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                              56        Serious Incident Prevention








                                                                            January 11, 1944

                                  Dearest Wife,

                                  Last night in one of my pre-dream reveries I was dreaming of an idea
                                  that was designed to revolutionize the strip steel industry. However, with
                                  the dawn of an English day the idea began to look like a drunkard’s
                                  dream (and me a teetotaler) and I have at last cast it away to the winds
                                  having first memorized the faults of the idea. I hesitate to mention the
                                  idea for fear of being scoffed at but since Firestone and Edison were both
                                  successful inventors and attributed their successes to the counsel of their
                                  wives I am going to briefly outline the idea to you. It had to do with the
                                  rolling and thinning of steel as it is done on a four high Steckle Mill of
                                  the type used at our plant. I wondered if it weren’t possible to weld a sec-
                                  tion of the sheet of steel to itself so that the strip instead of having to be
                                  run through several times could be run to the desired degree of thinness
                                  by one continual passing.


                                                                       I love you
                                                                       Frank





                              anniversary, the contents of Corporal Elliot’s letters, written during the
                              months preceding his landing on Omaha Beach, were released. In one let-
                              ter, Frank communicates his personal thoughts on improving the steel mill
                              that provided his peacetime employment. Corporal Elliot’s active interest in
                              improving his employer’s work process, despite the stresses of preparing for
                              the imminent invasion, is a testimony to the dedication and resourcefulness
                              of workers in a free enterprise system. 12
                                  Management must ensure that the Charles Rosses and Frank Elliots of
                              their organization are involved, nurtured, and given responsibility. A safe
                              and prosperous workplace is a vision that can be sustained as reality
                              through the involvement of each and every employee.
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