Document 5D4Rgekqxv2GDnXz1megnvO5D

FILE NAME: National Safety Council (NSC) DATE: 1940 Oct DOC#: NSC200 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Excerpt - Transactions of the NSC - 29th National Safety Congress - Occupational Disease and Steam Railroad Section TRANSACTIONS 29th NATIONAL SAFETY CONGRESS GENERAL AND INDUSTRIAL SESSIONS CHICAGO OCTOBER 7-11, 1940 NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL, 20 North Wacker Drive, Chicago Copyright, 1940, National Safety Council, Inc. Printed in the U. S. A. IN C T HE Transactions-of the 29th National Safety Congress and Exposition of the National Safety Council, October 7-11, 19-10, arc published in two volumes. Volume I contains the General Sessions and the meetings of the various In dustrial Sections of the .Council. Volume II contains the Street and Highway Traffic,.-the Commercial Vehicle, the Transit, the Child Education and the Home Safety Sessions. Volume I is distributed automatically to all industrial mem bers of the Council. Volume If is sent to members who are believed to be interested chiefly in the sessions it contains. However, other members of the Council may obtain Volume II upon request. Many Council members have found it advantageous to dis tribute copies of the Transactions Volumes to the individual executives, foremen and supervisors of their organizations, who make use of the practical safety information the vol umes contain to organize accident prevention programs. The volumes contain a' vast amount of standard reference ma terial. Extra copies of the Transactions may be obtained as follows : Volume I, one to 10 copies at $2 each; 11 or more copies $1.75 each. Extra copies of Voltage IT may be had at 75 cents each. TH E Transactions are a condensed record of the proceed ings of the Congress. The papers and addresses and many of the discussions have been edited to delete extraneous matter, abbreviate the less important portions, and empha size those parts of particular usefulness in promoting effec tive safety organization and other accident prevention meas ures. The volumes are, therefore, a somewhat abridged ver sion, compact, practical, and of particular value to the stu dent, the supervisor and the executive in achieving more thorough accident prevention success. The original manu scripts are available for additional reference, if desired, in the files of the National Safety Council. T H E National Safety Council, at its Congresses, seeks to eliminate from discussion matters which are not pertinent to the aims of the Congress or which may be contrary to the Council's policies. However, it cannot accept responsibility for all the views expressed either in the papers presented ta in the discussions based upon these papers. NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL, Inc. 20 North Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois t) If" Contents Council Officers and D irecto rs....................................... 4 Council P u rposes and P rogram ....................................... 9 Annual M eeting o f M em bers.................. 11 Annual Banquet ......................................... 27 General Subject Sessions-- A gricultural S a f e t y ................................................... 29 B u ild in g M aintenance............................................... 47 E ye P r o te c tio n .......... ,............................................ 63 Fire Control and Prevention................................... 79 Fundam ental C auses of A ccid en ts......................... 91 Governmental S afe ty Service in In d u stry ............107 Health Service in In d u stry .........................................119 Industrial N u r s in g ............................ 129 M aintaining Interest in S a fe ty ................................ 151 O ccupational D isease ....................................... *6^ O ff-the-Job A ccidents .............................................. 183 Plant T ransportation . ........................................... .197 Psychology and Safety (E arly Morning; C lasses) ............................................... . . . . . . 2 0 9 Safety B e l t s .......................................................... .245 Safety S u p e r v is o r s ......................................................253 Safety T rain in g .................................................... '261 V isual E d u c a t io n .......... ........................... .277 Aeronautical S e c t io n ......................................... 285 A .S.S.E .-- E n gineering Section . . ................................. 301 Automotive and Machine Shop Sectio n ....................... 305 Cement and Q uarry S e ctio n ........ ..................................... 319 Chemical Section .............................................. 327 Construction Section ............................................ 353 Food S e c t io n ..................................................... 375 Marine S e c t io n .....................................................................397 Meat Packing, Tanning and Leather Industries Section .. ........................................................................... 427 M etals Section ....................................... 445 M ining Section ...................................................................... 497 Paper and Pulp S e ctio n ...................................................... 549 Petroleum S e c t io n ...............................................................591 Power P ress S e ctio n ........................................ 625 Public U tilities S e c tio n .....................................................635 R efrigeration S e c t io n .........................................................659 Rubber S e c t io n ................................................... 671 Steam Railroad S e ctio n .......................................................697 T extile S e c t io n ..................................................................... 723 Wood Products S e ctio n .......................................................739 Safety E xposition E x h ib ito rs.............................. 743 Index ............................................................................... 749 National Safety Council, Inc. H O N O R A R Y MEMBERS A ssociation- of I ron and S teed E ngineers Robert VV. C ampbell L ew R. P ai.mer OFFICERS (1940-1941) Col. J ohn S tilwem, President Med H. D earborn, Vice-President for Education I. W. M illard, Vice-President for Finance and Treasurer G. T. H eli.mutii, Asst. Vice-President for Finance and Asst. Treasurer Walter S. P aine, Vice-President for Industrial Safety Lew R. P almer, Vice-President for Community Councils and Public Relations A. Vi Roihveder, Vice-President for Home Safety R. T. S olensten, Vice-President for Membership L eslie J. S orenson, Vice-President for Public Safety W. H. C ameron, Managing Director and Secretary fc- EXECUTIVE COM M ITTEE (1940-1941) H. J. A ldrich, Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc. J. I. B anash, Past President H. K. B ennett, Safety Dept., Automobile Club o f Rhode Island C. W. B ergqltst, Past President H. W. B ocoess, Sinclair Prairie Oil Company H. E . B olt, South Bend Civic Safety Council C has. S.;Bowden, Public Utilities Section F. W. B raun, ASSE-Engitieering Section W. H. C ameron. National Safety Council, Inc. L. C. Campbell, 'The Koppcrs Coal Company Robert W. C ampbell, Past President D. B. C hant, Ontario Pulp & Paper Makers' Safety Association N f.d H. Dearborn, New Vork University L ewis A. D e B i.ois, Past President Marcus A. Dow, Past President H arold F. E ndows, The American National Red Cross Cadwallader E vans, J r., Mining Section D. D. F ennell, Past President H. J. Griffith, Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. E. E. G rover, Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Company H arry G il b e r t , The Pullman Company J ulien H. H arvey, Greater New York Safety Council G. T. H ellmuth, Chicago Rapid Transit Company 4 OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS, Continued H arold G. H offman, New Jersey Unemployment Compensation Com mission W alter G. K ing, Past President Wm. C. K noelk, Milwaukee Safety Commission J ohn E. L ong, Past President T hos. H. M acDonald, U. S. Public Roads Administration Robert A. M cA rthur, Public Service Coordinated Transport D r. M iller McC lintock, Yale University I. W. M illard, Industrial Gloves Company C has. A. M iller, Petroleum Section H arold L. M iner, E. I. du Pont do Nemours & Co. H on. E liot N ess, Director o f Public Safety, Cleveland E. J . O 'B rien, J r., Louisville Safety Council W alter S. P aine, Aetna Life & Affiliated Companies L ew R. P almer, Past President C. E. P ettibone, Past President G. H. P feif, General Electric Company A lbert S. R ecula, Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc. R. J. R eigeluth, Construction Section L t. Col. H enry A. R enincer, P ast President A. V. R ohweder, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway Company C harles B. S cott, Past President F rank T. S heets, Portland Cement Association ,, C aul L. S mith, Greater Cleveland Safety Council C. R. S mith, American Air Lines, Inc. R. T. S olensten, Elliott Service Company L eslie J. S orenson, Traffic Engineer, Chicago Col. J ohn S