PREVENTIBLE ACCIDENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 3, 25 March 1927, Page 7

PREVENTIBLE ACCIDENTS

A SAFETY CAMPAIGN ACTION IN CALIFORNIA Two men are killed and five hundred injured through industrial accidents every single working day in California, says the “San Francisco Examiner.” At least such is the number of cases reported to the California Industrial Accident Commission. The actual figures are probably higher. Four men or women are killed on the average daily in traffic accidents on the streets and highways of California, while dozens are maimed and wounded. One human life is taken every half hour in the United States through fire. Dozens of citizens who should know better die every summer in their closed private garage from the deadly fumes of the carbon-monoxide gas, generated by a running motor. Accidents in railroads, mines and upon sea and river craft, help to swell the list of victims, most of whom are young and energetic citizens, and all too many of whom are children. These facts are taken from the interesting articles in the first—January—issue of the “Western Safety Journal”—“Devoted to Saving Life and Preventing Accidents,” according to its slogan. It is issued in San Francisco by the Society of Safety Engineers of California. Its editor is Will J. French, who for 13 years was a member of the California industrial Accident Commission, served for a long time as its chairman, and is a past president of the International Association of Industrial Accident Commissions of the United States and Canada. French is the man who organised the safety work in industry in this state under government supervision. The “Western Safety Journal” has superseded the old Pacific Safety Engineer. It is an entirely unbiased publication, being issued by business men interested in safety movements in and about San Francisco. Maintaining that safety is far from being a modern problem, the founders of the magazine quote this “First Safety Lesson” from the Good Book: “When thou buildest a new house then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall from thence.”—Deuteronomy, the fifth book of Moses, Chapter 22, Verse 8. Governor C. C. Young, as well as James Rolph, jun., and George E. Cryer, mayor of Dos Angeles, send messages to the new publication. Mayor Rolph wrote: “The increase in the number of street deaths and accidents in San Francisco draws vivid attention to the need of safety’ as a civic virtue of first importance. When the city record for 1926 shows 124 deaths and 2,826 injuries, and when we add thousands of accidents to individuals engaged in business, or in the homes, or in other walks of life, we need to co-operate as never before to try t.» stem the drain on human resources. More lights on streets and highways are needed as we progress in our safety efforts. Careful ways are best.”