Safety First

Steel mills historically have been, and still are, inherently dangerous places. Workers must always be on their guard, for their lives and livelihood depend upon their safety.

Most safety programs emerged as compromises between labor reformers who publicized the ugly facts of the accident and employers who longed for efficient production and less negative publicity.

Working under the belief that repetition is the best way to enforce a message, Safety First became the mantra of every aspect of life in the mill. Reminders were found at every turn – from the locker room to the work floor, and from the meeting hall to the board room. Safety was paramount, safety meant success for all.

To encourage employees’ dedication to safety, companies often rewarded workers for long stretches of accident-free operation with Safety Awards.

“[The hard hat] was a great safety feature, but was also a badge of disgrace. [The new guys] had an orange hat with a big white band around it so everyone knew you were new. White hats were the bosses, yellow were the electricians, laborers wore orange without the band.”
-Charles Townsend,
LTV Pittsburgh (LTV, previously call Jones and Laughlin, was a steel mill in the Southside neighborhood of Pittsburgh)

A variety of gasses are used in and created by the production of coke, iron, and steel. Many of these gasses are odorless but lethal, posing a great danger to workers. In areas where there is a high risk of exposure to gas, workers are required to wear gas masks as a precautionary measure.

“The biggest hazard you have [in the blast furnace] is the by-product – the carbon monoxide gasses. You have to train very, very deeply on how to handle gas scenarios because blast furnaces at any time can get out of kilter and release a very high parts per million carbon monoxide gas and they’re to the point where if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing – one breath and you’re not getting back up.”
Bob Park,
Homestead Works (The Homestead Works was perhaps Pittsburgh's best known steel mill, contributing steel to such structures as the St. Louis Arch, the Empire State Building, the Panama Canal Locks, and many others).

Safety warnings were placed on an endless variety of everyday objects, from flashlights to ice scrapers. These items were distributed to workers with the belief that repetition was one of the best ways to reinforce any message. Companies also frequently screened safety films to drive the point home.

“With Plant Protection we had several jobs…we had a fire department - it was a full scale fire department, we had one pumper… We also had ambulances. We had a stretcher ambulance for severe cases. We also had regular station wagons with stretchers in the back that collapsed…we used those basically to pick people up who were sick in the plant. We’d bring them back to the plant hospital on Amity Street…Even though you wore eye glasses...we had an awful lot of eye injuries.”

Richard Haydusko
Plant Protection, Homestead Steel Works

One of the most common type of accident in steel mill was crushed hands or arms: between cars, machinery, and steel.

Many safety posters and warnings in the mill reiterated the danger of handtraps and pinch points.

"We mostly wore slacks of a sturdy nature and things that fit tightly on top so that sweaters and things wouldn’t be caught in machines. I guess there were a few accidents like that. And you kept your head wrapped in a turban so your hair didn’t get into the machines…You were constantly being told, ‘Be careful;’ there were signs that said ‘Be careful of yourself and be careful of the equipment.”

Dr. Emma S. Rocco
Jones & Laughlin, Aliquippa (Jones and Laughlin was the the major steel producer in the Pittsburgh region outside of US Steel, with their Aliquippa site being a major operation in nearby Beaver County.)

Over the course of the twentieth century, many measures were instituted by management, workers, and unions alike to lessen the dangers of the industrial workplace and maintain steady production rates. The culture of safety was ingrained into the everyday work practices of the mill through training classes, films, manuals, posters, signs, personal protection devices, and tools.