Caught in the Shafting: A Mill Worker's Narrow Escape
John Lang's clothing snagged in the machinery driving the slasher at the Fidelity mill, leaving him bruised and lucky to be alive.
John Lang, an employee of the Fidelity mill, had a narrow escape from death last Friday. His clothing caught in the shafting that drives the slasher, but he fortunately escaped with bruises on his arm and torn clothing. There was not room for his body to be whirled around the shaft, or he would likely have been killed.
“There was not room for his body to be whirled around the shaft or he would likely have been killed.”
Industrial safety in 1909 lumber mills depended heavily on luck and alertness, not engineered safeguards. Today's workplace-safety debates still turn on whether hazards should be designed out or left to workers to survive.
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