PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR SAFETY

This 1960s film is from Pacific Telephone Company which was founded in 1906 and has headquarters in San Francisco, California and it was to be used for employees of the company. It takes a look at safety standards and the notion of personal responsibility for safety on and off the job. It opens with a slew of traffic and warning signs as we are constantly bombarded with signs telling us to avoid accidents (:36) though human error still is prevalent as a man places a cigarette butt next to a flammable container of paint thinner (:56). Other examples of people ignoring safety procedures follow including a man trying to cross an intersection with the ‘don’t walk’ signal present (1:26) as well as a pair of women jay-walking and nearly getting hit by a car (1:42). The General Manager of Pacific Telephone Company at the time, Gordon Huff narrates the film (2:22) and he begins by addressing employees and informing them that in spite of well though out safety plans and procedures, they were seeing increasingly high rates of accidents on and off the job (2:56). In a one-month period there were 211 on duty accidents and a multitude of off duty (3:15). The Pacific Telephone Company building (3:47) leads to workers inside beginning with the toll and information operators (4:08) who had low record of on the job instances though a high record of off the job instances (4:20). A scene showing the aftermath of a car accident follows (4:36) as well as a man laying on the ground who had fallen from a ladder while at home (5:04). Gordon Huff begins reading examples of accident reports (8:27). One is of a man who worked for the plant department who was working to string wire for a line transfer when he mistakenly clips his safety belt to the handle of his pliers and falls from the telephone pole (5:54). Another includes a woman from the accounting department at home in her kitchen washing dishes and when she leaves the knives facing upwards and goes to grab a mixing spoon for an over boiling pot, she stabs her hand (6:58). The widest field in the company for accidents was in transportation (7:29) and an example is provided of an employee who drives the company car with discretion although gets into an accident in his own car by driving recklessly (7:42). Within the offices, an example is shown of a man hitting his head on a door which had been neglectfully left open by two co-workers (9:04). A span of the complex of buildings includes the operating rooms, accounting machine rooms, relay stations and business offices (9:51). Safety in buildings such as this begin with the construction and the blue prints for the Pacific Telephone Company building are shown (10:28). Building engineers work to ensure the elimination of accident contributing factors (10:34). Inside of one of the central offices, worker’s wearing glasses are pointed to and these are for their protection and not for sight which were provided by the company for anyone working near machines such as the ones shown (11:16). Stairwells were designed with sturdy hand rails, proper lighting and no skid surfaces (11:24). All of the machinery used by craftsmen had three conductor chords for grounding which would prevent against electrical shocks (11:45). The use of hard hats for line men in the field was strictly enforced (12:02). All company cars were equipped with front and back seatbelts (12:28). The General Manager stands in front of a span of safety tools as well as the Safety Educational Program and questions his staff as to why with all of this was there still accidents occurring (13:08). He then draws on the seemingly conflicting ideas of working hard and following safety standards and assures his employees that everyone wants to get their work completed on schedule although avoiding safety procedures leads to time loss for them and for the company (15:11). The film concludes and was presented by Interdepartmental Safety Committee LA Central Area Pacific Telephone Co and was produced by Soltys Productions in Hollywood (15:34).

