Repository: UIHistories Project: SWE - Proceedings of the First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists [PAGE 48]

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have come to place orders for specific plant or equipment, at the same time wish to gain as much knowledge and information about the whole field of industry covered by the exhibition. The salesman at the exhibition should therefore have a thorough knowledge of the products which his firm exhibits and be able to express himself clearly. Preferably he should be able to speak, or at least understand, several languages. SAFETY OFFICERS AND INSPECTORS OF FACTORIES Production Engineers are responsible for the safety of the work people in their charge. It is their duty to see that workshops are maintained in such conditions that accidents are not likely to occur. The Factory Acts lay down the conditions of safety and in Great Britain Her Majesty's Inspector of Factories and his staff, who form a department of the Ministry of Labour and have fairly wide powers, supervise the effective observation of these rules and regulations. Their job is to examine all workshops and factories at regular intervals. The task of taking special care of the safety arrangements and supervising the observation of safety regulations is usually delegated to one engineer in the production department, who acts as safety officer and who cooperates with the factory inspector. One of his duties will be to make his workers safety-conscious. It is most distressing to see how frequently workers disregard the most primitive safety precautions, and unfortunately women are among the worst offenders. The safety officer's job will, therefore, to a large extent be educational. Among his most effective aids will be special films; also the Factory Inspectorate maintains a permanent "Safety" Exhibition in London.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT Some aspects of what is known as "Scientific Management" must be discussed here. All technology and much of science are ultimately orientated towards production to satisfy the needs and wants of the community. It is in everybody's interest, producer, consumer, management and employees and labour force, that production should be carried out with the minimum of wasted effort, that is to say, as efficiently as possible. It should also be realized by everybody that human happiness and satisfaction are essential premises for efficient production as well as for the life of the community. That a tired worker will work less efficiently, will make more mistakes, and have more accidents than a fresh one is today universally recognized. Time and Motion Study, which aims at eliminating unnecessary fatigue for manual workers is by and large accepted by all managements who lay claim to being called progressive. It is acknowledged that proper machine lay-out, flow of material and work, work routine, good lighting, convenient seating, well designed jigs and tools, in short, everything

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