PRESCRIPTION FOR WOODS SAFETY

SETH JACKSON.

A woods crew was talking about safety.

"You think most accidents come from unsafe working conditions and unsafe acts," the logging boss said. "That may be true, but in the woods you can't do much to improve what you find in the woods. Take Joe Sablock. Joe was killed by a widow maker; it dropped on him while he was chopping an undercut. And Jim Mathews he was killed on a fire when a rock came rolling down the mountain. Falling things kill or cripple lots of woods workers, and we can't do much about it!"

"Yes," I said, "there are reasons why the logging industry has a high injury rate. But we can do many things to improve the record."

"What are you going to do about our Joes and our Jims," he said, "or about the man whose ax slips and he cuts his foot, or the fellow who falls and breaks his leg when he's carrying a stick of pulpwood? We can't change woods conditions much. We can't be around enough to tell 'em how to swing an ax, or lift, or walk carefully."

The logging boss had put his finger on two main reasons why the rates of injury and death in the woods are five times higher than for industry as a whole. Many woods working conditions are beyond the practical control to be had in factories, and supervision is not so close.

The logging boss had also touched on another reason. That is the attitude toward safety that is found among woods workers, from top officials down. These men, working alone or in small groups, give safety little consideration compared with their factory brothers. More thought could well be given to such things as hard hats for the Joes and the Jims in danger areas; clearing limbs, brush, and vines out of the swing of hand tools; getting firm footing; providing protective devices for machine equipment.

"It's just too expensive to prevent all accidents around here," said the woods superintendent. "Besides, the boys in the head office are always pounding us for more production."

"True," I said, "accident prevention does cost money, but accidents cost a lot, too. More, probably, than most of us figure. Lost-time injuries to Federal workers average $205 for direct compensation and medical payments, based on 332,289 cases. Industrial costs are even higher, according to the National Safety Council. In industry, occupational injuries average $274 each for 232,068 cases.

"But that isn't all. The generally accepted 4 to 1 ratio for indirect costs brings the total to about a thousand dollars for each lost-time injury. Indirect costs include time lost by those who stop work to aid or watch the injured; time lost by supervisors and others in investigating causes, preparing reports, and training replacements; lost production due to upsetting other workers; lowered efficiency of the injured person when he returns to the job; and damaged equipment or material."

One of the swampers in the crew spoke up : "You brought out the costs to the company. It sets us workers back plenty, too, when we get hurt. Besides our own injury, our families suffer from less money in the pay envelope while we're laid up. Compensation payments are a lot less than our usual wages."

The logging boss asked, "I wonder just how much good accident prevention costs?"

"Some companies spend as much as $25 per employee each year," I said, "but amounts as low as $2 a year, or less, will produce some results. Of course, it costs more at the start be-cause you have a big selling job with all workers then. An outfit with high hazards like logging must spend more than one where dangers aren't so great. Many concerns pay more for accident prevention than for accident compensation. They believe these large sums year after year are more than repaid by less direct and indirect injury costs, improved production, efficiency, and morale. The National Safety Council has recommended $4.50 to $6 per employee per year for Government operations with high hazards, such as construction and motor-vehicle operation. This includes salaries and travel expenses of all safety personnel, purchase of publications and materials. Some funds should be earmarked for protective equipment such as guards, hard hats, goggles."

"You know," said the cat operator, "when it comes right down to it, every accident we have on the job shows us that something is wrong in the outfit somewhere. Each accident is usually someone's fault lack of skill, carelessness, poor supervision, wrong design, haywire equipment, poor job instruction, no follow-up on safety, and so forth. We all talk about a right way to do a thing. Isn't the right way the safe way; and the safe way the best way?"

EVERY ACCIDENT is a symptom that something is wrong with men, methods, or material. It should stimulate management at all levels to do something about it. Accident prevention will pay increased dividends in the form of greater efficiency and production, better job satisfaction and morale, financial savings to both the worker and management, less loss and breakage of equipment and materials.

The source of woods accidents is something to consider. An analysis of Forest Service injuries for 1947 shows this, because its conditions of employment are widely varied construction and maintenance of the roads, trails, bridges, telephone lines, lookout towers, buildings; planting; timber-stand improvement; and forest-fire fighting. Most of the work is done under situations found in typical logging operations workers largely on their own or with a minimum of supervision in isolated areas far from medical help. As often as not they are in rugged, timbered country, which is treacherous underfoot.

The analysis shows that about one out of four injuries comes from hand tools, 93 percent of which are due to unskilled use. A further break-down shows that the ax is the main offender. As one would expect, most of the really serious cases come from operation of motor vehicles, tractors, and graders-machines especially when they are operating too fast for existing conditions, even though the actual speed may be only 15 miles an hour or less. Disregard for safe practices is one of the primary causes why workers get hurt. Supervision has a direct responsibility here.

Few accidents have single causes. Consider the man who broke his leg. He tripped. Why? He was holding the load in such a way that he could not see. Why? He was carrying the load improperly. Why? He had never been told how. Why? His boss had never told him. Why? Management had not held the boss responsible for accidents. Why? Management did not require bosses to plan for safety, to train for safety, and to follow up on the job to insure that a safe job was being done. That makes seven causes so far, not considering the man's possible physical or mental defects.

A thorough investigation of all accidents is an important part of a good safety program. And before that? A prescription for safety has three parts : Policy, planning, human engineering.