Chairman
Chairman
"In this world, there is nothing more precious and more powerful than man."
Chairman treasured and took loving care of the working people most and paid primary attention to providing them with good working conditions.
One day in April Juche 53(1964), he visited Kangye Youth Power Station that was on the threshold of completion.
He looked around the switchboard room of the power station.
Looking over the switchboards one by one where lots of meters were attached, he looked at an automatic recording meter and asked why it was not working.
Having been told by the watchkeeper that it had stopped working because it had run out of ink, he said nothing for a while and asked what the temperature of the switchboard room was.
At that time the indoor temperature of the switchboard room was much higher than the normal indoor temperature. That was not only because of the heat from the switchboard itself but also because the switchboard room was above the adjacent generator room so that the heated air permeated to the switchboard room.
After listening to the watchkeeper's answer about this situation, he said that ink did not run out but dried away because of high indoor temperature and asked about the ventilator.
The watchkeeper said that there was a ventilator but its capacity was not big enough.
The official thought that Chairman was worried about the malfunctioning of the meter at the stage of a trial run and said that the meter would work, if it was refilled.
Then Chairman said that the malfunctioning of the meter was a problem, but what mattered more was that the workers had been working in such a high temperature. He instructed to adjust the indoor temperature of the workplace by increasing the capacity of the ventilator and said that there was no point in producing a lot of electricity by harming workers' health.
He came closer to the switchboard, moved back to the rear and came closer again as if he assessed something.
After a while, Chairman pointed at the lamp from the ceiling and asked if the light was too dark.
The watchkeeper replied that there was no problem in working in that situation as he was used to it.
Chairman said that since he was doing mental labor, he would be unable to keep concentrated if the room was not bright enough adding that trying to save even 1kW of electricity in the power plant producing electricity was commendable, but if he worked all day under such dim light, he would easily feel tired and also his eyesight would get worse. He instructed to make the room brighter by increasing the wattage of electric bulbs and making a good harmony of the colors of the walls, the floor and the equipment.
As if he did not feel assured even then, Chairman earnestly instructed the officials to take good care of the health and working conditions of the workers.
He said that electricity was demanded everywhere then, but there was no need to produce a lot of electricity while harming workers' health, emphasizing that however important electricity was, the health of the workers was much more important.
When Chairman came out of the switchboard room, the workers on duty were going up the spiral staircase. He asked the attendant official how many times they went up and down the staircase a day.
The official answered they did at least ten times.
Chairman asked him if the workers liked that staircase and said that although the staircase had been designed fancifully to suit the modern power plant, the designer did not care about the inconvenience of the workers but only focused on making it look charming. And he continued that anyone would feel dizzy when going up and down this high spiral stairs round and round and expressed deep concern how tired the workers would be those who had to go up and down the stairs several times a day. He said that no matter how good facilities, equipment and machines might look and however unique the style might be, when they caused inconvenience to the workers who used them, they were worthless. He stressed that the convenience of workers is the yardstick for determining what is good or bad.
Chairman asked if there were any other ordinary channels that led up to the switchboard room except the spiral staircase. Being replied by the official that there was an ordinary staircase leading up to the back of switchboard room, he recommended that they had to use the spiral staircase only as an emergency route and to wrap the safety grip thickly so as to let people go up and down the stairs safely.
Indeed, Chairman
