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CONNECTICUT.

SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION. 1

The legal requirements concerning machinery safeguarding are contained in one section, which reads in part as follows: 2

The belting, shafting, gearing, machinery, and drums of all factories and buildings where machinery is used, when so placed as, in the opinion of the inspector, to be dangerous to the persons employed therein while engaged in their ordinary duties, shall, as far as practicable, be securely guarded.

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Penalty. A fine of not more than $50.

No standards of safeguarding are erected or suggested, and there are no mandatory requirements. The inspector is to decide, at his discretion, when guarding is necessary, and, subject of course to judicial appeal, to decide what particular kinds of safeguards will fulfill the intention of the law. Moreover, the specified dangers need be guarded against only in so far as they affect employees engaged in their ordinary duties.

The law makes no specific mention of other dangerous situations or remedies. It does not require appliances for quickly stopping machines, means of quick communication between workrooms and engine room, or warning notices to be placed upon dangerous machines. The inspector is not given authority to condemn dangerous machinery by forbidding its use until properly altered or safeguarded, and employees are not forbidden by law to remove safeguards once installed.

The factory inspection department is charged in full with the enforcement of the above requirements.

In an interview with an agent of the Bureau of Labor, the chief inspector was asked his opinion of possible laws making employees responsible for such acts as removing safeguards from machinery, and requiring warning notices upon dangerous machines. In reply he stated his belief that a law upon the former subject would be of some benefit, but he did not think it necessary to have warning notices placed on dangerous machines, although, of course, there was no objection thereto.

CONDITIONS FOUND.

Thirty-three of the 35 visited establishments had power-driven machinery of a sufficiently dangerous character to require safeguarding.

The law here referred to is as in force at the time of the investigation, February, 1909. The text of the laws in force Jan. 1, 1912, is given in the appendixes at the end of this volume.

2 Gen. Stat., 1902, sec. 4516 and sec. 4522, as amended by ch. 53, Acts of 1903 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, pp. 236, 237).

The following table shows to what extent necessary safeguarding devices had been provided by these 33 establishments:

ESTABLISHMENTS VISITED HAVING AND NOT HAVING SPECIFIED SAFETY DEVICES FOR GUARDING AGAINST ACCIDENT FROM MILL GEARING OR MACHINERY

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Of these, 8 are operated by electric power and the control devices are electric cut-offs or switches; 4 are operated by steam power, and the control devices are push buttons which automatically stop engine. Ten by telephone; 1 by electric bell or push button; 1 by telephone and electric bell." 3 Automatic shut-off.

NEW YORK.

SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION.1

As regards the subject of safeguarding dangerous machinery the legislation of New York is, in comparison with the legislation of most of the other States covered by this report, very complete. That is to say, it covers, with more or less fullness and precision, nearly all of the points regarding machinery protection which any of those States have embodied in their laws. The New York legislation consists of the following five provisions: 2

(A) The owner or person in charge of a factory where machinery is used shall provide, in the discretion of the commissioner of labor, belt shifters or other mechanical contrivances for the purpose of throwing on or off belts on pulleys. Whenever practicable, all machinery shall be provided with loose pulleys.

(B) All vats, pans, saws, planers, cogs, gearing, belting, shafting, set screws, and machinery of every description shall be properly guarded.

(C) No person shall remove or make ineffective any safeguard around or attached to machinery, vais, or pans while the same are in use unless for the purpose of immediately making repairs thereto, and all such safeguards so removed shall be promptly replaced.

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The law here referred to is as in force at the time of the investigation, December, 1908, and January, 1909. The text of the laws in force Jan. 1, 1912, is given in the appendixes at the end of this volume.

2 Rev. Stat., 3d ed., 1991, p. 2102, sec. 81, as amended by ch. 366, Acts of 1906, and idem, sec. 209, as amended by ch. 506, Acts of 1907 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, pp. 912, 913, 931).

(D) If a machine or any part thereof is in a dangerous condition or is not properly guarded the use thereof may be prohibited by the commissioner of labor, and a notice to that effect shall be attached thereto. Such notice shall not be removed until the machine is made safe * * and in the meantime such unsafe or dangerous machinery shall not be used.

(E) When, in the opinion of the commissioner of labor it is necessary, the workrooms, halls, and stairs leading to the workrooms shall be properly lighted, * such lights to be independent of the motive power of such factory.

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Penalty. For the first offense, a fine of not less than $20 nor more than $50; second offense, $50 to $200, or imprisonment not more than 30 days, or both; third offense, not less than $250, or imprisonment not more than 60 days, or both. Reviewing these provisions the following points may be emphasized. Under the first provision (A) the inspection department may order belt shifting appliances to be installed whenever it thinks such appliances necessary, and also loose pulleys whenever such pulleys are practicable. As mentioned in an earlier discussion, nearly all satisfactory mechanical belt shifts involve the use of the loose pulley. The second provision (B) requires in mandatory terms that all power transmitters and machinery of every description, including vats, pans, saws, and planers shall be securely guarded. No discretion is given the inspection department in these matters, further than in such degree as the department may be called upon to decide when safeguards are "proper."