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Transcription

signs of our times words to live by every day of our lives were alerted by all manner of signs and warning devices to avoid accidents to be careful and so conduct our lives that we are neither a menace to ourselves or to anyone else but in spite of all the signs warnings training and admonitions we are continually doing things that are practically invitations to bad accidents and things like this and this actions that can result in tragedy pain heartache and great expense and none of them need happen they are almost invariably the result of carelessness laziness or thoughtlessness and they happen because people have not yet learned that total responsibility for safety is an individual thing you are the only one who can prevent an accident from happening to you my name is Gordon huff and I'm here to give you some facts about your personal safety on and off the job aside from the pain and just plain misery accidents greatly affect the happiness and well-being of your family your work and your morale I know none of you intend to have accidents but I've got the figures to prove that they are occurring with frightening frequency if you wonder why I'm so interested in you the answer is simple I'm your general manager and in a broad sense I feel personally responsible for your well-being in spite of our well-thought-out safety program we're still having entirely too many accidents recently in our area in only a six month period we had 211 on-duty accidents which required medical attention several of which required hospitalization and many many times that number of off-duty accidents that happened at home at play or while driving all of these have added up to untold pain worry misery fear lost time and high expense all of us at Pacific telephone are trained to perform our jobs with attention and efficiency and many of our groups such as the toll and information operators the safety performance on the job is relatively good a much greater concern is the frequency and severity of accidents occurring while away from work every month for each lost time injury on the job we have 14 lost time injuries off the job some of you watching this film were involved in these accidents and you're bound to be defensive about it you say it wasn't really your fault you say there were extenuating circumstances it was an accident sure it was an accident but why let's face it the vast majority of these accidents could have been avoided if the individual had an awareness of safety in the first place and had taken simple precautions let's listen to some of the specifics about these occurrences here's how one happened department plant length of service six years employ was engaged in stringing wire to make a line transfer he did not look at his d-ring and clipped his safety belt to the handle of his pliers it's a long way from the top of those poles to the ground and the ground can be mighty hard sometimes a man can come back from such a fall sometimes he can't I won't detail the weeks this man spent in the hospital or the long months of convalescence just be thankful it wasn't you well here's one that happened off the job watch it this woman is a valued employee in the accounting department she considers herself perfectly safe here in the familiar surroundings of her own kitchen how can she harm herself here a boiling pot she needs a mixing spoon quick a serious puncture a bad cut if it heals easily and quickly without complications she won't lose valuable time from her work but this accident didn't need to happen of course the widest field for accidents and the most dangerous is in transportation here is an employee who has been trained in defensive driving he observes all the rules of the road is courteous and patient with other drivers and takes no chances but some strange and weird transformation takes place the moment some of these safe and courteous drivers step out of the company vehicles and get into their own cars now that he's on his own a complete new personality seems to be at the wheel he ignores safety signs and the rules for safe driver he hogs the road and behaves with utter disregard for others but you can't drive like that without eventually paying the piper and such payment can be mighty high these fortunate he's not paying with his life even in the apparently safe and efficient confines of offices all sorts of unnecessary accidents happen because of thoughtlessness and carelessness for instance a man on his way to an adjoining office is stopped to answer a question painful unnecessary and costly of course the lump will make a nice conversation piece but who needs it accidents like this are needless injuries that should never occur in our huge complex of buildings offices operating rooms accounting machine rooms relay stations business offices and other installations your company has taken every reasonable precaution to make safety a built-in feature and they are safe except for the unpredictable human element as a matter of fact safety starts with the very design of the building building engineers go over all construction plans to eliminate factors which can contribute to accidents safety only starts with the building engineers safety practices are followed by every department of the company this is inside one of our central offices notice that these men are wearing glasses actually there is nothing wrong with their eyesight they are wearing clear glass in those rims provided by the company as a safety measure and every craftsman who works around equipment such as this is required to wear safety glasses every stairway in every building is designed for safety with good solid guardrails ample and proper lighting non-skid surfaces and proper directional signs every piece of electrical equipment in offices machine rooms and the electrical tools used by craftsmen must have a three conductor cord for grounding this gives protection against electrical shock and of course hard hats are standard for lineman who work in the field every single company car truck or passenger is equipped with safety belts front and back it is a rigid rule that these belts must be used when driving company cars and I sincerely hope that you have them in your own cars as I have in mind so it goes every conceivable tool and rule for safety constantly being stressed so with all these safety features and our very comprehensive safety educational program why why does our accident rate continued at such a frightening pace basically it's certain human elements at work carelessness haste thoughtlessness fatigue lapse of memory and worst of all just plain disregard of rules there's another factor the refusal to believe that an accident can happen to you the feeling that somehow you are immune but the sad fact is as proven by are unhappy figures you are the person most susceptible to accidents of course there's always the other side of the coin the consciousness of work schedules we all know the importance of keeping work on schedule and all of us want to do a good job we want to make good records for a variety of reasons pride in our workmanship and ability satisfaction in a job well done we have the great need for personal safety we also have work schedules and the desire to furnish excellent communication services these may at times appear to be pulling in opposite directions but I'm asking you to accept your responsibility for safety combine your desire to do your job to the best of your ability with an equally strong desire to live an accident free life disregard or violation of a safety rule is false economy because when it backfires the price you have to pay is just too high remember that no job is so important and no service so urgent that we cannot take the time to perform our work safely

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16mm Filmography (legacy record) — title, year, format, description, catalog record, video

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