A million dollars, in round figures, is spent annually by the Corporation in the erection of safety appliances. The men are encouraged to suggest ideas for the prevention of accidents of however trivial a nature and these are all given careful consideration, and the records show that something like nine out of ten of them are used. The safety workers have adopted this motto: “Not only is an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure, but it is better to have a pound of prevention than an ounce of cure.”

So numerous and varied are the safety devices that have been developed over the course of years that it would be impossible to describe them in detail. They run from guards on the handles of wheelbarrows, to prevent fingers being crushed in passing through a doorway, to appliances for derailing cars in danger of collision; guards over exposed flywheels, belts, and other moving parts of machinery; enclosed ladders to prevent falls; goggles to safeguard workers’ eyes from explosion of metal or flying chips, and subways under railway tracks to eliminate the danger of crossing the rails in a busy yard.

Although a workman who invents a marketable safety device may secure a patent on it if he desires, the Corporation itself never patents, being only too glad to put at the disposal of other employers every means it can to assist them in eliminating accidents. Its management holds that the safety campaign, while good economy, is largely humanitarian, and should not be commercialized.

For several years past the Safety Committee of the Steel Corporation has been trying to make the safety idea universal, and it has put into use a danger signal which has been adopted by a number of industrial organizations in this country. This signal is a plain red ball, innocent of lettering. It is pointed out that this sign, speaking no language and therefore speaking all tongues, can, by educating the worker of the world, be made understandable everywhere and at all times, and will therefore be especially serviceable in promoting safety among foreign workers. The adoption of the red ball of safety was urged upon the International Convention for the Prevention of Industrial Accidents which was held at Milan some years ago, and it has been accepted and put into use by such organizations as the American Iron & Steel Institute, the National Metal Trades Association, National Association of Manufacturers, as well as by a large number of railroads and manufacturing concerns of one kind or another.

The satisfactory results of the safety-first campaign are demonstrable statistically. Taking 1906 as a basis, this being the year of its inception, the number of serious or fatal accidents in 1918 and 1919 was reduced 46.84 per cent. notwithstanding the fact that the figures for recent years include a number of accidents that were classed as minor injuries in 1906. The following chart speaks for itself.

ACCIDENTS

1906–1919 INCLUSIVE

PER CENT DECREASE IN ACCIDENT RATE UNDER 1906—
PER 1,000 EMPLOYES		 Saved from
Serious Injury
1906■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
1907■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■10.40%8321907
1908■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■18.21%7831908
1909■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■25.28%1,2361909
1910■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■43.49%2,2151910
1911■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■41.26%2,0121911
1912■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■35.05%2,0231912
1913■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■38.29%2,2731913
1914■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■40.52%1,7481914
1915■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■43.54%2,1451915
1916■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■31.60%1,9571916
1917■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■41.63%2,8911917
1918■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■46.84%3,0941918
1919■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■46.84%2,9441919
Total25,853

A change in the system of reporting accidents made Jan. 1, 1911, resulted in more accidents being reported and classed as serious than formerly was the case

UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION.

BUREAU OF SAFETY, SANITATION & WELFARE.