Workplace Safety Quotes

We find that 80 to 90 percent of the injuries which are occurring in our company [Du Pont] are due to a human failure rather than a piece of equipment, a machine, or so on.

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J. Sharp Queener, Safety Director for Du Pont Co., and representative of the U.S Chamber of Commerce. Testimony, House Select Subcommittee on Labor.

Notwithstanding all the talk of a probable exodus of manufacturing interests the commission has not found a single case of a manufacturer intending to leave the State because of the enforcement of the factory laws.

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Factory Investigating Commission
402507/27/1914 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

That same threat was made when the child labor law was passed and not one of the manufacturers moved out.

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Abram I. Elkus, counsel for the Factory Investigating Commission.
402405/19/1914 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

Contrary to the predictions of the canners, the next year there was no shortage of canned vegetables or fruits.

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George Whitney Martin, from his biography of Frances Perkins. Date not available.
402301/01/1914 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

I can’t see what all this talk is about. How is it wrong for the State to intervene with regard to the working conditions of people who work in the factories and mills. I don’t see what they mean. What did we set up the government for?

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Al Smith (D), future governor of New York and Factory vice chairman of the Factory Investigating Commission. Date not available.
402201/01/1914 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

In Utica no one ever bothers the factories about these things. Why are we bothered this way? No, we do not keep the names and addresses of our homeworkers. Women wanting such work come in and get it and that’s all there is about it.

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The manager of a felt shoe factory
400301/01/1913 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

I have seen children working in factories, and I have seen them working at home and they were perfectly happy.

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Mabel A. Clark, of the W.N. Clark Company. Superintendent, vice president, and stockholder. Only date available: 1913.
401601/01/1913 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

[Those killed in factory fires are] an infinitesimal proportion of the population.

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Robert Dowling, NYC real estate man, and voice of business on the Factory Investigating Committee. Only date available: 1913.
398201/01/1913 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

There really is a close competition between the canned good industry of this state and that of other states, and that while the canners of other states are operating under general exemptions from the labor law provisions, it will produce a harsh, if not destructive, competition to compel the New York canner to attempt to operate under strict regulation as to the hours of employment.

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“Conditions in Canneries”, Memorandum of the New York State Canners’ Association. By John. F. Connor, attorney for the canners’ association. Only date available: 1913.
401201/01/1913 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

Excited persons rarely accomplish anything…No new laws are needed.

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The New York Times tended to be very pro-business during this period. After the fire, but before the launch of the Factory Investigating Commission. Only date available: 1911.
398101/01/1913 | Full Details | Law(s): Triangle Factory Laws

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