Progress Being Made In Safety Program

By S. M. Rodgers - Readers of the Newsliner will be interested in the progress of the Safety Program on the Rutland, as Safety is something that affects all of us. Statistics are usually very dry, but when we think what the figures stand for, particularly when they .represent injuries which mean pain and suffering to us, or our fellow workers, they take on a new significance. Viewed in this light, the fact that all personal injuries on the railroad have decreased from twenty-seven in the month of January to eleven in the month of March means that fewer persons are suffering pain and possible loss of wages. It also demonstrates how well all of the employees on the railroad are getting behind the Safety Program.

The Interstate Commerce Commission has a way of classifying serious accidents as those in which the injured reason loses three days from work because o the accident, and this is the basis on which one railroad is compared with another. These kind of accidents are referred to as "Reportable." On our railroad, we had two "Reportables" in the first three months, as compared with ten in the same period last year. Such a record shows the interest that everyone has taken in making this a safe railroad to work on and will make us compare very favorably with other railroads in the country on the ground is the cause of additional accidents.

The ice harvest, when we cut ice on Lake Champlain for our summer use, resulted in a number of minor injuries due to inexperienced men scratching themselves with ice tongs, or tripping over the ice creepers that they wear to work on the ice. However, the more serious accidents happened when men were engaged in their customary jobs, particularly handling heavy material, operating hand brakes or freight cars. Tripping over obstacles on the ground is the cause of additional accidents.