tilwell, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. J ohn M. S ylvester, Lehigh Valley Safety Council J. R. T enney, Steam Railroad Section C. P. T olman, Past President George G. T raver, Greater Chicago Safety Council V. I. T rotter, Automotive & Machine Shop Section D r. C. H. W atson, Past President* A. W. W hitney, National Conservation Bureau R. V. W right, Railway Age Magazine A rthur H. Y oung, Past President DIRECTORS (1940-1941) H. J . A ldrich, Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc. F rank E. A mes, Marine Section A. L . A rmstrong, Rochester, N. Y. . V ern W. A ubel, Safety Div., Syracuse Cfti.mber o f J. I. B anash, Past President D. A. B arrett, Camegie-Illinois Steel Corporation E rnest W. B eck, United States Rubber Company Commerce 5 OFFICERS A N D DIRECTORS, Continued fl. K. B ennett, Safety Dept., Automobile Club o f Rhode Island C. \V. B krcquist, Past President E. F. B lank, Jones & Laugldin Steel Corporation If. W. B occkss, Sinclair Prairie Oil-Company 0 . C. S oileau, Wood Products Section H. E . Bolt, South Bend Civic Safety Council C. B. Boulet, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation Chas. S. B owden, Public Utilities Section F. W. B raun, ASSE-Engincering Section I rvin A. B rinkman, Metals Section J oseph A. B kopiiv, Elizabeth Safety Council F. S. B rown, Standard Accident Insurance Company W. H. C ameron, National Safety Council, Inc. L. C. C ampbell, The Kopppers Coal Company Robert W. Campbell, Past President Raymond A. C arey, Evanston Safety Council R ay Carney, Kenosha Safety Council Robert I. C ati.in, Aetna Casualty & Surety Company D. B. C hant, Paper & Pulp Section D ean M. C lark, Food Section Wm. M. C lark, St. Joseph Safety Council E dward L. Cook, Rochester Safety Council J . E. C ullinev, Bethlehem Steel Company fe N ed H. D earborn, New York University L favis A. D e Blois, Past President C. W. D empesy, Tiic Liquid Carbonic Corporation R. A . D ittmau, Cement & Quarry Section M ilton* W. Dorkzknsky, East Bay Safety Council C. R. D ooley, Soconv Vacuum Oil Company, Inc. J ames *B. Douglas, The Philadelphia Gas Works Company M arcus A. Dow, Past President R alph W. E llis, J r., Springfield Safety Council & Hampden County Safety Council H arold F. E nlows, The American National Red Cross C adwallader E vans, J r., Mining Section D. D. F ennell, Past President D r. H art E. F isher, Chicago Rapid Transit Company E dmund F itzgerald, Safety Div., Milwaukee Association of Com merce V ictor B. F itzpatrick, Richmond Safety Council H oward B. F onda, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. (U .S.A .) Inc. A rthur C. F rey, Worcester Safety Council L yle H. G ift, Peoria Association o f Commerce Safety Council R andolph L. G ilman, Rahway Safety Council H enry J. Gorman, Blackstone Valley Safety Council W. A. G riffin, American Telephone & Telegraph Company H. J. G riffith, Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation E. E. Grover, Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Company H arry G uilbert, The Pullman Company D. T. H arrington, U. S. Bureau of Mines 6 OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS/ Continued F rank H. H arrison, International Harvester Company J ulien H. H arvey, Greater New York Safety Council G. T. H ei.i.mutii, Chicago Rapid Transit Company J. C. H erbert, Greater Los Angeles Safety Council H arold G. H offman, New Jersey Unemployment Compensation t \n mission J. A ndrew H olley, Child Education Section O liver H opkins, Rubber Section S. B. H orrei.l, The Carey Salt Company M errick J ackson, Employees' Publication Section W. F loyd J ackson, Delaware Safety Council Wm. F. J ames, Philadelphia Safety Council J asper B, J ohnson, Madison County Safety Council T homas P. K earns, Industrial Commission of Ohio H. H. K elly, U. S. Interstate Commerce Commission W alter G. K ino, Past President W m. C. K noelk, Milwaukee Safety Commission Wm. S. K nudskn, Detroit Industrial Safety Council C. L. L a F ountaine, Great Northern Railway Company Roy L ee, Contra Costa County Safety Council A rnold L ockekby, Grand Rapids Safety Council J ohn E. L ong, Past President J. W. L ord, Commercial Vehicle Section T hos. H. M acD onald, U. S. Public Roads Administration H on. A rthur W. M agf.e, Commissioner o f Motor Vehicles, Ne Jersey j Roy S. M arshall, Seattle Traffic & Safety Council R. A. M cA rthur, Public Service Coordinated Transport i H. N. McC lellan, Berkeley Traffic Safety Commission, Ltd. D r. M iller M cC i.intock, Yale University D avid L. M illar, St. Louis Safety Council l. W. M illard, Industrial Gloves Company C has. A. M iller, Petroleum Section H arold L. M iner, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company R. B. Morley, Industrial Accident Prevention Associations C. L. M urray, Mason City-Cerro Gordo County Safety Council G en. D aniel N eedham, Massachusetts Safety Council M. C. N elson, Des Moines Safety Council H on. E liot N ess, Director o f Public Safety, Cleveland F rank S. N ewell, Toledo Safety Council E. J. O' B rien, J r., Louisville Safety Council G eorge C. A. O pp, The Detroit Edison Company W alter S. P aine, Aetna L ife & Affiliated Companies L ew R. P almer, Past President D avid A. P atton, Newark Safety Council V. G. P endleton, Power Press Section C. E. P ettibone, Past President G. H. P feif, General Electric Company J udge H arry H. P orter, Street & Highway Traffic Section A. A. R ai.l, Refrigeration Section 7 OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS,. Continued A lbert S. Rkgula, Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc. R. J. Keigeluth, Construction Section L t. Col. H enry A. R eninger, Past President J A. V. Rohwkdek, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway Company H enry G. S chaffner, Meat Packing, Tanning & Leather Industries Section C hart.es B. S cott, Past President E arl S. S hartzer, Utica Safety Council F rank T. S heets, Portland Cement Association J ohn R. S herwood, Baltimore Safety Council Dr. L. A. S houdy, Bethlehem Steel Company E rnest L. S imonds, New Haven Safety Council A dolph S kinner, Safety Dept., Nashville Chamber o f Commerce Carl L. S mith, Greater Cleveland Safety Council C. R. S mith, American Air Lines, Inc. A rthur V. S nell. Chattanooga Safety Council R. T. S olknstkn, Elliott Service Company L eslie J . S orenson, Traffic Engineer, Chicago J ohn B. S pence, Kansas City Safety Council k E. C. S pring, Philadelphia, Pa. Col. J ohn S th/well, Consolidated Edison Company of N. Y., Inc. E dmund C. S tone, Western Pennsylvania Safety Council J ohn M. S ylvester, Lehigh Valley Safety Council J. R. T f.nnky, Steam Railroad Section Arthur M. T ode, Consulting Engineer C. I' . T olman, Past President G eorge G. T r.wek, Greater Chicago Safety Council V. 1. T rotter, Automotive & Machine Shop Section Wilfred E. V ogi.kr, Albany Safety Council Du. li. L. Vosiuirgh, General Electric Company J. C. W ard, Superior & Douglas County Safety Council S tanley W arzai.a, Chemical Section Dr. C. H. W atson, Past President W. li. W eaver, Textile Section T. A nglin W hite, Safety Div., Birmingham Chamber of Commerce S. E. W hiting, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company A. W. W hitney, National Conservation Bureau R. V. W right, Railway Age Magazine A rthur H. Y oung, Past President E. J. Zauft, Safely Bureau, Duluth Chamber of Commerce The profit, tive i achieve the fol 1. C will tr> are cor dents a ing pr and ec don't " definite dents r ment fore, is of the' 2. r causes in any are no Every school ganiza of acc vendor the tb 3. 1/ pie rt. which Therefr the r; public influent driver school pends way i from isfactii omy. 4. I accidcn The r C . i Ht V' i f >'} i ^ 4 . \c i `iA- ,, , ..Jp , / : : . > V * `. v V' I ? u K ' 'T i l '.< i . , , - / -ji * j a . r - f n ; - i j . i . ; - , ' r - ti ;> * \ < ' v . v s p v rvu</f * *\> %: -, v * iCL lb, you h a\f .taken a big that man's mind, is necessary for me to i^it worry certainly plays t in accidents. I am not ' many accidents those nad if we had not taken mcial difficulties. But 1 did a job for them but r our safety program at 1 getting rid of their redit union is almost an nr safety program, hospitalization and sick' out in about the same .. man working in your \v rate job, he is not al of money and has a rsponsibilities. H is doc'i are going to have to ..iken out." The doctor's r to be $25, $50 or pos'ie is going to have to o weeks, and there will '! pay there. That is a at during the time be is receive a definite sickknows he is going to "ii benefit, he is a lot lling to go ahead and n out; and, again, he elf a favor and you a his physical condition, f them do play a part n'ety program. "'V E R : Ladies and Geninterest thh morn- -n'.Ucicnt satisfaction to panel that the. Chairthan to turn to them a behalf of the ProV are glad that there not more discussion nm this panel, hat a good part of the mg will be published Occupational Disease W EDNESDAY MORNING SESSIO N October 9, 1940 The meeting on Occupational Disease, planned as a Panel Discussion, was called to order by the Chairman, Walter S. Paine, Manager, Engineering Department, Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, Hartford, Conn., who presided. Panel Discussion CHAIRM AN P A IN E : At every meeting that I have attended in this Congress some one has raised the question of industrial dis