87254 1960’s PACIFIC TELEPHONE EMPLOYEE TRAINING FILM “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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