Address Before the President's Conference on Industrial Safety.

Secretary Tobin, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

I am very glad to meet again with the President's Conference on Industrial Safety. This is the third time I have had the pleasure of welcoming this conference since it was started more than 3 years ago.

It was in 1948 that I asked the Secretary of Labor to call the first national conference of industrial safety leaders. I did so because of my deep concern over the high rate of occupational accidents. I am just as deeply concerned about those accidents today as I was in 1948. In fact, the situation is worse today, I am sorry to report, than it was then.

At my first meeting with you in March of 1949, I proposed that we try to reduce the rate of job accidents by one-third within 3 years. That was a high goal. But, until the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, we were making good progress.

Then, due to our defense program, thousands of new workers were brought into defense plants and other industries. And thousands of other workers shifted from their old jobs to new jobs. With the changed conditions, the number of work accidents began to increase. They increased 4 percent in 1950 and another 9 percent in 1951. This increase is a very serious matter. We must do everything we can to stop it. We must see to it that the accident rate starts downhill hill again, and that it keeps on going downhill.

Last year, work accidents took 16,000 lives. In addition, 1,600 workers were totally and permanently disabled. More than 89,000 were partially disabled. And about 2 million were temporarily disabled. These figures are not merely dull statistics. They point to a shocking national tragedy--a tragedy which is all the more terrible because it is so thoroughly unnecessary.

These 2 million injuries and deaths represent untold human suffering and misery. They represent an awful social waste. They represent a severe economic loss to individual workers, to business and industry, and to the welfare of the Nation as a whole.

In 1950, industrial accidents cost industry and labor about $4 3/4 billion. They are costing more than that today, and they are depriving us of a great deal of production which is vitally needed.

We cannot afford this accident rate. We cannot afford it in terms of human beings, and we cannot afford it in terms of our national security and prosperity. This year our economic needs call for a million new workers, yet about twice that number will be injured in industrial accidents. Think what a dreadful thing and what a terrible waste that is.

Now, there are a lot of things that need to be done, and there are a lot of things, of course, that are being accomplished. Private groups have been doing a good job in discovering better methods of accident control. Management and labor have been cooperating more and more in developing safety programs and in making them work. Many of the States have been making splendid progress in industrial safety. Their Governors' Conferences and other types of safety gatherings are bringing more safety knowledge to the workingman and his employer. The Federal Government is also trying to help--through the Department of Labor and other Federal agencies.

Early this year, following the tragic mine explosion in West frankfort, Illinois, I asked the Congress to enact legislation which will make the coal mines safer places in which to work. I recommended legislation authorizing the Department of the Interior to enforce compliance with Federal standards of mine safety. Under existing law the Department can set standards, make inspections, and offer recommendations. But it has no enforcement authority whatever. It has only the power of persuasion. That power is not enough, as events have conclusively proven. In recent years thousands of miners have lost their lives in accidents that never should have happened. Thousands more have been injured. In a number of instances mine disasters have occurred after warnings were given by Federal inspectors.

The mine safety legislation I have recommended will save a lot of lives and prevent a lot of injuries. It is clear that the coal miners and their families must have better protection, and they are entitled to look to their Government to see that they get it. I am happy to say that the Senate has passed the necessary legislation. I hope the House of Representatives will act on it very soon. Every day of delay invites further disasters.

The President's Conference is one of the most important means for accomplishing real advances in industrial safety. It provides a rallying point--a place where knowledge of accident prevention can be assembled and made available to the Nation. The best safety experts in the country gather here. Management and labor meet here in an effort to solve a common problem. Representatives of both the Federal and State governments meet to devise better standards for accident prevention.

From the beginning I have placed a lot of hope in this conference, and I have not been disappointed in it. You have done an outstanding job. You have already advanced the cause of industrial safety by many years. I want to thank you for what you have been doing, and I want to compliment you for what you have accomplished. But above all, I want to urge you to go forward with your good work.

I believe you will agree with me that the most important problem facing this conference is to bring about the actual application of the safety principles you have already proposed. Practically all industrial injuries are preventable. The knowledge of how to prevent them is already in existence. What remains to be done is to apply those known methods at the places where accidents occur.

To accomplish this I believe the Nation should have an eight-point industrial safety program--a program based upon recommendations which have been made by this conference. Let me give you the eight specific points I am suggesting.

First, accident reporting and analysis should be improved. Not enough people understand the importance of careful, complete reporting and analysis of accidents. I'm glad to hear that your Committee on Accident Records, Analysis and Use is preparing a series of articles explaining accident records and their significance. These articles ought to be very valuable, and they should have the widest possible distribution.

Second, manufacturers of machines should install better guards on the machines. The Department of Labor has recently surveyed State safety requirements for a number of machines. They report that, with few exceptions, conflicts in State codes are no longer serious--and that is really good news. It is now entirely possible for machinery manufacturers to design fully guarded machines which meet most State requirements. Manufacturers will, of course, build the kind of machinery people will buy. So if we can persuade the customer to buy machines designed with safeguards, a tremendous advance can soon be made on the road toward industrial safety.

Third, schools, colleges, and plants should emphasize safety education. The President's Conference can make a great contribution by encouraging this type of safety training. I hear that the University of Maryland is doing a good job in this field, and I am sure that other schools can do the same thing.

Fourth, every company should have an organized safety program. This is the very heart of accident prevention. Industrial plants need safety organizations which will study operations, accident records, and safety techniques, and which will stimulate workers to exercise greater care.

Filth, workers should participate more extensively in safety measures. We are all aware that vigilance and care on the part of the worker are essential to safety. And right here, I'd like to say that labor unions have just as important a role to play as does management. Labor unions should see to it that they and their members participate in safety training and safety promotion. Every worker must practice safety every minute of every working day if we are to prevent unnecessary accidents. And they are all unnecessary.

Sixth, State safety codes should be modernized and made uniform. It is highly encouraging that so many States are overhauling their codes and adding new ones. We can all profit by giving more attention to these safety codes.

Seventh, public employees should have better safety programs. As some of you know, I recently called upon Federal departments and agencies to organize field safety councils. I hope to add more and more of these councils in all parts of the United States where Federal employees work. I am going to do my best to see that the Federal Government reduces the annual toll of 78,000 work accidents among its employees. I hope the States will also take measures to improve safety programs for their employees.

Eighth, there must be better public understanding and support for accident prevention. We have not succeeded in indoctrinating enough of our people in safe methods of work. Much more needs to be done, and I hope you will explore and develop every opportunity for public education in safety.

These are the eight points which I hope this conference will strive to bring home to the Nation. I hope you will make these points the basis for your programs of the future.

One of the noblest purposes of mankind is the saving of human life. That is your purpose, and it provides about the greatest possible source of inspiration. But attached to this purpose now is an additional incentive-the importance of conserving the skills of the Nation for the needs of defense production. We badly need all our manpower resources in order to build up our defenses to achieve a permanent peace in the world.

Most of our 2 million job accidents need never happen. This conference can do a great deal to see that they do not happen in the future.

I am sure you will do that. And I want you to know that I appreciate very highly the work you are doing.

And I want to add right here that this conference and other conferences which I have had on fire prevention and road accidents goes to the fundamental basis of the economic stability of this country. If you are successful in what you are trying to do here, if you go home with a successful program and put it into effect, if we can continue to do everything we possibly can to prevent unnecessary destruction of property and life by fire, if we do everything we possibly can to prevent unnecessary destruction of life and property by this machine they call the automobile--which is the most deadly thing that man has ever invented--I then think we will have arrived at a situation where, when world peace comes, we will be the happiest nation on the face of the earth. That is what I want to see.