You must figure that out for yourselves, and if you will do that I will always be ready to help you to get it through.

THE CHAIRMAN: I do not want to cut the meeting short but I suppose some of you gentlemen want to attend the reception. If there is no other business, the meeting will stand adjourned.

(At this point the meeting adjourned.)

FOURTH GENERAL AND EXECUTIVE SESSION

Thursday, May 22, 1919

President Wells called the meeting to order at 10:10 o'clock.

THE PRESIDENT: Our first business this morning is the report of the Committee on Safety Rules and Accident Prevention. Part of it, the General Report, will be presented by Mr. William C. L. Eglin, of Philadelphia, Chairman. (Applause.)

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SAFETY RULES AND

ACCIDENT PREVENTION

GENERAL STATEMENT

Accident prevention work, as in former years, has been practically entirely in the hands of a sub-committee, of which Mr. C. B. Scott is chairman, and of which work a separate report will be submitted by Mr. Scott. The main Committee has devoted its activities to work in connection with the Bureau of Standards and kindred matters, which work, in spite of the urgency of their routine duties during the past year, has exacted considerable thought and effort on the part of the members of your Committee.

RESUSCITATION

The Third Resuscitation Commission, whose organization and work were directed to your attention in last year's report, submitted its Proceedings and Resolutions late in 1918, which Proceedings and Resolutions were printed in the January, 1919, Bulletin of the Association. The Rules for Resuscitation from Electric Shock and the Resuscitation Chart, which is an abbreviated form of the Rules, have been revised by the Sub-Committee on Accident Prevention and will be treated more fully in Mr. Scott's report. Fifty thousand copies of the Booklet of Rules, which also contains the Proceedings of the Third Resuscitation Commission, and ten thousand copies of the Chart have been printed and are ready for distribution, and the endorsement and approval of the Association of this revision are requested at this meeting.

ACTIVITIES OF THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS

Early in August of last year the Bureau of Standards advised your Committee that it desired to revise the National Electrical Safety Code, due to the fact that the present edition was exhausted, and it was felt that the work could be materially improved in form and arrangement, and that certain revisions in the rules were also necessary. At the same time the Bureau submitted to the Committee a manuscript copy of the proposed revision of Part 2 "Rules for the Installation and Maintenance of

Electrical Supply and Signal Lines,” and also sent throughout the country a considerable number of photostat copies of Part 3 covering Utilization Equipment.

It was pointed out to the Bureau very strongly that with the industries at the apex of their activities in connection with the great war, the duration of which at that time was very problematic, the time was extremely inopportune for consideration of any such questions; and that further, your Committee had agreed to the rules and regulations appearing in Circular 54 of the Bureau of Standards only for a trial period, during which period a study would be made of the operation under the Code rules and data relative to such operations be collected for future discussion and revision; that the situation confronting all utilities during and subsequent to the year 1917 has precluded the possibility of any 'real study of the existing Code being made, and that they were therefore not in position to discuss intelligently or make the necessary study which a revision of the Code would entail.

The Bureau felt, however, that inasmuch as the great majority of the changes were in arrangement and verbiage only, the revision should proceed, and, while we were unable to persuade the Bureau to postpone the revision, it has at least exhibited considerable patience. There have been a number of meetings of the Committee and many conferences bteween the Committee representatives and the Bureau, and practically all of the minor changes and the general arrangement of the rules have been thoroughly discussed by the Bureau of Standards' representatives and the Committee. There are certain fundamental changes in the rules, however, to which the Committee interposed strenuous objection without a thorough study of the conditions being made, and there will be a meeting of the Committee this afternoon, at which it is hoped to obtain a full attendance to discuss these changes and decide on a method of joint study in the field between the members or representatives of the Association and representatives of the Bureau of Standards. When a definite conclusion is reached on the points at issue at present, the Bureau of Standards will send photostat copies of the proposed revision of this section to a large number of our members for their final study and criticism prior to the Code being reprinted.

The Committee has not so far considered the changes in the

other sections of the Code, which, it is understood, are of minor importance, but these matters will have the attention of the Committee before the Code is reprinted.

DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL CODES BY THE BUREAU

OF STANDARDS

In addition to its work on the National Electrical Safety Code, the Bureau of Standards called a conference in January to discuss the development by the Bureau of Safety Codes or Safety Standards of practically all industrial activities, in many of which the members of this Association would be very directly interested. This meeting was attended by representatives of many ́of the national associations, Government bureaus, State commissions, and municipal departments, and, while considerable opposition was exhibited to the Bureau developing these Codes, the greater part of the discussion centered on the two plans of procedure outlined. Plan "A" involved the appointment by the Bureau of a committee of some fifty representatives of associations and other bodies interested, to cooperate with it in the development of these Codes; and plan "B" involved the development of the Code through the machinery of the recently formed American Engineering Standards Committee.

A committee was finally appointed to draw up the proposed plans and submit them to all interested associations and other bodies for a vote as to the method to be followed. This report and ballot sheet are now in the hands of your Association for action. Under the plan proposed the American Standards Committee would be enlarged, would be known as the American Standards Association, and would include in its membership all associations and other bodies interested in the development of safety or other standards. This would result in the formation of a body very similar to the British Standards Association and would apparently provide the machinery for the production of such Codes as are necessary and of a character satisfactory to all parties in interest.

As our industry expands it is but natural to expect the proposal and passage of laws and other measures of a regulative character, and the Association must no doubt prepare to meet problems of this character for many years to come. The industry is, to a certain extent, handicapped in this connection in that it is