REFERENCES.
[1], [2] S. King Alcock, B. M. Bond, A. Scott, and others, in discussion on the Value of Systematic Examination of Workers in Dangerous Trades. Brit. Med. Journ., vol. ii., pp. 741-749, 1902.
[3] King Alcock: The Early Diagnosis of Industrial Lead Poisoning. Paper contributed to the Second International Congress for the Study of Industrial Diseases held at Brussels, 1910.
CHAPTER XIV
PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST LEAD POISONING—Continued
Overalls and Head Coverings.
—Stress has been laid on the wearing of overalls and head coverings in processes giving rise to dust or to splashes of glaze or paint in special rules and regulations in the past. With the improvement that has taken place in exhaust ventilation, they have become less important. Indeed, the aim of all manufacturers and ventilating engineers should be to render processes so free of dust as to make them altogether unnecessary. Increasing knowledge of the insidious manner in which lead dust can arise has shown that from this point of view overalls of the cotton or linen material ordinarily worn constitute a real source of danger. Splashes of glaze dry on them, and at every movement involving rubbing of the surface dust is generated. Some operations almost oblige the worker to press the article worked upon against the chest, so that chance of inhalation of dust from this source alone is considerable. Taking them off creates dust, and after this is done a reprehensible practice exists of either shaking or beating them against a post. In large factories they are usually washed on the premises, and the water in which this is done will become a solution containing some lead in suspension. Hence, even when washed and dried ready for wear, overalls may not be quite free of lead. Apart from the general obligation recognized that an employer should provide and maintain everything necessary to guard against danger contracted in his factory, we think that the risk run by a worker in taking the overall home and washing it there is negligible, and offers advantages in the ultimate cleanliness of the overall over washing on factory premises. Laundresses shaking overalls prior to washing them have been known to contract plumbism.
Where work with the arms is incessant, as in the heading of yarn, overalls are burdensome, and for this reason and the fact that with efficient exhaust ventilation there should be practically no dangerous dust, the regulations for the heading of yarn enjoin provision of them only on written certificate of the Chief Inspector of Factories.
Protection for the clothing, however, where splashing is incidental to the operations, cannot be dispensed with. Hence either the overalls themselves or the front of them should be made of some light ventilated waterproof material, or a waterproof apron worn over overalls of the kind at present in use. Daily sponging would then take the place of washing.
If lead dust be visible on the hair of workers, there must be a defect in the conditions of work to be rectified by other means than cumbering the head. In our opinion, head coverings ought never to be necessary. We cannot think that an attack of plumbism can ever be precipitated by the amount of lead dust inhaled on brushing the hair.
A common provision in regulations for overalls is:
“Overalls shall be provided for all persons employed in lead processes, and shall be washed or renewed every week.
“The occupier shall provide and maintain for the use of all persons employed in lead processes—(a) A cloakroom or other suitable place in which such persons can deposit clothing put off during working hours, and separate and suitable arrangements for the storage of overalls required by regulation; (b) a dining-room, unless all workers leave the factory during meal-hours.
“All persons employed in lead processes shall wear the overalls provided ... and shall deposit such overalls and any clothing put off during working hours in the places provided under the regulations. The overalls shall not be removed by persons employed from the factory or workshop.”
General sense of propriety—and it is on this ground, and not from danger attaching to non-observance, that we press it—suggests that overalls should be kept apart from working clothes, and preferably outside any room in which a lead process is carried on. So long as actual contact between the two sets of garments is prohibited, we do not see objection to the same cloakroom sufficing for both. The best arrangement that we have seen is a room in which each worker has two lockers—one for the storage of overalls, and the other for clothing put off during working hours. This presupposes supervision and effective discipline. We think that all reasonable need in the provision to be made is met by numbered pegs on one side of the room or wide passage for clothing, and on the other pegs correspondingly numbered for the overalls. Means for heating and drying the clothes should not be overlooked (see [Fig. 8]).
Fig. 8 shows a good arrangement in a white-lead factory, by which, as is best, cloakroom, meal-room, and washing and bath accommodation, are all under one roof. The men on entering hang up their clothes in the private clothes lobby, and pass through the swinging doors to the lobby where the overalls are hung. On leaving the factory and at midday they enter by the door leading into the lobby for storing overalls, and from that pass to the lavatory and bathroom. Having washed and put on their ordinary clothes, they enter the meal-room. The building throughout is lined with white glazed bricks.
Fig. 8a.—Well Lighted Mess-Room in a Smelting Works.
Meal-Room Accommodation.