The fourth provision (D) supplements the second by authorizing the inspection department to condemn, in its discretion, any machine which it may consider to be dangerous. The effect of such condemnation is greatly strengthened by the use of the condemnation notice, posted upon the condemned machine, which may not be used nor may the notice be removed, under penalty, until the machine has been made safe to the satisfaction of the department.

The third provision (C) makes the employee responsible for properly maintaining safeguards once provided. The requirement is mandatory and clear.

The final one of the quoted provisions (E) concerns the proper lighting of halls and workrooms. Such a requirement occurs in the laws of several States, and usually its primary object is to insure safety in case of fire. In the New York law, however, this requirement is part of a section dealing solely with machinery protection, and is apparently intended as a safeguard against machine accidents as well as against fire danger. Its importance might be considerable at times, as in many factories the danger of machine accidents is much increased by improper lighting.

The enforcement of all the laws of New York regarding machinery protection, as quoted above, is intrusted fully to the State factory inspection department.

The attitude of the State commissioner of labor toward the laws regarding machinery protection is clearly exhibited in the following excerpts from the report of that officer for the year 1907:1

In practice the deputy factory inspectors are not accustomed to classify their powers under the different provisions above referred to, but rather to examine all the machinery and appurtenances of each factory and to require everything that is unnecessarily dangerous to be properly safeguarded. Many things essential to factories are necessarily dangerous and accidents from them can be absolutely prevented only by abolishing them altogether; but no provisions of the law can have such an absurd intent. Therefore section 87 must be construed to give the factory inspector authority to require only what is practicable, and section 81 to give him authority to require only such safeguards for machinery as will be useful and practicable and to prohibit the use of such machines only as are worn, broken, defective, improperly erected or put together, etc., or are of a style generally abandoned because admitted to be unsafe. But while the factory inspector can not order that all machinery be new, of the safest style and in the most perfect condition, nor that older styles, methods, or processes be immediately abandoned in favor of what he considers to be the newest and safest, yet his deputies can and always should point out and explain all possible improvements with which they are acquainted, and urge their adoption when opportunity offers. Orders relative to safety are issued from the department's office, usually in the general terms of the statute, e. g., "properly guard rip saw"; but the inspectors are expected to understand how all orders they recommend can be properly carried out and to explain how to the persons in charge of the factories. Every order issued is accompanied by a notice that an appeal therefrom to the head of the department (or bureau) will be given proper consideration. When such an appeal is received, that can not be disposed of conclusively upon the records or by correspondence, the inspector available with the greatest knowledge or experience in the line of the particular question raised is sent to review the decision of the original inspector. Such appeals result in revoking, suspending, modifying, or extending the time in some orders; in others in modifying the advice as to methods of compliance without changing the orders; and in others in sustaining the original orders and advice but in explaining the methods of correction more successfully to the satisfaction of the manufacturers. The proportion of cases where orders to safeguard machinery have to be insisted upon against the continued protests of proprietors is comparatively small, and rarely are prosecutions necessary. In other words, this function of factory inspection in the better class of factories has become largely advisory and supervisory, with all reference to compulsion habitually avoided, and is accepted by proprietors in a spirit of sympathy and cooperation. And it is

'Seventh Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor of New York, 1907, Vol. I, pp. 1.36, 1.37, 1.38.

noticeable that this spirit of mutual consideration increases in proportion to the competency and ability of the inspectors to explain and to convince proprietors of the usefulness and practicability of their requirements. This happy condition, most conducive to procuring the maximum of improvements, is due to the fact that the provisions of our factory laws relative to safety, therein differing from some of their provisions relative to health, require nothing arbitrary or vexatious and nothing either absolutely or comparatively useless. Thereby all reasonable opposition and any waste of time in enforcing changes that are of no benefit are avoided.

As to the need of technical, scientific advice in the matter of machinery safeguards the commissioner makes the following suggestive remarks: 1

As appears from what has just been said, it is my opinion that the staff of the bureau of factory inspection is peculiarly competent to carry out the safety provisions of the factory laws. The majority of the inspectors are versed in mechanics, and in the examination of many thousands of factories they have acquired an experience and knowledge in this subject that few other persons can equal. But it is most desirable that the staff should be competent on all points, and that it now is not. There is no engineer in the bureau, and one is needed, not only to pass upon certain difficult questions that occasionally arise which need technical education to determine, but also to advise and instruct the deputy inspectors in the use of such scientific formulas and information as may expedite and improve their work. * * * The bureau also needs an electrician. The rapid increase in the use of motors and electric equipment calls for at least one officer who is an expert on this subject. The English factory department has long had an electric inspector.

Some means are needed for instructing new inspectors in the causes of accidents and the devices or methods of guarding against them other than the slow school of experience. The more advanced countries of Europe have museums of safety devices. We should have at least a laboratory of photographs or drawings of such devices, and should be enabled to issue illustrated handbooks of instruction and advice on this subject for the use and guidance of our inspectors.

CONDITIONS FOUND.

Thirty-three of the 36 establishments visited had power-driven machinery of a sufficiently dangerous character to require safeguarding. The following table shows to what extent necessary safeguarding devices had been provided by these 33 establishments:

'Seventh Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor of New York, 1907, Vol. I, pp. 1.39 and 1.40.

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