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Show THE SAFETY IDEA. "The law has contributed to a certain cer-tain extent to make industry safe," said Alfred E. Smith recently, "but all regulatory statutes have a line where they stop. It is at this point that human and personal endeavor must take up the undertaking." "Human and personal endeavor" has made remarkable progress in advancing safety, particularly in large industries such as the railroad and the electric, but it still has a long way to go. In small manufacturing businesses in many lines accident rates are far beyond what the "normal" "nor-mal" should be. Industrial accidents constitute a gigantic "waste" item in our business records. This is not altogether the fault of the businesses themselves. Great steps have been taken in guarding machinery machin-ery and in making plants more safe mechanically. But the maximum safety safe-ty results from the absorption of the "accident prevention idea" by the individual in-dividual worker. He must develop an innate consciousness, that finally becomes be-comes part of his instinct, as to what is safe and what is not. The best illustration of this is found in the splendid work done in lowering lower-ing the records of accidents to school children, at a time when hazards of all kinds and accidents to adults have been steadily increasing. The lessons taught vividly in the classroom class-room make an indelible impression on the child's mind, and the safe thing to do becomes the natural thing to do. Executives and workers must cooperate co-operate to promote industrial safety, exactly as authorities and motorists must cooperate if our horrible toll of highway accidents is to be held dowm. Safety cannot be learned in a day or a month or a year it must result, over a long period of time, from continued con-tinued instruction and thought. |