ease. This, is a subject which has been maligned in some cases and has been a fan tasy on the part of others. This, however, should not in any way destroy the realities that are back of the industrial disease prob lem. In the discussion of this broad problem, we have asked the medical profession and the law to help us this morning. Each phase of the problem will be discussed on an or derly basis. We have assigned as the first speaker for each of these subjects one of the men on this platform. After lie lias finished his preamble, we will ask the members on the floor to present any question they m ay. have on the subject. We have the following subjects to be dis cussed: " Health Hazards in Spray Paint ing." Dr. Eugene Walsh, Associate Super visor of Medical Service, International H am ster Company, Chicago, will open this subject. "Fatigue and Its Relation to Occupational Disease." This subject will be taken up by Dr. Norbert Enzcr, Director of Labora tories, Mount Sinai Hospital, Milwaukee. "The Toxic Limits of Common Solvents." This subject will be opened up by Dr. Elston L. Belknap, of Milwaukee. "Lead in Industrial Processes." Dr. Bel knap will also handle this subject* "Skin Affections." This will be handled by Dr. M . J. Reuter, Dermatologist and Svphilologist, of Milwaukee, Wis. The last, but one of the most important, will be " Should Occupational Diseases Be Considered as Industrial Injuries?" This will be handled by H. A. Nelson, Director of Workmen's Compensation Department, Wisconsin Industrial Commission of Mad ison. We till regret that severe illness keeps Dr. Paul Brehm, Supervisor of Industrial Hygiene Unit of Wisconsin State Board of Health at Madison, from being present. The pane! will be opened on " Health Hazards in Spray Painting." Dr. Walsh. Spray Painting DR. EU G EN E W A L SH : Painting is a topic that has received considerable atten tion. There has been an increasing number of hazards imported into the trade. Most of these have received wide attention, par ticularly in the past few years. It has been incident to the wide use of the spray gun and of the lacquers, particularly. Many of the solvents and products used in the paint industry have known toxicities. Others arc in the experimental stage, so far as use and so far as their hazards to health are con cerned. In the old days of brush or dip or llou painting, still widely used, solvents of rather low volatility were employed, and the haz ards associated therewith were not as great. However, when we come to the spray gun, particularly in its use in the recently devel oped lacquers, we come into a host of new solvents. The quantities used per year in lacquers and solvents in the paint industry in the United Slates reach astronomical propor tions. Many, many tons arc used. 165 29th National Safety Congress it- paints we have the following haz-: first, the pigments. There has been a wing trend definitely away from leadring pigments toward non-lead pigments. :iy of the non-lead pigments have their nliar hazards. Many of them arc relaly innocuous and can be used with rclaiiniimnity. n far as the fluid constituents of paint' concerned, in the order of volatility in ral. wc have, first, the solvents which largely, for paints; the paraffins, oils varnish; varnish with some turpentine n:ic spirits o i various and sundry types, lower the volatility, of rourse, if it is sic product, the greater the toxicity. it ordinary paints and lacqners can he iderod together because the problem of solvents, largely, is what wc wish to with. The solvents used are relatively boiling products winch volatilize readsuch as acetone, ethyl acetate, butyl te, amyl acetate, and so forth. xt, the paint must have a diluent. In dinary paints--oils, turpentine or spirits he used, fn the lacquers--alcohol, I. xylol, mineral spirits have been used, c past, benzol was used. W e'are glad y that there is a growing trend away' the use o f benzol, which has cumulaclions in the human individual, resultt the low grade chronic toxicities due epression of the Mood-forming organs, is a definite trend toward less toxic ts. next essential part of the lacquers iuthe driers, such as ethyl lactate or >Ivc, monomethyl ethers and various chemical products o f known and tintoxicities. Also, there must he a er or a substance giving flow to the , These are relatively high-hoiting lowty products, triphenylphospliate, cascamphor and others, again of known known toxicity. toxicities of the various individual ts are often known. It is not the ' of the pure product, however, that often concerned with. It is the prodich is used commercially. It is often mrilies in minute quantities (hat add toxicity. For example, we may say , in the case of xylol, some question ts inherent toxicity. However, since is so frequently a contaminant, we some benzol toxicity to he consid ered when xylol is used. .A I-'.. when we hav;e two substances which are used to make a paint or facquer fluid, its toxicity, result ing from the combination of the two sub stances is not usually that of a summation of the individual toxicities of the two. That is, if we have two products (A and H), A of one-plus toxicity, if we wish to use that terminology, and II of one-plus toxicity, tve may get a resulting toxicity of three-plus, or something o f that nature--just to use an arbitrary form. The methods of control are; First, the substitution of non-toxic products such as we mentioned in getting away from lead hearing pigments in paints. Wc are fortunate to have alert chemists in the paint industry who arc alive to this problem. They are constantly striving and working with the in dustrial hygienists and the physicians in de veloping non-toxic products, so far as both pigments and solvents arc concerned. Another factor that has been considered and is o f importance today in reducing toxicity is the mechanical development of the spray gun. Many years ago, in its in fancy, no precautions were token. The en gineers weren't particularly interested in it. A man would spray with one or another, spreading the toxic substances about. Today, however, with the development of lower pressure spray guns, with the development of engineering methods of control of vapors and fumes and dusts incident to the process, we have less toxicity. If an individual corporation is alert in ob serving and controlling the hazards present, very little toxicity need be encountered in most processes. This includes, of course, the precautionary methods for the individual, when I speak of the industrial hygienist and the engineer's phase of the problem. If an individual is working in a place where en gineering methods are not feasible to control the vapors and toxic products, then the in dividual must have his respiratory protec tion to prevent inhalation. Most of the solvents which arc used have a narcotic action, and their action is hv way of ab sorption through the respiratory tract. T ak ing away the fumes is the way of control. I have very briefly outlined some of the major points. Do you choose to pursue this question ? C H A IRM A N P A IN E : Ihseussion wilt be carried on from the floor and also From Occupational Disease 167 > <i'- the viewpoint o f the panel. May we proceed on this subject, namely health hazards in spray painting? ED W A RD S M IT H (Jewell Alloy & Malleable Co., Buffalo, N. Y .) : No mention was made about spraying whitewash. DR. W A L S H : Spraying with whitewash is a common procedure. As whitewash is largely calcium, it is a relatively innocuous substance. It is irritating to the respiratory tree and may be followed by a chronic cough. Not infrequently there are contam inants in whitewash which may have toxic products in them but, ordinarily, white washing is a matter that is done today, next week, and perhaps a month hence. It isn't done in most industries day after day. The exposure is relatively infrequent and the hazards are not great. Likewise, most of the whitewashing pro cedures are done in large, open, airy rooms. That isn't true o f some tunnels, of course. If it is done in closed rooms, tunnels and places with poor aeration, it is advisable, if the process is to consume any length of time, to have the individual protected in some maimer. Ju st a simple draft of air or a mechanical dust type respirator probably would be usable if the exposure is to be of any length o f time. X -R ay Examinations DR. R O B ER T M. B U R N S (Minnesota State Medical Assn., St. Paul, Minn.): Are there methods by x-ray examination from time to time or from year to year that will show progress of bronchial trouble as a re sult of these paint inhalations? DR. W A L S H : There are those that would answer your question in the affirma tive. Most roentgenologists, however, rather scoff at the idea of making a diagnosis of bronchiectasis by x-ray. The shadows which wc see in the x-ray are largely those of the blood vessels and fibrous structures of the lung. It is true, however, if an individual is using some paints ^vhich bear silica--and one paint that I did not mention is that used in the porcelain industry, silica-bearing paint--that is another problem. If you are using a silica-bearing paint, you will get the characteristic changes o f silicosis. However, for the ordinary pigment, so little is absorbed, so few of them produce progressive changes in the lung, they rarely show on the x-ray. Most of