B.C. LUMBER WORKER eA

owed to a TURTLE”

A turlle is a reptile

Quite open to attack

He's not adroit at dodging,
His protection’s on his back.
He never goes without it
He pulls himself within
Whenever danger threatens
This wily terrapin.

His life span is a long one

Two hundred years they reckon,
He lives because he’s careful
And always keeps his neck in.
The moral of this ditty is,

“t's strictly up to you

To wear that hat and keep alive,
The safety point of view.”

HARD HATS MUST BE WORN ON THIS PROJECT

“Always Plan For

Extra Ma

rgin To

Protect Yourself”

By ARTHUR FRANCIS

Chief Inxpector, Workm

nx Compenxntion Bonrd

_. Designers of equipment include in their calculations a
value termed the “factor of safety” in order to determine
the maximum working stresses that can be safely allowed.
The magnitude of the factor of safety is determined by
a consideration of the possible variations in the material

and inaccuracies in workman:

ship, defects in material, de-

terioration, effects of dynamic loads, variations in loads,
effects of repetitions of stress, influence of temperature

changes, and to allow for inc
calculations are based.

For example, a one-inch 6/19|
wire rope could have an ultimate
breaking strength of 73,000
pounds, but the maximum safe
working load would be only 14,-
600 pounds when using the cus-
tomary factor of safety of five.

Safe Load

* The safe load is based on static
conditions. If a load of 14,600
pounds is started or stopped sud-
denly, or there is rapid accelera-
tion of the load, the stress in the
line could easily reach the break-
ing point.

Wear and deterioration can re-
duce the factor of safety to the
point of danger. The elastic limit
of steel is from 75% to 80% of

orrect assumptions on which

the ultimate strength, and if the
elastic limit is exceeded, the rope
can be weakéned to such a de-
gree that a light load can cause
it to fail.
Weakest Part

Furthermore, the strength of
any piece of equipment is only
as ‘strong as its weakest t.
The strength of a splice will vary
from 50% to 90% of the strength
of the rope and so limits the total
safe load. Any attachment having
less strength than the line will
reduce the strength of the com-
plete connection accordingly.

All too frequently, accident re-
ports reveal the lack of a human

19

Accident Toll

‘JUN E
Dead - - 10
Injured - $28

Ten more fatal accidents in

3
1955

Dead -- 37
Injured 4789

the month of June have been

reported by the Workmen’s Compensation Board for the B.C.

lumber industry.

Time-loss accidents for the same period were 928.
Total fatalities for 1955 are 37, with 4789 injuries.

Duncan

Urges Workers
Get Well First

Representative Safety Coun-
cil meeting of Local 1-80 IWA
held in Duncan recently decid-
ed to advise all sub-locals and
operations to adhere strictly to
the policy laid down by the
District organization regarding
the return to work of injured
workmen,

The meeting was attended by
representatives from all Sub-
Locals in the Local Union and
dealt with a wide range of
accident prevention problems.

Pat Mason was elected Vice-
Chairman by acclamation.

The advice communicated to
all units read as follows: “When
a workman is injured to such an
extent that his injury is com-
pensable, then he be instructed
to stay off work until such time
as he is fit to resume his own

Council

occupation.”

This step was considered ne-
cessary because of frequent re-
ports that men were undertaking
work too soon under pressure
from management, and with ser-
jous consequences to their own
recovery.

The meeting also urged that
the yarding engineer be ever
placed in a position that ob-
scures his vision of incoming
turns of logs.

This recommendation was for-
warded to the Workmen’s Com-
pensation Board, with the request
that it be inserted in the regula-
tions.

‘An early meeting of the Dis-
trict Safety Conference was
urged in a communication ad-
| dressed to the District Executive
" Board.

Sao

factor of safety in the behavior
of people. There is the well-
known tale of a battle being lost
for the want of a horseshoe nail.
Sometimes because of the failure
to take the extra precaution af-
forded by a factor of safety
measured in additional seconds of
time or in a few more inches in
distance, the conditions change
from one of risk to one of certain
accident.

Fatal Blow

Just recently, a blaster exhib-
ited an unusual degree of care
for himself and helper while pre-
paring and firing an explosive
charge, and then stepped out
from his protective covering just
in time to receive a fatal blow
from the last flying rock.

A second loader standing at
one side of the landing thinks he
has time to cross the path of a
logging truck, but stumbles and
has his head crushed under the
truck wheels,

A faller, gambling on the
whims of the wind to control the
fall of a tree; a planer operator
gauging split-second action in re-
moving splinters from sidehea
a man playing against the law:

f pr us balancing
aets on ladders and seaffolds—all
are examples of people using-a
minus factor of safety.

Plan Job

A job should be carefully
planned in advance, and should
include a margin of safety for the
unplanned, the unanticipated, the
unexpected, and even the improb-
able condition that may intrude
and upset the intended plan or
procedure.

It is sound engineering to use
a liberal factor of safety. It is a

OTTO KWOWEETTER ...

wise precaution in human activi-
ties always to have a reserve of
time, space, and energy to meet
conditions of emergency or unex-
pected demands. That margin is
the factor for your safety.

BOOM BELTS
SHUNNED
TOO OFTEN

An inquest jury’s recommen-
dation that non-swimmers
working around booms should
wear lifebelts, is being studied
by mills and’ other interested
organizations, following the
death of Charles E. Willman,
23-year-old boom-man, who was
accidentally drowned, July 21,
when he fell from a boom at
the Marine Lumber Company,
Vancouver.

The victim, a non-swimmer,
fell into the water unnoticed by
his fellow workers sometime be-
fore 10 a.m. It is believed that
he struck his head on a log in
falling, knocking himself uncon-
scious.

Boom-men who fail to wear
lifebelts explain their reason for
not doing so is that the belts are
too hot and cumbersome.

The only alternative is the
light type of belt which is in-
flated by squeezing but this kind,
they claim, would be of no use to
a person who was unconscious
when hitting the water,

Board records show co
worse accident record
tions can and should hay
plants because there is

the top man and the wo,
policies and final

in small operations

© A small plant «:

fi
The use of obsolete equi

more progressive

The tendency to hang ¢

Lower standards of
ditions.

Willingness to put ww

The desire, unconsci
show; the distrust of
delegating responsibil
that won't recognize thd
the refusal to realize thd
and copacities leads toy]
tentment with conditions
ing willingness to be a sl
of the plant, at

He

Small plants need big thin|
the mental image of it.

Safety is not a large planilu
sential for safe and sound pe

Workmen's Coi

EDWIN J. c
F, P, ARCHII y 8
CHRIS. W. PRIKHA
E, V. ABLETT, [oro