—Wherever lead processes are carried on the provision of a mess-room is called for in a part of the factory remote from possible contamination from lead dust. This we hold on general grounds of cleanliness and self-respect, and not because we think the eating of meals in rooms where lead is used would noticeably increase the number of cases. The more conveniently situated in relation to the workrooms the mess-room is, the more will it be used. Set out briefly, the requirements of a mess-room are that it should be—
1. Well ventilated, warmed, and lighted.
2. Not less than 10 feet high, and with floor-space ample for each person likely to occupy it at any one time.
3. Have walls the surface of which is smooth and impervious to a height of at least 4 feet from the ground.
4. Have pigeon-holes or other arrangement in which each person can deposit his food separate from that of others.
5. Have means of warming and cooking food.
6. Be kept properly clean and dry.
No part of a factory becomes so unsightly in the absence of daily cleaning as a mess-room, especially where provision has only to be made for five or six workers.
Reid[1] has suggested the following scale of floor-space per person in mess-rooms:
| 6 persons and under | 10 | ¹⁄₂ | square | feet per | person. | |||
| Over | 6 | and up to | 12 | 7 | ¹⁄₂ | „ | „ | „ |
| „ | 12 | „ | 20 | 6 | „ | „ | „ | |
| „ | 20 | „ | 28 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | „ | „ | „ |
| „ | 28 | and any number | 5 | „ | „ | „ | ||
In a factory well known to us for manufacture of white lead there is a restaurant originally started in connection with the sick club of the factory. For fivepence the workman obtains a hot meal of meat, bread, and vegetables. Any profits go to the sick fund. Since this has been started improvement in the physical condition of the men has been marked; several cases of anæmia and malnutrition have entirely cleared up. No workman, as has already been emphasized, should commence work in a lead factory unless he has had a good meal—that is, unless there is some food at least in the stomach—particularly albuminous food, such as milk, cocoa made with milk, or café au lait. The most suitable foods generally for lead-workers are those containing proteids—meat, eggs, milk, cheese, and fatty foods. Acids—vinegar, pickles, and the like—are especially to be avoided.
Section 75 (2) of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, requires that, where lead or other poisonous substance is used so as to give rise to dust or fumes, meal-room accommodation shall be provided. The question, as a rule, is easily decided, but there are border-line cases where doubt may arise, as, for example, in letterpress printing factories in regard to dust, and in soldering operations in regard to fume. Operations in the composing-room undoubtedly give rise to dust, and in stereotyping and casting the débris trodden underfoot causes dust to rise. In linotype rooms, however, in the present state of knowledge, a difficult burden of proof would rest on the person who sought to show that dust or fumes were present to such an extent as to justify action under the section. And the same view holds, in our opinion, in regard to soldering.
Lavatories.
—The usual requirement for this in nearly all regulations is:
The occupier should provide and maintain in good repair for all persons employed in lead processes—
(1) Suitable lavatory accommodation, including at least one lavatory basin for every five such persons, fitted with a waste pipe, or placed in a trough having a waste pipe, and having a constant supply of hot and cold water laid on; or alternatively troughs of enamel or similar smooth impervious material, fitted with waste pipes without plugs, and having a constant supply of warm water laid on, and affording a length of at least two feet of trough for every five such persons.
(2) Soap, nail-brushes, and a sufficient supply of clean towels, renewed daily.
Discipline, and responsibility placed on some one person to see to the cleanliness of the lavatory appliances and adequate supply of the necessary means for washing, can alone insure proper use of them by the persons employed. The workman has so narrow a margin of time in which to get his breakfast and dinner that he cannot be expected to wash if facilities for doing so fail. The alternative of an enamelled iron trough with jets of warmed water is in our experience much the most satisfactory installation where the number employed is more than five or six. Provision of soft soap or of soap in the form of powder, and nail-brushes nailed to the table, hinder peculation. Wooden stands for holding wash-basins present almost invariably a most uninviting appearance unless covered with sheet lead.
Well-equipped wash-hand basins with hot and cold water laid on close to the work-place are sometimes provided in addition to the lavatory proper. If looked after they are valued and used, but if not they become converted into receptacles for oddments.
Fig. 9.—Good Washing and Bath Accommodation in a Lead Smelting Works.
Fig. 10.—Washing Trough, Douche Baths, and Clothes Cupboards.
Type common on the Continent.
Roller towels should be at least 15 square feet in area for every three persons employed, and renewed daily.
The merits of soluble sulphides in “akremnin” soap have been advanced on the ground that the lead is converted into the insoluble black sulphide, which is thereby made visible to the eye, and the sight of which will, it is hoped, still further stimulate the desire to wash. Probably such lead as remains on the hands after well washing with soap is so closely adherent to the skin as to render risk of contamination of the food in this way negligible. Dr. Robertson, Chemist of the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey, has found that results as good as those to be obtained from use of akremnin soap (and without any discoloration of the skin) are obtained from use of a solution made up as follows: Sal ammoniac added to saturation to a solution containing 8·5 c.c. of commercial hydrochloric acid (specific gravity, 1·15) per 100 c.c. of water. The procedure adopted at Waltham Abbey is—(1) Usual washing with soap, water, and a nail-brush; (2) scrubbing with the special solution by means of a nail-brush dipped in it; (3) rinsing in water; and (4) washing with soap and water.