them arc , stopped by the mechanical aids in the nose and upper respiratory tract, that is the hairs, the cilia on the lining o f the respiratory tract and, as such, are coughed up, rather than persisting in the respiratory tract. However, if one is using paints over a long period of time, it is conceivable that a chronic bronchitis might result. However, here one is on thin ice. There arc many other factors incident to the causation of chronic bronchitis that are equally as, or more, important than the products used in the paints, either the pigments or the sol vents. MR. CARR (Eastman-Kodak Company): In spray painting in rooms, using lead-free gasoline as a solvent, we have noticed as much as 450 parts per million of aromatics, and we find that many lead-free gasolines now sold contain a large proportion of ben zol, xylol and toluol. I wonder if much at tention has been given to that fact? DR. W A L S H : That is a problem, it is true. Certain fields of oil, particularly those bearing the naphthionic acid oils do, in their cracking processes, result in benzol in con siderable portions, in some instances, in the gasplinc. The straight paraffin oils may re sult in some benzol but not so much. It is a factor to be considered. It depends largely upon the amount of benzol present. In some instances it has been said to run as high as 10; per cent in certain gasolines. That is not ushally true. There is one factor to be considered in gasolines, and that is the difference between benzol, which is the ring-structure and ben zene, which is a straight hydrocarbon, and relatively innocuous. It has some toxic prop erties, but they are transitory, largely. Benzol has developed a chronic toxicity. This particular subject is receiving attention now, but very little has been produced to indicate that benzol is a definite toxic agent in the gasolines produced. But if the aro matics were up to about 450 parts per mil lion, you certainly are on the borderline of toxicity. I think it should be reduced, if it is at all possible, by ordinary methods. At least the men should be watched very care fully for blood changes, so far as benzol exposure is concerned. MR. C A R R : In that connection, it has been necessary for us to go to a respira- 29th National Safely Congress v protection of the supplied air type, sup<1 also with a charcoal canister at the i`s waist, so that when he breaks the ruction temporarily to ro back in the m, he still has the protection of the char* ! canister. The connection, when broken, matically shuts off both the air supply also the air connection, so that lie canbreathe the room air. 1R. W AI.SH : That certainly is a fine itigemcrit. R. A LICE HAM ILTON (Division of or Standards, U. S. Department of or, Washington. D. C.) : In the Division Labor Standards in Washington some or three years ago, when I was visitautomobile plants, I was told they were mg a change in their coatings. I wonder her that has proved to be true? They me they were substituting synthetic is for nitrocellulose and as a solvent using hydrogenated petroleum prodwhich had very low volatility, ft ed as it that were going to be a revoi in coating in automobile factories. I d like very much to know whether that re has been made. AIRMAN P A IN E : Can anyone anthe question of Dr. Hamilton ?- . W A L SH : f would like to say to Dr. lton concerning the substitution of :tic resins for nitrocellulose products e automotive industry particularly, of us receive all of our information ning the newer development of hazrom no person other than Alice Hamlf anyone in the room can answer the >n, I am sure that she can. She beau- reviewed the, entire literature in a tion that she produced in 1936 called t Changes in the Painter's Trade" is Bulletin No. 7 of the U. S. De nt of Labor. It is a beautiful presenand it is worth while for any of you ed in the paint industry to read it. trning the question at hand, I know articular changes at the moment that en instituted in the industries that I en acquainted with. I do know that ings arc in progress. As Dr. Hamigests, I think that they are changes iglit direction, in many instances. \. L. BR O O K S (Fisher Body DiIcneral Motors Corp.) : We do quite spraj' painting. I believe there has radical change in the solvents and diluents used in the lacquers which we are now employing; The process is very much the same. There lias been some change in the length of time required to dry these lacquers, but the constituents are the same as they were. W, H. K R A U S E (Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Company, West Allis, W is.): There have been recent changes in regard to the diluents used in paint. Qbite a few of the largei oil companies are now producing hydrogenated naphtha. These do contain considerable quantities of benzol and toluol. I wonder if there bad been any experiments made with regard to the toxicities? Benzol Frowned Upon DR. W A L S H : I should have mentioned, when we were speaking of toxicities of sol vents, that the medical profession frowns upon the use of benzol as a solvent or di luent in any proportion. We just don't like benzol, regardless of its percentage, because it is so easy to get out of hand, and the chronic effects of its poisoning conic on so slowly and so innocuously, they creep up on you before you know it. It requires rather close observation wherever There is any benzol or toluol. So far as the hydrogenated naphthas are concerned, it has been said that the hydro genation does not change the chemical struc ture of the naphtha, and it docs not increase, particularly, its toxicity. If it is in relatively large quantities, 400 to 300 parts per million, then there is the problem of the toxicities inherent to the hydrogenated naphtha itself. But we would much prefer not to see, ben zol at all. CH AIRM AN P A IN E : Dr. Hamdton, did you wish to say anything else on the sub ject ? DR. H A M ILTO N : I think not. My study of the subject is four years old. I thought perhaps very important things had conic to light since then. Apparently benzol is still a lurking danger which arises in all sorts of unexpected ways, especially as we use more cracked gasoline than we did before. I quite agree that it is something that should he avoided. ' We always advise the substitution of toluol, when possible, for benzol, but I don't think any industrial physician would he will ing to give a clean bill of health to toluol. S3 Occupational Disease . i L 1W We are beginning to look upon it with more Mispiciun. I )r. Gammon of the ihi Pont Company believes it is much more harmful than wc have thought hitherto. I hope he will, as the years go on, accumulate more accurate knowledge about it so that we may perhaps encourage its disuse, also. I think that probably would be in the right direc tion. \fK . (ili.MMAR (Barrett Company): 1 would like to offer one minor observation. Commercial toluol, as sold in this country, does not contain any measurable amount of benzol. CHAIN.MAN P A IN E : We will have to pass on to the next subject: "Fatigue and Its Relation to Occupational Disease." This sub ject will be opened by Dr. Norbert Enzer, Director of Laboratories, Mount Sinai Hos pital. Milwaukee. Fatigue and Occupational D isease DR. N O R BE R T E N Z E R : At ten-thirty in the morning I generally have a very low level of activity and suffer from fatigue. Fatigue is a state of bodily ill health, of transient character. It is evanescent, as we understand it and as the term is commonly used but. so far as industry is concerned, fatigue is that state o f the individual at work which makes it impossible for him to perform what may he considered an average good output. It is characterized by certain symptoms. It is characterized under ideal conditions of investigation by certain objective findings which T will elaborate in a moment. In the strictest sense of the term, I sup pose an occupational disease is that condition which can be directly traced to some agent or circumstance in employment which can he labeled as the causative factor of the d is- * ease. But as our horizon widens and our concept of disease becomes broader, and as we interpret the word "disease" as it was originally used in the Greek sense, a state of variation from health, or dis-ease, then we must regard an occupational disease as any state of ill health which has been contrib uted to by circumstances of employment. Under that definition there is hardly a disease which, under some imaginable state of affairs, couldn't be related to what the man is doing. Those arc the two extreme "occupational viisease. Now, any disease will produce fatigue. It is almost synonymous that disease limits the output or the capacity for work o f the in dividual who has been affected. What wc. must recognize today is that fatigue may also constitute a stale of disease. In other words, that wc recognize fatigue as a func tional disorder, which must be treated, which must be recognized anti corrected, and its causes eliminated. The mechanism of fatigue is grounded in a very complex explanation which is not yet clear, and probably won't be clarified until a great deal of investigative work has been done. But in the past few years a con siderable amount of investigation has been done, most notably at the H arvard School of Industrial Hygiene under Dr. D ill; and in Europe, up to recent times, a great deal of work