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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 7 (December 15, 1926)

Second Prize Essay

Second Prize Essay

“Accidents will happen,” is an old adage that applies to the outside staff engaged in railway work perhaps more than to any other occupation. There is little doubt but that a large number of accidents occur when the victim is endeavouring to go a little faster than usual. The railway service contains as near the 100 per cent, of triers as any other service, and members will speed up when the work gets behind. Each driver will run to time if it is reasonably possible to do so. The same applies to the guard and every member connected with train running. But the member who is nearest the danger zone at all times is the one engaged in shunting. When orders come thick and fast, and trains are getting away late, the work worries him and risks are inevitable. Why should a man worry about his work when he knows in his own mind that he is doing his best? The old system of punishment is partly to blame. It has created a feeling of fear. Many men have been punished when it would have been better for the service and the men concerned, if they had been given encouragement to do better. Members of the service have taken risks in an endeavour to avoid delays with the resultant correspondence and perhaps punishment. The new merit system will go a long way to remedy this. The member who has a run of bad luck—and most men have a bad run at times—will have a chance to make good and wipe off his demerit marks.

To reduce accidents to a minimum it is necessary that all members should have a thorough knowledge of the rule book. Knowledge gives confidence, and the rules and regulations have been drafted by practical railwaymen after many years of experience. Many members hold the opinion that the regulations exist solely to victimise the staff, but on closer acquaintance it will be found that they have been drawn up for the protection and safety of the staff as well as in the interest of the Department.

Officers placed in charge of men engaged in dangerous work should be efficient, firm and humane. Discipline is necessary, but that does not mean that complaints and grievances should be treated with indifference or contempt. Many will be found to be frivolous or impracticable. Some are genuine. A member of the service had occasion some years ago to complain about the long hours of duty. In the course of the interview he told his superior officer that if some alterations were not made the men would drop. The officer, one of the old school, dismissed the subject by saying, “Well, drop!” Later on the officer retired and the conditions were soon improved and made safer for the men.

Concentration on the job in hand is necessary if it is to be accomplished smartly and without risk. A member engaged in shunting should be sure that the men on the engine understand what he intends to do before slipping or tail-roping wagons. Just calling out is not sufficient, because, if the injector or pump is working it is difficult for them to hear.

To lay down a hard and fast rule for the prevention of accidents is a difficult matter, owing to the fact that the circumstances leading up to accidents vary according to the nature of the page 14 work performed. Vigilance and caution at all times is the price the railwayman must pay for his own safety and the safety of others.

A shunter will lose his hold on a wagon or his foot will slip when in the act of lifting a hook. He will, no doubt, be an efficient shunter in every way, but owing to rush of work his mind is crowded and he fails to concentrate on the job in hand. Accidents of this nature are not due to carelessness or indifference.

On the other hand there is the surfaceman, who, without carefully reading the train advices for the day and consulting his watch, hauls his velocipede on to the line and sets off along the length. He carries his life in his hand. The writer has on more than one occasion noticed a surfaceman, with his back to an approaching train, pulling along the line oblivious of the fact that he was in danger.

On one occasion by slowly reducing speed a train got within fifty yards of a velocipede before the surfaceman heard the whistle which had been blowing for about three hundred yards. There was a touch of humour in the way he scrambled off the velocipede, pale and speechless, and tumbled it off the line, because—having been seen in time—he was never in danger of being run down. Members of the service using velocipedes should know the instructions laid down for their safety and, when riding alone, should look behind frequently. Time is valuable in railway work, but not more so than human life and limb. The necessity of trains making time is uppermost in the minds of all members. What is required is that time and safety shall be so closely associated that in thinking of one the other will always be present. Perhaps it would be a good idea to alter the wording of Rule 5* to read: “The first and most important duty of every member is to provide for the safety of himself and the public”; and make it a slogan. It would impress on all members the necessity of thinking out safe methods and would develop the safety habit. Risky methods would in time be eliminated. Young hands joining the service would be trained by the example of those they were associated with and the service would be more efficient and safer for each member, his mates and the public.

—(Ed. “N.Z.R.M.”)