Sommerfeld[2], from his wide experience, considers that pumice-soap, with the addition of turpentine, is the best cleansing material lead-workers can use.
Baths.
—Provision of bath accommodation is required under the special rules for white-lead factories and the regulations for electric accumulators. In several factories, however, baths are provided for the use of the workers. They naturally make for improvement in general health, but we cannot regard provision of them, any more than cloakrooms and mess-rooms, as likely to influence materially incidence of lead poisoning in a factory. The three requisites of (1) convenience and quickness, (2) comfort, and (3) regular use, can best be secured by the use of shower baths in place of slipper baths. The advantage they have are—(1) Initial cost of installation is less; (2) economy in space; (3) economy in water; (4) economy in time required for bathing; (5) no worker comes into contact with water used by another; (6) cleansing must be from the head downwards. Danger of scalding can be absolutely excluded by use of valve levers, so placed in relation to one another that steam cannot be turned on until the cold-water valve has been opened, and the heater can be so arranged that the water is not raised above a definite temperature.
Separation of Processes.
—Lead processes should, as far as possible, be carried on in such a way that there is aerial disconnection of one process from another. Separate workrooms, although desirable unless very small, may not always be possible, but by exhaust ventilation processes may be arranged so that dust is not a source of danger to persons working elsewhere. Instances could be given where, in paint and colour works, persons employed in the grinding of earth colours, in which no lead entered, succumbed to attacks of plumbism from contiguity of the plant with that for grinding lead colours. Threading up of castor runners on a wire previous to dipping used to be done, prior to 1901, in the dipping-house itself, with the result that some severe cases of poisoning occurred. By the rules of 1901 the process was required to be done in a place separate from any place where dipping (or other scheduled process) was carried on, and very few cases have occurred since. And if exhaust ventilation is relied on, Duckering’s experiments ([p. 206]) show the attention to detail necessary to prevent air charged with lead dust being drawn to the spot by the fan. The need for separation of processes becomes less in proportion as the cubic space of the room increases, and dust and fumes are locally removed.
Age of Employment.
—The same considerations as have been stated above govern this point also. Wherever lead dust or fumes arise, whether exhaust ventilation is applied or not, persons of either sex under eighteen years of age are probably rather more susceptible to attack by reason of natural failure to appreciate the risk run. When periodical medical examination in addition to exhaust ventilation has been adopted, the age limit can safely be reduced to sixteen. Where handling only of metallic lead and ordinary soldering with an iron are done, risk of contracting plumbism is so remote that an age limit may be unnecessary.
Wall Surface.
—Wherever walls are likely to be splashed, as in dipping rooms and enamelling workshops, the inner surface of the walls should be of glazed bricks or tiles or enamelled plates, any of which help also in increasing the light necessary in such rooms. If, on account of the cost, such perfectly smooth material is impracticable, the walls should be painted with oil colour, which will enable them periodically to be wet-cleansed. Dusting the walls is to be deprecated. Hence accumulations of dust and débris on ledges, rafters, beams, roofs, etc., should, in our opinion, only very occasionally be cleaned down. We consider that the risk from one big cleaning down is less than that from repeated small ones. (See [p. 218]).
Floors.
—These should be smooth and impervious. Wood flooring can hardly be regarded as coming within this category; it is unsuitable where lead processes are carried on. Preference must be given to floors of concrete and the like material, which can be washed down easily rather than swept. Frequently the dust raised in sweeping the floor has determined an attack of lead poisoning. No objection can be raised to wooden grids and iron roll matting placed on the concrete floor for the workers to stand on. Cold feet and transference of lead dust by the boots are lessened by their use. Where traffic is heavy, as is often the case in lead works, vibration is set up with wooden floors, and dust disseminated. In smelting works cast-iron plates are serviceable as flooring.
Instruction of the Worker.
—Too much stress cannot be laid on this point. To insist upon it, however, is useless unless the occupier has installed the necessary exhaust ventilation, and equipped his factory with the other essentials for enabling the workman to guard against dust and free his hands of adhering lead, in whatever form. When this has been done, then the worker himself can do something.
Often he creates dust unnecessarily. In shovelling out of a cask with spade or trowel, in order to get out the last trace of the material to be transferred, he generally gives it a knock, which causes dust to fly so sharply as to escape the exhaust; or he removes the implement quickly from the exhaust, before it has been completely emptied and while dust is still being given off. He will use a brush to clean his bench in preference to cleaning it by a wet method. The printer may hold type between his teeth. Many workers bite their nails. Moustache and beard may be fingered, and because of this workers may even be advised to be clean-shaven. They may chew or smoke constantly while at work, and will frequently eat with unwashed hands.
Notices enjoining care and cleanliness may be, and often are, hung up in the workrooms, or a leaflet, such as the one here printed, is handed to the worker on his first examination by the surgeon. Nothing, however, can take the place of actual verbal instruction from occupier, foreman, and fellow-worker impressed with the importance of the matter.