WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER Power mowers, especially rotaries with their powerful SILES | propeller blades, are notorious for clipping off hands, toes and feet. Less well known, but more insidious, is the rotary’s ability to pick up and hurl objects and broken blades at a speed of nearly 200 miles indiscriminately, striking down mower operators and inno- cent bystanders. Among the identified flying ob- jects are rocks, wire, oyster shells, rope, pieces of aluminum, bits of clothes hangers, nails, bones and mower blades. Take a look at these mower tragedies: e A four-year-old Chicago boy, sitting on a swing watching his father mow the lawn, suddenly screamed and fell unconscious. Protruding from between his eyes and piercing his brain was an 8-inch long scrap of copper wire, cast off by the mower. After brain surgery, the boy died in the hospital of blood poisoning. © A 15-year-old Oklahoma boy was more fortunate. The mower he was operating lurched and he felt a pellet hit his stomach. He was not in pain, but his stomach felt a little sore. A few hours later surgeons removed a 2-inch rusty nail that had passed through his stomach and come to rest in the abdominal cavity. The boy recovered with no permanent ill effects. e A middle-aged man, cutting the lawn of his ranch, ran his mower over a strip. of baling wire. The blade snipped off a AT THE CRITICAL MOMENT— WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION per hour. These missiles fly one-inch piece, flipped it back over the mower and deep into the man’s chest, killing him. ©’ Especially pathetic was the strange killing of a 58-year-old man by a neighbor’s power mower. The man had just con- cluded a chat with his neighbor and was strolling back across the street toward home when he fell dead with his neighbor’s mower blade planted firmly in his back. e A Florida woman was killed by a blade that sailed 50 feet from a mower and through a window pane before striking her. © A three-year-old girl sitting on her doorstep was killed by a flying piece of steel hurled from a mower operated across the street. How to Control Flying Missiles @ Make sure the area to be mowed is clear of all wires, stones and other objects. © Examine area for rough spots, such as tree roots, which might break blade, then avoid them. © Never allow children or adults in the immediate mowing area. Occupation: Second Loader Age: 32 years‘ old Experience: Over five years The Second Loader was hooking logs for a shovel loader. The engineer picked up a chunk and swung the machine quickly through 180° to throw the chunk clear on the off-side of the landing, When he swung back to pick up the next log, the Second Loader was found between a log which was leaning against the embankment and the counterweight of the shovel, It is surmised that the Second Loader hod hurriedly run or slid down the embankument and tripped, and hed been caught before he wes able to steody himself and get clear. BOARD OF BRITISH COLUMBIA ACCENT GRNS 157 First and Last Stop On Farewell Street A Navy petty officer had several drinks at an establishment called “—First and Last Stop.” Leaving there about 0100, he drove: to a rest against a fence—surrounding a cemetery. He died a few hours later. Drownings Head List Of 1960 Fatalities Bay Lumber Company Crew "|Wins Top Sawmill Award Safety efforts of the Bay Lumber Company crew, Vancouver, has resulted in their winning the “Forest Safety Conference Products Sawmilling Accident Prevention Award” for 1959, with an accident frequency of 00.0%. The Plant’s eighty-five employees have worked 905 days accident-free. The date of the last accident was June 12, 1957. Workmen’s Compensation Board has announced that logging fatalities up to the end of May, 1960, number 31. This is a decrease of 3, from the same period in 1959. The Board has also announced that their Inspectors have been ordered to increase their safety inspections in an effort to still further curb the fatality toll.. The following is a breakdown of the fatalities to the end of May, 196u, Ly cause. Loading and unloading logs ....------------+---------:scssssseeeeceneeneeceenseeseneeneeneens 2 Varding ~--.----------<--.snsnse-cecsccscecnenecesesesnsncecessenvocnseserevecerscnrwsnewsereterearecenensecee 6 Rigging ....-....----- 1 Bunk house fires -....... & Falling and Bucking ......----------.------s---+-es-e00- ey | ating unos. -.--asa-nsnccenecenseecenenenecnneesengotansvwenonene= rie) 1 8 4 Plane crash Drownings by boat .