refers generally to contacts with sharp or rough ob jects resulting in cuts slivers punctures etc due to striking against kneeling on or slipping on objects Struck by falling flying sliding or otherwise moving objects Caught in on or between Fall on the same level Fall to different level 4 Unsafe Act C

ACCIDENT PREVENTION

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