APRIL, 1956
MSWi
PAGE 7
Your Precious Eyesight Needs Protection
Your eyesight is one of life’s
most precious possessions.
Guard it well.
There are no spare eyes avail
able. This may never be news in
any paper you will read, but just
the same it’s a sobering fact.
A number of manufacturers of
glass eyes throughout the world
turn out their product in beau
tiful blue, green, hazel, brown,
and so on.
Trouble is, you can’t see with
them.
Thanks to the kindness of Na
ture, most people are fortunate
enough to be born into this
world equipped, with no spare
parts. And the eyes one gets at
birth are the only ones that he
will have during a lifetime.
INDUSTRIAL eye accidents
are costly — to all concerned.
About 80,000 happen annually in
PROGRESS OF PRESCRIPTION SAFETY GLASSES PROGRAM
29 -
25 -
20 —
15 -
10 ^
S -
JFMAMJJASOND
J F M A M J J
A S 0 N. D
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1952 & 1953
195U
1955
this country. In view of this, in
dustry concerns itself with the
conservation of the eyes that are
available.
There are several ways to do
this. First, you can always visit
your eye doctor for periodic ex
aminations if you are wearing
glasses to make sure they con
tinue to give satisfactory service.
Second, it is possible for indi
viduals to see well and still have
symptoms of eye strain or fa
tigue. If you experience such
symptoms now or in the future,
it would be worthwhile for you
to get an examination by an eye
doctor.
Occasionally, there are those
who need visual training to aid
in correcting certain eye defects.
Here again you can rely on the
advice of your eye doctor to help
preserve the vision which you
may lose otherwise. Third, you
can simply protect your eyes
from obvious hazards on the job
such as flying particles or harm
ful rays through use of protec
tive equipment. If your job in
volves some type of work where
there is such danger present, ask
your supervisor for eye protec
tion if you are not already using
it. The Company provides this
protection for you at no cost.
Then there are the less hazard
ous jobs where eye injuries
would seem to be only remote
possibilities. Yet, you and I know
that no matter what the job is
AN EYE
For
AN EYE
IS a poor
exdiangel
PROTSCT YOURS!
s*riTv cou
there is some degree of eye haz
ard present. In event you wear
prescription lenses — Why not
wear Safety Lenses? Through
Firestone’s Safety Glasses Pro
gram for the employees only,
prescription safety glasses can
be purchased through the pay
roll deduction plan if so desired.
To promote interest in eye
safety, the Company adopted a
new policy in the purchase of
prescription safety glasses in
January, 1954. Prior to this time
the Company paid $1.75 toward
the cost of the glasses. Under the
new program the Company pays
$5.00 toward the cost of the
glasses. The chart here indi
cates the increased interest in
eye protection under the new
program.
Dye-Jacobs
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Philip
C)ye are at home in Kings Moun
tain after their recent wedding
at Firestone Wesleyan Methodist
Church. Mrs. Dye, the former
Miss Janice Lorraine Jacobs, is
the daughter of Oscar Jacobs,
Shop; and Mrs. Jacobs of the
Spooling Department.
Record Year Is Predicted
For Suggestion Awards
The Company during 1956
expects to pass the million
dollar mark in awards paid
to employees for ideas for
improvements in production,
sales and office operations
since the Firestone sugges
tion was started in 1918.
Awards have totaled well over
$900,000, announced L. J. Alger,
Manager of the Suggestion Sys
tem for the Company, in a year-
end review. During the 37 years,
employees have submitted more
than 183,000 suggestions and of
these more than 57,000 have
been adopted.
FROM PLANTS throughout
the world and from the sales and
office forces, the Company is
now receiving about 15,000 sug
gestions a year and putting into
use 4,000—an adoption rate of
about 27 per cent.
Rate of participation in the
suggestion plan also is running
high, with more than 400 sug
gestions being received each
year per 1,000 employees—a par
ticipation rate of 40 per cent.
Awards now top $100,000 a
year.
The suggestion system en
courages employees to offer
ideas for improving working
conditions, quality, safety and
sales, and for economizing on
operations and on material
usage.
Amounts of awards for im
proved operations are in pro
portion to tangible yearly sav
ings. Other awards are based
upon intangible savings and
benefits to workers in adding
comfort and safety to their jobs.
DURING 1955 — the Sugges
tion System’s best year — Fire
stone employees received a total
of $100,966.33 for 4,044 adopted
suggestions—an average of near
ly $25 per award.
“Awards for adopted sugges
tions are governed by their val
ue to the Company,” said Mr.
Alger in describing the plan.
“Those which bring the largest
amounts to their suggesters are
usually those on which definite
savings are realized.”
Mercer-Groves Vows in Home Ceremony
Mrs. L. W. Hicks
Lee Wallace Hicks, weaver in
^syon Weaving, and Miss Dor-
^hy Marie Bennett of Ludlow,
were married recently in
^ ceremony performed in York,
S- C.
Mrs. Lucia McLees Groves ex
changed marriage vows with
Harold Mercer, Firestone Tex
tiles general manager, in a
simple ceremony at her home on
Hillside Lane, March 10.
The ceremony took place in
the living room in front of the
mantel with Dr. Harry M. Mof
fett and Dr. Wilson O. Weldon
the officiating ministers.
Present were members of the
immediate family. Coming es
pecially for the wedding were
Miss Sarah Mercer of St. Mary’s
Good Roads
—From page 1
to help gain support for the right
type of legislation by letting
their Congressmen and Senators
know they favor the Boggs Bill.
Write your Senator or Repre
sentative that you favor the
Boggs Bill. Your Senators are:
Hon. Sam J. Ervin and Hon.
Kerr Scott, The Senate Office
Building, Washington, D. C.
Your Congressman is Hon.
Woodrow Jones, Washington
25. D. C.
If You Move ...
If you move to another house,
be sure to let the Firestone News
Office know of your new ad
dress, so you will not miss an
issue of the plant newspaper.
Either leave your name and new
address with your department
overseer or at the News Office.
If the paper is mailed to you at
your old address, the postman
does not make delivery, unless
you have promised the postof
fice to guarantee forwarding
postage on all but first-class
mail.
Birthday Club
Honors Two
Thirteen of the 21 members
composing the Ladies’ Birthday
Club of SYC Weaving were on
hand at the Oriental Restaurant
in Charlotte for a March meet
ing. On this occasion they cele
brated the birthdays of Mrs.
Jane Rice, change hand; and
Mrs. Betty Martin, battery hand.
College, Raleigh; Miss Jean
Groves of Duke University,
Durham; Borden Hallowes of
Woodbury Forest, Va.; Mrs. Ira
Pomeroy, sister of Mr. Mercer,
and her granddaughter, Lynn
Mercer Smock, both of Plain
field, Ind.; Mr. and Mrs. C. E.
Berry, Bennettsville, S. C.; and
Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Terry, Harts-
ville, S. C. Mesdames Berry and
Terry are sisters of the bride.
Mr. and Mrs. Mercer went on
a wedding trip to Ponte Vedra
Beach, Fla.
EMPLOYEES HELP HEART FUND
Calvin G. Greear, treasurer of Gaston County Heart Fund,
accepts a check for $1,703.50 from Mrs. Lois Woolley, first shift
nurse. This amount represents the plant's contribution to the Heart
Fund, and was given during the employees' United Fund Drive.
Others in the picture are Mrs. Aileen Hooper, executive secretary
of the Heart Fund, at extreme left; and L. A. Wolfe, Gaston County
Heart Fund chairman.