SAFETY AND PRODUCTION
sumes more effort and at the same time seriously endangers himself.
A hatchet is an ineffective implement for drawing nails and, when
used for this purpose, the handle can be readily broken and perhaps
result in a fall from scaffolding.
Referring to a certain development in embossing presses Mr. DeBlois
states: “A case worth quoting occurred at the Newburgh Plant of the
duPont Company in presses used for embossing fabrikoid, a leather
substitute. For fifteen years this was a slow, treadle-actuated, two-
man operation done at an average rate of five impressions per minute.
Occasional accidents during this period, in which operators lost prac-
tically an entire hand, led finally to the development of guards that
did not interfere with the required adjustment of the goods, so that
successive impressions registered exactly. With this change it was
found possible to increase the operating speed to nine impressions per
minute and, later, operate with one man per press. The further devel-
opment of a satisfactory automatic wind-up again increased safety and
permitted one man to operate two presses. Through these changes
accidents were eliminated, labor reduced 735 per cent, and production
per press increased 8o per cent.”
Referring to the manufacture of dinitrobenzol by the Dye Works of
the duPont Company, he states: “In several separate operations in
this plant, production has been increased as much as 100 per cent in
one year coincident with a reduction in the number of injuries (includ-
ing poisoning cases) to one-half.”
But accidents affect process continuity, and therefore operating effi-
ciency, in infinitely more complex ways than those cited above, as Mr.
DeBlois points out: “Most processes involve a long series of progres-
sive steps or stages extending from the raw materials in storage to the
warehouse, shipping-room or freight car. An interruption anywhere
in this chain may make itself felt all the way to both extremities. Not
only is the final production proportionately decreased, but the flow of
product in process is interfered with, difficulties are encountered which
must be adjusted, and the whole operating schedule may be thrown
out of joint. Even when the cause of the original interruption has been
cured, full production cannot be instantly resumed. Meanwhile the
fixed losses continue and must be paid for, production efficiency falls,
and cost per unit of production bounds up, later to be reflected in the
month’s cost sheets.”
An example of the way in which the human factor affects safety
and production is reported by the California Industrial Accident Com-
mission as follows: “At the Moccasin power plant of the Hetch Hetchy
project, a surge chamber 40 feet in diameter by 160 feet deep
was being constructed of concrete. After the concrete had reached a
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