- Others wacevennccnncecncncsvccscarscccesncsdcccecccwcce ence Arescaceesrecsancesscvnescocncnccensesoecccqeescsscese Beath by Stinging Stings from bees and wasps can be deadly as rattlesnake bites. In fact, these insects kill more Americans than snakes do, according to a study by Dr. Henry M. Parrish of the University of Vermont. In a five year period, bees, wasps, hornets and yellow jackets killed 86 persons, snakes 71 and poisonous spiders 39. Fatal victims of bee stings are usually adults who have gradually developed a serious allergy to the venom of the insects. Consequently, if you have ever had a serious reaction to a bee sting, you must be on your guard. These reactions are only forewarnings of more violent ones—perhaps even death—to come. You should see your doctor who will give you an emergency treatment kit or perhaps immunization shots. Shut Out The Gun Noise Gun shooters should wear ear plugs to avoid losing their hearing from the gun blast, suggests an item in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Deafness caused by gun noise frequently lasts but a few days, but should it continue longer than 7 to 10 days it will be perm- anent. There is no treatment for this condition. Baltimore’s War on Lead Paint Baltimore’s Health Department has initiated a first-of-its-kind program to combat lead poisoning. Inspections to detect lead paint in home interiors are made before, not after, it poisons a child who eats it. The program was launched in the section of the city known as “lead alley.” In the first home inspected, health officials collected 26 samples of paint and found lead in 16 of them. These were taken from window sills, baseboards and walls, easily accessible to teeth- ing youngsters. Supported by city law which forbids lead paint in © home interiors, authorities ordered the lead paint removed. The initial program calls for visits to approximately 250 homes and after that to about 15 homes a week. The program is admittedly long-term; “lead alley” alone encompasses about 25,000 homes. Please Don’t Eat The Plants Don’t fall into the habit of chewing on plant leaves or stalks, warns Dr. Roster N. Martin, Jr., pharmacologist at Tulane Uni- versity. Many common plants, even those grown in flower beds, are poisonous, he reports after 15 years of study. Some examples: A 10-cent pack of castor bean seeds contains enough poison to kill five children. A tulip bulb could fatally poison a man. Sweet peas if consumed can inflict paralysis. A poison in “elephant ears” produces painful swelling of mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue and throat. Chewing a leaf of “dumb cane” causes the mouth to swell, preventing speech. Even honey made by bees which visited rhododendron and mountain laurel has been found poisonous. Cowichan Loggers Winners Cowichan Logging Division of - British Columbia Forest Pro- ducts Limited were presented with Meritorious Safety Per- formance Award ‘from _ the Workmen’s Compensation | Board recently. This award means that the Cowichan Log- ging Division had the best safety record of all camps in its class in British Columbia in 1959. It is the eighth time the Division has won such an honor since the Workmen’s Compensation Board started the award system in 1949. Caycuse Dance The award was presented at a dance for the crew at Caycuse by Mr. Charles Whisker on behalf of the Workmen’s Compensation Board. Mr. T. E. Burgess, Senior Vice-President, received the award for the Company and turned it over to Mr. H. E. Hobson, Divis- ional Manager. ’ Mr. Burgess commented that the Cowichan Logging Division had set an enviable record in accident prevention as he congratulated the crew and wished them continued success in their safety eneavors. Time Out Virtues are learned at mother’s knee. Vices are picked up at some other joint. x ° * * An Alaskan who was getting tired of hearing a Texan complain about his state now being only the second largest said, “If you don’t keep quiet, we'll split in half and and then you'll be number three.” * * * Two women who had once been neighbors met on the street after not having seen each other for several years. “My,” said one, “I would hardly have known you — you look so much older.” ““T wouldn’t have recognized you, either,’ said the other, “except for your hat and dress.” * * * The best thing for a cold shoulder is still mink. * * * An old-timer is ‘one who can remember when a member of the beat generation was a lad leaving the woodshed. * * * Husband: “You used to say there was something about me you liked.” Wife: “There was, but we've spent it.” * * * First pelican: “That’s a fine looking fish you have there.” Second pelican: “Yes, it sure fills the bill.” * * * A five-year-old boy in a candy store was in tears. “What’s the matter, sonny?” the ° proprietor said. “T had a quarter but I lost it somewhere.” Welling over with sympathy, the store-keeper handed the boy x popsickle. “Here,” he consoled “you can have this one free.” The youngster brightened a bit but tears still fell. “What?” he sobbed, “What about my change?”