has been done, particularly in Ger many and latterly in R ussia; the object be ing, in the European investigations, to find out what circumstances o f employment con tributed to fatigue, to correct those cir cumstances o f ' employment to prevent fa tigue and, hence, to increase the output of the individual ' in terms of his occupation, without sacrificing any quality of his health. Now, the thing that we lack at present, so far as its applicability to the practice of industrial medicine is concerned, is a yard stick of fatigue. A number o f investigations are going on in that direction, and I think before long something will come of it. Broadly speaking, two main channels o f investigation are being carried on. One is a state of fatigue relative to the muscular capacity of the individual. In other words, we relate muscle strength to the load. The other is a form of fatigue which I think is going to be more important as time goes on, and is related to the nervous system. That arises out of the fact that fatigue is pro duced by agencies which impair the ability of the brain to send impulses to the peripheral muscles so that work may he performed. Now, monotony of work may be the greatest contributor to fatigue. I use that as an illustration. For example, we found out, in one small investigation, that individuals employed at work which called for dexterity and nimblencss and a high degree of mental alertness fatigued in less than a twenty- 29th National Safety Congress -hour period. In other words, if a cerstandard of measurement was applied e morning before work began, the same lard applied at the end of the day, we 1 demonstrate in almost all individuals sted that they had experienced fatigue, that that experience was definitely rc, to the ability of their nervous system ogulate their muscular activity in co nation. >w, in jobs which call for a stationary ion, manipulation of instruments, or tony of exercise, that kind of fatigue he recognized by the industrial physi- ic occupational disease, conversely, may ucc a fatigue which may not be recog1 unless the individuals arc subjected to al examination. For example, we have 1 that individuals with a mild type of rtensiou, increased blood pressure, have any instances a lower fatigue threshold individuals whose blood pressures are al. Or an enlarged heart, due to valvuiscase, a leaky valve, will produce the phenomenon; or individuals with diaor individuals that have a low basal Hjlic rate, because of a thyroid gland rbance, or individuals who are abally obese will all show variations in fatigue thresholds. e only way that aspect of the subject iroperly he investigated is to approach in the medical point of view first, Exition of the individual becomes the imat tiling. It is important to apply crittandards of evaluation, then to attempt rect them by medical program. : industrial factor of fatigue, which l oiled first, calls for a recognition that t kinds of work can produce fatigue, ien to apply methods which will relieve ant to illustrate just two; ve- recognize that a certain occupation res fatigue, we have discovered things will relieve the fatigue. .A man whose ills for standing at a bench, in more s one posilion, doing tlte same job nd over again, will have fatigue which : relieved if lie can periodically sit because his oxygen consumption in ting position is greatly reduced over mding position, and he performs virIess work within himself. Consc- he has available greater reserves of for his performance. It has been pointed out, and we have been able to show in some small investigations, that if it could be arranged that this job could be done in the sitting position, the output would be increased and the individ ual would suffer less fatigue. It has been shown that, in jobs which call for a to-and-fro movement between more or less fixed positions, without much opportunity to rest, if the period is broken hourly or at hour and one-half intervals, arid simple freedom o f motion allowed to get out of the range of what lie was doing, rest is instituted and fatigue is relieved. We have been able to show that the appli cation of bathing, in certain kinds of indus tries, will produce a diminution of fatigue and raise the capacity of the individual to resist his industry or his job. Those are some of the features of the occupational aspects of disease, or the industrial aspect of fatigue, rather. With that casual intro duction we can go on and attempt to answer some questions. T ests of Fatigtfc CH A IRM A N P A IN E ; Are there any questions from the floor? This is an inter esting subject. DR. W A L S H ; I should like (o ask a question in relation to various tests of fa tigue. The psychologists have all had people putting round pegs in square holes and all that sort of thing, rapidity of processes. That is one method that is not my concept of the way to measure fatigue, but it brings up one point; namely, the relation of fatigue to the mental status of the individual. Again, tile psychological yardstick may be applied. What is the relationship of the in telligence quotient of the individual to fa tigue? Does the person using his mind in his work fatigue move readily than one do ing physical activity in which no mental e f fort is required? DR. E N Z E R : I f I may restate the ques tion, I think Dr. Walsh really wants to find out whether individuals of low I.Q., so to speak, experience the same phenomenon of fatigue under the same circumstances as an individual of high I.Q. DR. W A L SH : That is right. DR. E N Z E R : I would say he docs, al though that is nett generally recognized. Occupational Disease in BEN JO H A N E K (Connor Lumber Co., Wakefield, Mich.) : Do you not think a lot of this is caused through improper food? DR. E N Z E R : We are now recognizing that nutrition plays an important part in nervous fatigue because we know there are certain elements in foot! that are important for the integrity o f the central nervous sys tem. But we have been able to show in some preliminary experiments and from some sur veys that, in a general way, food intake, ex cept in an extreme instance, is not important, but in acute instances it is. What do I mean by that? An individual who has been de prived of food for longer than he is nor mally accustomed, in other words, if his meals are separated by too long a period of time, fatigue will be produced. We showed that on ourselves. We took no food from early morning until late at night and were able to show increasing fatigue. We were also able to show--and this is well known, of course--that there are cer tain kinds of food which give some tem porary relief from fatigue, most notably the sugars,- carbohydrates, and a good deal has been done on the proteins of diet. But in the sense that I have -tried to lay the subject this morning, diet is a factor in fatigue be cause it becomes a disease state, and a dis ease state induces fatigue. Diet will produce a state of fatigue if we have some acute disturbance in the habits of diet. Factor of Noise M ISS MARY LOU SCOTT (Jos. E. Seagram & Son, Louisville, K y .): I would like to know the effect of factory noise in regard to fatigue. DR. E N Z E R : Noise is a factor in fatigue. We demonstrated that objectively in a sci entific way in a laboratory, in this manner: We. tested individuals for the flicker phe nomenon rate which, as I said, constitutes our base line. Afterwards, we stimulated their car with a sound of a regular inten sity, rhythm and rate, the object being to see whether we could fatigue one center of the brain and in that way effect fatigue in another center of the brain, or whether we could distract one center from the other. We found that this,investigation brought to light two rather interesting things, or I would say three, perhaps. One is that there are, constitutionally, individuals who are sensitive to sound, because ,we could pick out from a group of individuals people whose flicker phenomenon was greadv de pressed when their ears were stimulated; which suggests, perhaps, that such individ uals work best in a quiet atmosphere. That is a speculation. Another type of individual constitutionally wasn't affected at all. His flicker phenom enon was exactly the same rate. The third individual had his flicker phe nomenon raised; in other words, he was stimulated by sound. I think casual exam ination amongst yourselves will probably bring to light illustrations of the individual who can concentrate on reading a book while the radio is going on and understand both of them perfectly satisfactorily. Now, when we fatigued these individuals by their routine work--in other words, we conducted the same test in the morning and got a certain base line value; then they did their day's work, and we tested them at the end o f the day--vve found that fatigue ac centuated the direction of their natural con stitutional tendency. In other words, the in dividual to whom stimulation of the ear depressed the flicker phenomenon found that depression increased at the end of a day's work. P A U L M. H A R R IS (Western Austin Co., AiifOra, 111.): Does the human system have the ability in any way to build re sistance to this monotony, so it doesn't affect fatigue other than the infusion of glucose or the increasing o f the oxygenation ? DR. E N Z E R : That is a phenomenon known as adaptation in a physiological sense and, in the social sense, it is a question of getting used to your jo b ; but the unfor tunate part about getting used to your job is you are not the same today as you were ^ve years ago. In other words, the individ ual today can't get used to the things lie was used to five years ago. Age is an important factor in that direction. The longer the in dividual is at a fatigue-producing job. sooner or later there will come a time when his fatigue becomes manifest. We have found that our so-called fatigue testing standards showed no important fac tors, so far as age was concerned; but the older individuals had a lower threshold to the thing that produced the fatigue than the younger individuals. In other words, it is 29th National Safety Congress iin.ly true that experience with a joh :arantce against fatigue. U KM A X I' A IX K : In order that you ot he fatigued, I am going to change bject. 