SAFETY PROVISIONS BEYER. 227 



phasis is placed on having all such cases reported promptly and hav- 

 ing proper attention given them, even though no time is lost by the 

 man affected. 



One is impressed with the capriciousness of fate when confronted 

 with the peculiar ways in which accidents occur. An engineer had 

 started home one evening at the end of the turn, but stopped for a 

 moment to explain to the night man why he had been five minutes 

 late in going on duty that morning ; in doing so he placed his elbow 

 on the end of the engine cylinder, and just at that moment the con- 

 necting rod broke and the cylinder head was knocked out, injuring 

 him fatally. In September, 1909, there were three isolated fatal acci- 

 dents in one of the Pittsburg mills, while there was none in all of the 

 other 30 odd plants of the American Steel & Wire Co. ; in the 

 succeeding month two men met fatal injury in one of the Cleveland 

 mills, while, as before, these were the only fatalities for the entire 

 company. 



On the other hand, there are quite as striking instances where what 

 might have been serious catastrophes have passed off harmlessly. In 

 one of our plants there is a group of machines in a building adjacent 

 to the boiler plant; a couple of years ago the main belt furnishing 

 power to these machines broke about midnight, and it was decided 

 that it was useless to try to repair the belt that night, so the men were 

 sent home. A little later a high wind, which was blowing, tore down 

 the boiler stacks, and they fell over the building in which these men 

 had been employed a short time before; parts of the wall were 

 knocked down and a section of the roof fell in. The next morning 

 the heavy beams and timbers which were lying over these machines 

 indicated what might have resulted if that main belt had not snapped 

 and the men had remained at work. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 two buildings were wrecked, and a 16-inch steam main was broken 

 in the boiler plant, no one was injured. 



Such occurrences introduce a large element of chance, which tends 

 to invalidate any comparison from month to month, or year to year, 

 and the plants are being constantly extended, giving an increasing 

 number of employees to be considered. With these varying factors 

 it would require a detailed study and analysis of classified injuries, 

 extending over a period of years, to give any convincing statistical 

 information as to the decrease effected ; and so far we have been con- 

 centrating on the active work of accident prevention, rather than on 

 theoretical research of this nature. 



We are very certain, however, as to the results, and numerous 

 specific instances which might be cited give definite clues as to what 

 is being accomplished. In one of our eastern plants, power is fur- 

 nished to three floors of a wire mill by a motor located in the base- 

 ment. We planned an installation of push buttons for stopping the 



