Yearbook (Volume 27)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1918. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... AN UNTOUCHED PHASE OF THE SAFETY FIRST MOVEMENT. Dr. H. H. Beers, NEW YORK CITY. The Safety First movement inaugurated by the railroads several years ago has produced wonderful results along the special lines it has followed but to my mind it has failed to touch one of the most important factors in safe railroading--that is--the physical condition of the employee who has anything to do with the movement of trains, whether he be in the dispatcher's office or the cab of an engine. Under the present system a thorough physical examination including tests for sight and hearing is required and the man must come up to a certain set standard before he is employed by the company. After being placed on the list of employees the question of his physical condition is forever afterward entirely ignored except the tests for vision, color and hearing which are checked up every two years or so. How frequently we read in the papers of this and that accident in different parts of the country followed by a list of the dead and injured and there is always a reason given for the accident, whether it be a disobeying of orders or failure of the human element # This brings us to the point where we must ask whether some physical condition existed in the responsible man which produced a dulling of the mental faculties or perhaps death before the accident occurred. Under the present system we cannot answer that question as we have no knowledge of the man's physical condition, as long as he is working it is taken for granted that his condition is good. He may be running a train with a blood pressure of 260 or perhaps he has a bad heart lesion, advanced nephritis or diabetis or suffering from the late manifestations of syphilis anyone of which conditions as well as others can have their effect ...