PREFACE

The foundry, viewing it from all angles, presents one of the greatest problems in the industrial world. The fact that the production of castings depends not only on a mechanical process, but also on a chemical process, makes it specially difficult to fasten upon any individual the responsibility for imperfect work. And yet there is a definite (even though unassignable) reason for the loss of every defective casting produced,—some one member of the department failed in properly performing his part of the work. Every man must therefore be taught to appreciate the importance of his own particular task, and must be impressed with the necessity of performing that task conscientiously, and as correctly and efficiently as he can. There should be a spirit of cooperation as earnest and sincere as that which prevails in a beehive, where every worker performs the task of the moment with singleness of purpose, and with no thought or motive other than the production of the best final result, from the united labors of all. The development of a point of view of this nature among the men will also have a profound effect in the way of reducing accidents,—a greater effect, in fact, than could be realized by any other single means.

One of the problems that must receive special consideration in connection with accident-prevention work in foundries relates to the class of persons employed. It is not necessary to employ skilled labor for all the operations in the foundry, and for that reason a certain portion of the work is intrusted to unskilled help,—to men, namely, who do not understand the necessity for safety methods. The most practical and effective way of dealing with a situation of this kind is to adopt the team-work idea—that is, to teach cooperation—and to introduce a well-organized safety department that will educate the men to the extent of developing in them sound and correct accident-prevention ideals. Useful practical suggestions for accomplishing this, and for making the accident-prevention work effective, are given in a booklet entitled “Organization in Safety Work”, which is published by the Engineering and Inspection Division of The Travelers Insurance Company.

Even the best-equipped, most orderly, and most effectively organized foundry is not free from accidents, and it is too much to expect that complete immunity will ever be possible. The experience of many concerns that have adopted safety methods in their foundries shows, however, that it is possible to eliminate a large proportion of the commoner causes of accidents, without much expense and without any serious disturbance of existing conditions. The Engineering and Inspection Division of The Travelers Insurance Company, in the course of its extensive experience with foundries, has given a great deal of study to this subject, and the recommendations and suggestions that it has made in the course of its practical inspection work have been well received by foundry managers, and have been particularly effective in bringing about better and safer conditions. The present booklet, based upon this study and experience, contains some of the suggestions that have been found to be most serviceable and important in dealing with the accident-prevention problem in its broader phases. Every foundry has important special safety problems of its own, which must be dealt with effectively if the best results are to be obtained; but to include all features of this kind would swell this booklet to such dimensions that its effectiveness and usefulness would be impaired. We have therefore confined our attention to danger-points of wide and almost universal occurrence.

There are few machines in foundries in comparison with the number in industrial plants of many other kinds. The machines that are used, however, must be provided with guards at all points where accidents might occur, and the necessary special guards have been described in more or less detail in the following pages. The construction and arrangement of the various forms of guards for belts and pulleys are not fully explained, but it should be understood that these are to comply with the standards approved by the Industrial Compensation Rating Bureau. The Engineering and Inspection Division of The Travelers Insurance Company will furnish upon request, copies of an illustrated pamphlet entitled “Industrial Standards,” which clearly explains the requirements of the Bureau.

In the main, the present booklet deals with iron foundries; but we have also included certain special hazards that are encountered chiefly in foundries where other metals are cast.

The Travelers Insurance Company,

Hartford, Connecticut.