1 am asking Dr. lltlknap to take 0 next subjects, 3 and 4 : ``The Toxic . of Common Solvents'' and ``Lead in rial Processes," and dwell on those ts as one. Toxic Lim its of Solvents ELSTON' L. B E LK N 'A P: Mr. nan, I know there may be several dis hed guests hut I am sure that we in dical profession always feel peculiarly d when Dr. Hamilton is in the auditf there has been anyone who has cspousihlc for bringing to the atten- American industry and the medical ion the importance of toxicology in v, I think it is Dr. Hamilton. 1 emphasize a few of the toxic limits :ommon solvents, so-called thresholds, these limits have been more or less upon by authorities in this field, pary such as Doctors Drinker, Haggard imilton, there is no threshold that is ily perfect, and the actual decision her or not the solvent has been toxic observation of the patient who has posed to that solvent, by a physician list determine whether or not there en a temporary intoxication and or not there has been a residual. Valsli has really very ally covered cct of the hazards of spray paintsolvents which are the chief hazards ' ' painting, but I will mention a few have grouped in increasing order of example of probably the least toxic -I say least toxic because no solvent Jtentialiy toxic; in fact, some go so say that all good solvents are toxic Is gasoline. It lias been stated that rts per million is a safe limit for 1 exposure. The matter of contamiy other substances such as benzol 0 per cent in certain gasolines, ccruild alter that safe threshold. ext group of solvents which arc nore toxic, arc the amyl and butyl and ether which arc allowable in per million. Some authorities still they belong in the 1,000-part-per- million class. The most recent report classes them as 400. The third group of 200 parts per million, include the following: Methanol or wood alcohol which, as you know, may have a serious effect on vision and cause blindness; toluol and xylol, tetracldorctbylcnc, trieldorethylcnc and turpentine. The fourth group, which has dropped to 100 parts per million, include carbon tetra chloride and ethylene dichloridc. Then the fifth group of 75 parts per mil lion, benzene and dichlorbenzene; and finally nitrobenzene, which we, fortunately, actu ally use very rarely as a solvent, is 5 parts per million. I think it is important to remember that these solvents, if in sufficient concentration, may kill. This is in contradiction to the other subject that I have been given, which is lead, which very rarely kills. These sol vents kill, first of all, by simple suffocation, if they arc used in an enclosed space, such as in a vat. But the sinister element of the solvent, of the toxic solvent, is the fact that it affects the central nervous system because, as you know, these solvents are iat solvents, and ottr nervous system is largely made up of fatty tissue or lipoid tissue, so the nerv ous system is very easily affected. \Vc have involvement, therefore, of the eye, one of the most highly developed nervous struc tures. Then we have central nervous system involvement, paralysis, inability to walk. Also, wc must realize that some of these solvents actually damage the liver and the kidney, causing an acute Bright's disease. It js thought that some of them may cause cirrhosis of the liver. Fortunately, one of the best solvents and one of the most dangerous is not included in the list at all now, the tctraclilorctlivlene group used in the airplane industry in the past. That had the peculiar ability to attack every part in the body, including the heart muscle. That, too, is said to be a contam inant of some of our other solvents. It has been ,, mentioned that: possibly the former contaminancc in trichlorcthylcnc was really the reason why trichlorethylenc had orig inally had a rather had name. I think one of the most important tilings to remember in dealing with the control of a good solvent is that we arc dealing will: a potentially dangerous substance and not make any effort to conceal that fact from Occupational Disease 17o anyone in the factory. We of the medical profession have always felt that we like to put our cards on the table. We know that it is a great deal simpler to follow the ancient axiom and tell the truth. So that I admire, for instance, the benzol company which puts on its barrels, the word " Poison." 1 am not in a position to know whether they more or less did that because they were told to, but I know they do it. I think there are many other companies that should put the same label on their prod ucts. In this connection I would like to tell of a case that I was asked to see, where a young hoy, in the middle of the summer, working in a shop which made motors, sud denly became very sick, had severe headache, was dizzy, and had to slop work. He was working with a substance which he regarded as harmless. When I first heard of the case I insisted I would want to see the process and see the plant and get my information firsthand rather than attempt to talk to some foreman by telephone. (The medical profession as a whole is learning that it can only fulfill its responsibility by demanding the right to know all about the 'exposure of the patients that conic into their hands.) When I went into the shop I found that this worker was using a large paint brush, dipping it into a large bowl of liquid, which he then slapped on the motor to get the grease off. On this particular hot day he evolved the idea of setting a fan, which ordinarily, perhaps, blew the fumes away from him, directly opposite the bowl of material and blew the fumes directly in his face. He got cooled, and then he got sick. I asked the foreman what was in that material, and lie said he didn't know exactly; it was stock material, perfectly safe, as far as he knew. I said, "Well, I would like to know what it is." So there was considerable upsetting of routine. We finally went out into a shed in the yard, completely dark; we finally got a flashlight, and w'e found a barrel of benzol marked " Poison." N' ow, no one in that shop knew' what they were doing. There were a dozen other work ers each doing the same thing but who, fortunately, bad not gotten this brilliant idea of the fan. The curious thing about this particular shop was that in another department, not more than thirty feet away, they were doing spray painting, and they were doing it prop erly. Instead of exhausting the spray over head and bringing it right hack in the worker's nose, they had their suction under neath the objects to be sprayed and took advantage of draft as well as suction. They had good engineering equipment and staff, hut they simply didn't know what they were using in this particular instance. I had another experience with a man who w'as a so-catlcd neurotic. I think most of you can spot the neurotic, if you have had any shop experience. This man certainly was. He had been to half a dozen doctors. One told him he was going to die, and another one said there was nothing the matter with him. Again I demanded to see the shop. We found lie was spraying an aluminum paint with a harmless solvent, a diluent, with good suction and a good spray gun. How ever, on further talking with him and con firmation from the foreman, I found he was the one man in the shop who was delegated to clean the spray guns at the end of the workijig day. He would sit down and squirt material, which he called chloride, in and out ot the spray guns, and lean over the vat he w^s working with. Finally, he noticed he began to get happy and whistle and sing, and lie began to look forward to the experi ence! at the end of every day. However, finally he noticed he was getting weak, he was dragging one leg, and his heart was going very fast. Well, this illustrates one other sample. This was a large corporation. Yes, they were using chloride. Finally, after great difficulty and having to go to the treasurer o f the organization and going into the files we 'found that this was a material which they had bought from a supply house in another ci'y, and they did not know what was in it. We finally found out it was ethylene di chloride. The course of that individual is interest ing, in that we put him in the hospital, it eventually cost that company quite a lot of money. I was in this to find out all I could learn about the action of that particular substance. I put the man in the hospital three or four weeks and did a number o f delicate tests on him. Well, he came through, and interestingly we found that he had an opportunity