^ I GASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
'> I Volume xii-number 6
in I
MAY, 1963
C ' 'I >■ I
I-
Tir«$ton«
Your Symbol
of Quality
and Service
sightseeing
f
Camp Firestone
Oconaluftee
^ Camp Firestone on Lake
^rnes at Bridgewater in the
. Ridge Mountains is now
its 28th season. The com-
p^^y-operated lakeside re-
^®at is in business until Oc-
ober, offering play and re-
.^ation to Firestone em
ployees and members of
their families.
Located in McDowell
County in the “holiday high
lands , the camp is head
quarters for aquatic sports
and leisure living. Besides, it
is a departure point for
sightseeing tours in a vast
mountain empire.
The above Firestone News
photo of the Oconaluftee
River bridge at Cherokee
suggests a wide range of in
teresting sightseeing at the
Qualla Indian Reservation
and other points in the Great
Smokies and surrounding
areas.
An example is the Ocona-
iiiv-iiciii V iAAclgC, Uptii
May-October, where visitors
can take a trip 5,000 years
into history, when an ancient
people lived and worked
without the wheel, alphabet,
or even iron tools of prehis
toric Europe. In this Village
is an 18th-century reproduc
tion of community life be
fore the white man settled
the wilderness.
l6th Award For Production Safety
. its high mark in pro-
^ction safety during 1962 the
Estonia Firestone plant has
^*^ceived a top award, pre-
jointly by the North
r ^ 0 1 i n a Department of
abor and the United States
apartment of Labor.
j, citation is the 16th honor
® plant has won in consecutive
j^%mbolic of the achievement
^ an engraved bar which has
sdded to the series of bars
to the display plaque
^'"ded when the plant reach
ed its ten-year record six years
ago.
Safety supervisor Raymond
Mack points out that if the out
standing program of injury con
trol can be maintained, a second
plaque will be forthcoming four
years from now.
FOR ITS safety performance
last year, Firestone earned dis
tinction among North Carolina
industries. The plant is one of
only three industries in the State
to achieve the 16-year record.
North Carolina Labor Com
missioner Frank Crane made the
presentation to plant general
“siVERs I Steps To Better Performance
in' wrecks and resulting
^^^ries to people are caused by
factors, safety leaders
out. From its accident-
ej. '^^^tion research, Northwest-
^diversity’s Traffic Institute
itri ^^commends these steps to
Prove driver performance;
high in steering. Glance
2.
^head at the center of the
your car should follow.
Ob' picture. See all
^6cts in the scene, and the
’^^nd around them. Don’t try
to see everything in .sharp detail,
unless necessary.
3. Keep eyes moving. Move
eyes to the rear, near, far ahead,
and to both sides.
4. Leave yourself an out. Ad
just pace to allow a stopping,
margin ahead, or a place to
escape.
5. Try to make sure that other
drivers, and pedestrians, see you
and know that you are on the
scene.
Off-Job Safety
Emphasis In May
“Away from the job—make safety pay” is the founda
tion idea of the traditional emphasis in Firestone U. S. and
Canadian plants two months of each year—May and Decem
ber. Because there are added hazards which can lead to
physical injury during the “sunny months”, May is set aside
as the first off-job-safety month of the year.
Since May is the early part of 5 p.m., with no time out at
the outdoor season in most areas, lunch.
it is an appropriate time to
stress safety consciousness and
pi'actices throughout the ensuing
months of outdoor and other off-
job activity.
Water sports, home projects
and traveling are associated with
the majority of injuries and
fatalities every summer.
Motor Vehicle Safety
Highlighting the May safety
emphasis again this year is the
motor-vehicle safety check op
erated at Firestone plants in
states where local laws do not
provide for auto safety inspec
tion.
Dates for operation of the free
safety-check lanes at the Gas
tonia plant are May 13-17. As in
the past, lanes will be set up in
the employee parking area off
Firestone Blvd., in front of the
plant. Hours daily will be 9 a.m.-
This is the sixth year the com
pany will have sponsored the
plant safety checks. In this serv
ice to employees and others of
the several Firestone plant com-
mounities, the company works
in cooperation with Auto Indus
tries Highway Safety Commit
tee, the Association of State and
Provincial Safety Coordinators
and Look Magazine.
Especially timely are the dates
for the auto checks, just before
the long Memorial Day week
end. The free auto inspection is
offered to all motorists in the
community, as well as to Fire
stone people.
Points of Emphasis
Stickers will be placed on
windshields of vehicles that
meet the required standards of
—More on page 2
manager Harold Mercer at the
Eagles Club April 23. It was the
annual Chamber of Commerce
Safety Awards dinner meeting
for business and industry.
At the meeting, Mr. Mercer
was cited as being instrumental
in bringing about this program
that has advanced industrial
safety in North Carolina.
Firestone qualified for the
award on the basis of its low
frequency rate of on-job injuries
during 1962. Based on an aver
aged number of persons at work
here during the year, the plant
recorded more than two million
production hours with just one
injury that resulted in lost time.
This put the plant far ahead of
the Labor Commission’s quali
fying requirement (having an
injury-frequency rate of 75 per
cent or more below the statewide
average for a given industry).
The other ways to qualify for
the award: By having a perfect
safety record during the year,
and by reducing lost-time injury
frequency rate 40 per cent or
more for a given plant or busi
ness below the rate for the year
previous to the one for which
award is made.
I!
P
It
m-
A TREE’S PERENNIAL STOR Y
Frank Montgomery is a man who believes in the
Principle of Enduring Life. Every springtime, the stir
rings in the roots and in the white beauty of his
dogwood tree at 1022 West Seventh Ave. reaffirm his
faith in the Renewal of Things. He planted four of the
“tree of many legends” at his house in 1957; just this
one survived. Frank retired from his job in the shop
in Feb., 1958, after 40 years in a textile mill—23 of
them with Firestone.