ARE YOUR

CONSUMERS

SAFE?

E

ach year injuries to consumers points up the need for good consumer education by rural electric cooperatives. Many co-ops carry on such campaigns by articles in their newsletters, special consumer safety meetings, posters designed to remind consumers of the dangers in being careless around electricity.

The pictures on this page are designed by the REA safety staff for a proposed television packet on consumer safety. This packet, "Electricity-Treat It with Respect," may be available in the near future.

There are other hazards not pictured here which have been the cause of injuries to rural electric consumers. Some of them could have been prevented by a consumer education campaign. Others were the result of inadequate inspection and maintenance on the part of the co-op.

A housewife on a southern farm, in a recent month, was happily doing her Monday morning washing. Her day was happy because the electric machine made her washday easier than it used to be. It hadn't been easy to sell her an electric washing machine, however. It was the result of a hard power use campaign on the part of the rural electric co-op of which she was a member. Her hands were wet from her work; so was her clothing. She didn't know the cord from the outlet to her machine was faulty. It struck her shoulder and electrocuted her.

Do your consumers know that they should call the co-op as soon as they see an electric wire on the ground after a storm?

The co-op was not legally at fault. But what do you think it cost it in good will? How much do you think it may have set back its power use promotion, which had just been getting nicely started?

It would have been easy to have included home safety in the columns of the co-op's newsletter. A safety lecture to housewives might have prevented this fatality. It also would have drawn a crowd to whom the advantages of electricity, safely used, could have been taught.

A farmer in a northwestern State was swathing around a neighbor's wheat field. A co-op's transmission line ran along a right of way easement inside the field. Wheat was sown, as usual, right up to the fence, around the poles. The poles were secured with guy wires. The swather's idler wheel struck a guy wire. The pole, which looked solid, was infected by shell rot. The pole snapped off; the

frequently. Then we have frequent parties for husbands and wives in our own recreation room in the co-op headquarters. We think parties are kind of important.

Job training courses and refresher courses are the rule with us. Just as important, however, is that we have chosen the kind of men for our line work who can take instruction without resentment.

• People ask me if our policy of buying personal equipment for the men doesn't lead to abuse of equip

ment. The answer is no.

• The office manager, the power use adviser, and the line superintendent all have a hand in preparing the annual budget. They prepare the estimates for their own departments; we then talk over the budget before it is submitted to the board.

• Every employee knows the financial record of this co-op as well as I do. We go over it together each month. After our last major outage, when everyone had been working overtime, one lineman said to me, "This outage has really cost us two

Gray

ways in lost revenue and in overtime." His first concern was the co-op.

. Last year we had 750 job tickets. That means that the men were in contact with about one-half of our members. They are proud of the fact that they can answer any member's question about the operation of the co-op. By the way, we didn't get a single written consumer complaint last year.

The men are responsible for their own trucks, repairing them and keeping them clean. For our part, we try to let them have the vehicle equipment they prefer.

I like to think that I could leave here for 6 months and find things running just the same when I returned.

Why Nyman employees think they have a perfect safety record...

A RURAL LINES reporter asked each person who works at Nyman Electric why he believes that his cooperative has never had a lost-time accident. Employee replies reveal that workers are personally grateful

Safety is Management

when management takes a sincere interest in their health and safety. Carl Mattson, line superintendent "The most important reason for our record is that all safety equipment is furnished by the co-op hot sticks,

hard hats, gloves, goggles, and so on. Gloves are sent away to a lab for testing every 90 days, and when any equipment shows signs of wear, it is discarded. Also, Al (Manager Allan Swanson) sees to it that no co-op vehicle is driven faster than 50 miles an hour."

Kenneth L. Stone, office manager "I've thought a lot about the record here, and I think that high morale and good working conditions have a lot to do with it. A man who worries about his job is the kind of man that makes accidents happen. We work in the sort of place where no man who does his work properly has to worry about his job. Also, the linemen know that the co-op is always ready to give them what they need to perform a better job."

Don Peterson, power use adviser—“I think we've never had an accident just because management has demanded that we follow proper safety practices. Once a month, the line superintendent holds a safety meeting for all employees, but we hear a lot about safety between meetings. For example, every man working for the co-op is a qualified First Aid Instructor."

Larry Johnson, lineman-"If I had to think of one explanation for our lack of accidents, I'd say teamwork. We work like a team here, from the linemen right on up to the manager and board. I feel that I can trust the men I work with as I trust myself. You're looking out for the other man all the time, and he's looking out for you." Stan Peterson, line foreman "We younger guys grew up with good safety practices. It's never occurred to me to do a job any way except the safe way. We discuss any new job before we tackle it, and plan ahead carefully on any hazardous part of it. Also, I feel that as long as the co-op buys the safety equipment, the least we can do is to use it."

Mrs. Theodore Lofgren, billing clerk

"I think that the one big reason for our perfect safety record is the personal interest that Mr. Swanson takes in all matters of safety. I'm sure that his regular reminders to the men helps. keep them careful."

Jim Gray, lineman—“The boss means business when it comes to safety. Putting on my hard hat and gloves is as natural to me as putting on my glasses in the morning. Also, I feel confidence in the equipment; I know that it's the best that money can buy. But there's one other thing. I think that if I got hurt, the manager would feel as responsible as I would. That's something to think about."

foremen, metermen, and top service men. Program included: system grounding, apparatus grounding, paralleling transformers, sub-station safety-maintenance and operations. Employees of the Vocational Education Division of the State Department of Education and safety and engineering representatives of REA conducted the clinics.