to dc- 29tli National Safety Congress l> a coM once or twice. livery time lie lie developed jaundice. Tlun, of course, lid liver function tests and found rcducof that. We found he had a weakening lie heart muscle. We found a definite of the reflex in one ankle-joint, showing unite involvement of the central nervous n\. e were aide to gi t all the physicians to e that this man was considerably disI, that it was due to his occupation. You understand, I was seeing him not for elf hut for the company. I think a good r of them thought I had keen a little rous to this malingerer. This man went i! and got a large settlement. I don't v anything further about the ease except 1 did hear that the man died and that leatli certificate said "cirrhosis of the and heart failure." Unfortunately, we t have an autopsy to confirm it. my opinion, the toxic solvent is one of uost dangerous substances and it may usly disable and kill. L ead in Industry a preface to the subject of lead in iny T would like to say that I am not ilizing entirely in industrial medicine, one of that increasing group who feel ndustrial medicine is not a specialty in hut is merely a division of internal tic or diagnosis, the large field of inc which in private practice corres to or is correlated with the field of il surgery. I atn glad that a large pron of my practice is still private prac' am also consulting medical director e of our industrial concerns in Mile. with branches over the country, so have an opportunity to see lead and loxic materials. ini you see a man who has said, " I ead poisoning," do not forget he max some other disabilities and diseases, is acute appendicitis, gallbladder, kid die and so forth. In my private pracy interest has been sharpened so that ys make an effort to take a very carccupational history on a patient, even i he may come to me purely as a heart mg case or what-have-vou. this particular plant in Milwaukee, began by having and still lias, as a iroportion of its work, storage battery plants, when I came there about ten years ago we were having an incidence of about 24 lead cases per 100 employees per year, which corresponds pretty well with the per centage of 15 to 16 reported by the Public Health Service in work about that time. in five years, by cooperation with the medical department, the engineering depart ment and management, we dropped that to an incidence of 2 per 100, and for the past five years we have had no cases of lead poisoning at all. We are still handling lead, and we are still handling it in large amounts. I think that in the storage battery indus try, probably, men are exposed potentially, at least, to the greatest concentration of lead far absorption directly into their bodies than in any other industry. I am glad to report that, having followed this particular group o f workers of about 80 for this period, at the end of ten years they are certainly just as healthy and, in many respects, I think healthier than the general run of the popu lation. O f course, we have reduced their lead absorption, but at times it will break down the physical resistance and respiratory protection. They occasional^: have largedoses of lead. Many of these workers were persons who had had lead poisoning or seri ous lead absorption in the period of ob servation. Lead is one o f the most widely used socalled poisons in well over 200 industries. T think there is no doubt but in the large industry the hazard is well controlled. First of all, it is recognized and then even- effort is given. Xo expense is spared to study the men and to reduce the continuance of any exposure. However, in the small industry, which is the major portion of industry in this country, lead is continually cropping up. and even silicosis, which got the ccnler of the stage in recent years, certainly in Wis consin, lias now taken a back step, and lead has come hack into its own, together with, the ever increasing use of solvent' 1 would like to stress again the danger here is one of non-recognition, that we have our trouble in the small plant, not in the large plant. I will rapidly rim through tin types of industry where I have seen lead poisoning occur and in which it is an im portant factor. The most important is the storage battery industry. Then the streamlining of our auto mobiles and trucks where, after welding, of Occupational Disease 1<5 course, as many of you know, they were at first smoothed ofT by lead paste which, after it cooled, was then ground by machine grinder and produced a great amount of finely' divided, inhalablc dust. This brings up the fact that the most important hazard in any lead industry is the point of inhalation. Remember that lead dust inhaled is much more dangerous than swallowed, and that very rarely arc lead compound's absorbed through the skin, perhaps with the one ex ception of tetrachloride fluid which is an organic ami fat soluble substance. It is rather amusing that many plants, smaller plants, particularly, have had to give ut> machine grinding of welded joints. Here is a return of modern industry to the horsc-and-buggy stage. They arc going back to hand filing where, of course, the particles are heavy and are too large to be inhaled. The problem can be licked, however, even by machine grinding, if one uses respirators. It lias always been said that lead poison ing was very common in painting. My ex perience in ordinary painting nowadays is it is very rare, particularly on inside painting where lead has been substituted by other substances, such as titanium, zinc and so forth, which arc harmless. On the outside, however, lead is still used, in many instances, because it is the one substance that will stand the weather. Here we come again to the question of finely divided, inhalable dust where men burn off old paint in private homes; not in the large installations, of course, or sand, either by machine sanding or by hand sand ing. There we have the question of finely divided dust which is inhaled. You must remember that dust when inhaled passes di rectly into the system and immediately cir culates throughout the entire body. I make a recommendation, therefore, that any worker that has gotten his lead by burn ing off or sanding, be given a respirator for that purpose, even though he is an outside worker. In the wrecking of old buildings and old ships, of course, there is the constant pres ence of lead absorption when the steel has been coated with several coats. It ideally forms a fume which is so fine as to be al most invisible and is absorbed directly into the system The only way that a worker doing that can really protect himself, in my opinion, is to use an air-line respirator. I have seen a great many men in one partial- lar type of ship industry, cutting up old ships outdoors in mid-winter, and 'I have never seen men leaded up so rapidly. Of course, this is an old story. The Navy found this out twenty years ago when they scrapped many of the old ships. Unfortu nately, some people in industry, as well as doctors, arc not very good on keeping up on their own work, by reading, and experi ments have to be made again. In the smelting of lead or zinc ore and scrap metal, lead poisoning occurs. In pot tery making where a glazed mixer is used, one most usually is exposed to lead. In the printing industry we have heard a great deal of lead poisoning. I had an opportunity recently to make a survey of a group of printers with the Wis consin Industrial Hygiene Unit. They went into an analysis o f the air, and I examined the men. T o be sure, our list was not largo, some 30 men in fourteen different printing establishments, but it was striking that all of these men were in excellent health and, as far as I could see, there had been no great deal of turnover. ' However, there are one or two spots in the! printing industry that are danger sp ots; thdt is, o f course, the man who rcmelts the old type metal or who saws it, if he uses a michine saw. I think it is interesting, going through our records of printers in the State of Wisconsin, for a great number o f years past, we have had only three cases, one of which was really a serious case, and that man was one who remelted--he was the for gotten man, worked down in the basement on a kettle, where nobody paid any atten tion to him, and there was no protection. In passing, I will simply name soldering, and that occurs very frequently even in the evaporated milk industry out in the country; tempering o f metals, brass foundries, ink making, insecticides. T his potentially may occur in leaded steel when it is scrapped. Then l would class as the final one, the risk which says they have no lead hazard. That is the place you should look particu larly. A s I said, the important portal o f entry is through the nose. If we bear.that in mind, the problem of control of lead poisoning is really not difficult. If, of course, your en gineers reduce the exposure to 1.5 milli grams, I don't think you will have a rase of 29th National Safety Congress poi Mining. However, as a matter of tical interest, I think it is very difficult .at there in ordinary industry, and I lil more or less formulate 3 as a safe I. I think it has also been found by other kefs. However, if you tot over 3 you ainly have the possibility of serious lead rplion. want to emphasize that mere lead abtion does not mean the man has lead tiiiii.Lr. He may have a lead line, may