Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1914 — APPROVE ‘SAFETY FIRST’ IDEA [ARTICLE]

APPROVE ‘SAFETY FIRST’ IDEA

Railroad Employes Enthusiastically Respond to the Request for a , ’ Greater Degree of Care. j A student of railway economics says the greatest problem the raO-’ ? road has to solve in its efforts to conserve human life is to find ways to protect those who will not protect themselves. ' One serious feature of this problem was the carelessness of railroad employes. but conditions are vastly better than they were a few years ago. In order to make their employe* more careful, the larger companies ■ • have inaugurated a system of “surprise tests.” These are conducted - among all classes of employes. Such tests are given at unexpected times and under unusual conditions, so that they reveal to just what extent rules are broken and risks taken.

A record of tests made last year by the Pennsylvania lines is an excellent indication of the hearty support that employes are giving this great “safety first” movement. And the purpose of such tests is to insure' the safety both of employes and the public at large. Railroad officials realize that if the two classes are to be properly protected,..eyer? employe who has anything to do with shop practice, with maintenance of way, or with the operation cf trains must refrain from “taking chances” of any kind. Employes, the Pennsylvania finds, are gladly co-operating to this end. Agreeable results have marked every stage of the safety campaign, to such an extent that the number of case* of carelessness or negligence reported is less than one per cent of the total number of tests made.