lead in the urine, .08 milligrams per . but that does not make lead poisoning. ,t is merely evidence of absorption. He t have, in addition, clinical symptoms of of the three types of lead absorption. < a final word in regard to the role of medical profession in its cooperation in istry, it seems to me that the medical should first of all be responsible to highest man in authority in the plant, so lie can go direct to him with any prob- tliat arise, and before any new prore is used or any new chemical, have a crcnre with the physician to see whether is any possible danger, whether there volatile solvents or lead, so that the er to the men may he prevented before ppens. un not making a plea for absolute sub:ion for and avoidance of the use of I think industry cannot get along vvithhc use of lead, cannot get along without tse of a number of these solvents; but lustry is forewarned, and if the worker ormed correctly so he will cooperate in sc of protective devices arid, finally, the al profession is allowed to see the paas often as they see fit, perhaps every ir three weeks, then there need occur cupationa! disease in industry. AIRMAN7 P A IN E : Arc there any tins on either one of these subjects that ould like to ask? . H U TT ER : What is the effect of the of kerosene on the worker? Is that a mint effect or just temporary? B E L K N A P : As far as I know, there 11 effect from the inhalation of kcro- 1. SKY RM (Employers Liability Ase Corporation, Boston) : Would Dr. p recommend the direct venting of ots on linotype machines where the re electrically heated and thermo statically controlled so the temperature of the lead does not exceed 500 degrees ? DR. B E L K N A P : That is a good prac tical question. As we know, lead melts at a much lower temperature when volatilized. In my experience, lead docs not really vola tilize until around 1,000 or 1,100 degrees. In this group of workers that I am fol lowing, some years ago, large lead pots, two or three feet in diameter, were unhooded be cause of certain changes in technical pro cedure, and the plant never got around to the hood. I disapproved of that and re peatedly said they would have oases of lead poisoning there if they didn't hood. They said they would just as soon as it was prac tical. Tt has never been practicable, and 1 am here to say we have had no lead cases develop to tltc point of disability, and we have had very little lead absorption result from that. The same men have worked there for ten years, dipping lead out of the pot, incidentally, at temperatures ranging usually from 850 to 950 degrees. In this group of linotype workers we found no evidence of lead absorption in some of the shops where they had no suction. I wouh^not say in my own experience that hooding is necessary at 50f) degrees. MR. C A R R : 1 wonder if there is any evidence to indicate the toxic limit for butyl alcohol could be raised above that given? We had experience over some twenty years with the same group of men, working in concentrations from 200 to 400 parts per million, and under careful examination they have shown no indication of trouble. One other question is whether much work has been done on toxic limits of dioxene? DR. B E L K N A P : I think Dr. Hamilton will have to state if she recalls whether wc have toxic limits established for dioxene. DR. H A M IL T O N : Dioxene is the trade name for diethylenc chloride. No toxic limit has been established for that. Wc considered it a fairly safe solvent until some very dis astrous eases occurred in England from over-exposure, causing five deaths. Since then we have looked upon it with a good deal more suspicion. There has not been enough work done on it to establish any maximum allowable concentrations. DR. B E L K N A P : In regard to butyl al cohol, the butyl radical acetate is much less toxic than ethyl or methyl, particularly. So I would he interested in your point of view. Occupational Disease 177 I think probably it could be made at safe limits. MR. GU M M A R: I want to endorse com pletely the principle of maximum clearances of safety standards in engineering, but they should be based on factual data. As regards toluene, there have been enormous quantities used in th lacquer industry since spray painting came into use. It is sprayed into the air as fine mist, and even though it evap orates at a slower rate than benzol, if you inhale the mist, you get severe effects, if it is toxic. [ have employers in four states, New York State, New Jersey, Ohio and Connecticut, who for the past sixteen years have not had any reported cases o f chronic toluene poison ing; yet Ohio in the past sixteen years has had over 69 cases of poisoning from gaso line in the petroleum industry. As to the experimental results, I can find no experimental data indicating the toxicity should be such a low value. Some of the contusion arises from the failure to dis tinguish between chronic and acute poison ing. It is a fact that in extremely high con centrations, toluene and xylene are more toxic than benzol ; that is, if you go into a chamber where there are 20,000 parts per million, you would he unconscious quicker from toluene and xylene than you would with benzene, but that is an entirely separate phenomenon from the slow chronic poisoning. CH AIRM AN P A IN E : The next topic will he "Skin Affections" and that will be handled by Dr. M. .1. Renter. Skin Affections DR. M. J. R E U T E R : When we consider to what extent the skin of the worker is exposed to injuries, the action of chemical irritants and the various infectious agents, it is not surprising that occupational skin dis eases are a major problem in industry. The United States Public Health Service esti mates 69 per cent of occupational diseases are skin diseases. They carried out a studyin 100,000 workers and found, in the course of a year, that one per cent of these workers were affected with some skin disease as a result of their work. T h is,did not include burns, splashes of acids and alkalis, and the ordinary pus infections o f scratches or abrasions. The problem confronting the physician is to determine the relationship between the skin disease and the occupational environ ment, to discover the nature of the offending agent and to adopt measures designed to cure the condition and prevent its occur rence. There are many predisposing causes of occupational dermatosis, such as uncleanli ness of workrooms, o f clothes and of per son. Previous skin diseases as, for example, eczema, arc potent factors, because individ uals with eczema react seven times more frequently to external irritants than noneczematous individuals. The skin o f the young and old is more susceptible to irrita tion and infection than the skin of persons in middle life. Dry skin is more vulnerable to irritants than oily skin. The skin of certain parts o f the body is especially sensitive, for instance, that of the eyelids and genitalia. Anything which lowers the normal threshold of resistance of the skin may act as a predisposing factor in the production of dermatitis and o f infectious lesions. These factors include bruises, marked sweating and maceration, prolonged ex posure of the skin to water and especially to alkalis and repeated scrubbing of the skin. These agents tend to remove the normal protective coats of the skin, that is the outer horny layer, and thus expose the sensitive epidermal cells directly to irritating material. A point fairly recently emphasized is that individuals with common athlete's foot are much more prone to occupational dermatitis of the hands. Apparently this infection of the feet acts as a sensitizing factor. The actual causes of occupational derma toses ar mechanical, physical and biologic agents and chemical irritants. Mechanical agents produce bruises and lacerations, as well as friction and pressure resulting in various inflammations and thickenings of ihe skin. The physical agents which may produce an occupational dermatosis are heat and cold, either dry or wet, electricity, ultraviolet rays, either from the sun or artificial, and x-rays or radium. The biologic agents are the common bac teria, fungi and parasites. For the most part, however, occupational affections of the skin are the result o f con tact with irritants of a chemical nature. 29th National Safety Congress ally acids or alkalis producing simple inimiation of the skin. ,s a subject for discussion, I might say probably cleansing agents used by the kers are one of the most potent factors he causation of occupational dermatitis. H AIRM AN P A IN E : This is a subject .hich there arc a number of men intcr1 Will you expedite your questions? R. E N Z E R : I would like to ask Dr. cr to say a work about skin cancer in palional exposures. Skin Cancer v. R E U T E R : Ewing lias set forth five dates which mud he. fulfilled before King trauma as the cause of given canEwing slates: "Kirsl, the authenticity adequacy of injury. must be estahI." That is, the patient's statement reug injury must be substantiated, and must he actual tissue damage. cond, the previous integrity of the led part before the injury must he shed. i!rd, the cancer or tumor must arise at lint of injury. urth, there must be a reasonable lime xtween injury and the development of mor." That is, if the tumor develops two or three days after the injury, reasonable that in that short a time a could have developed. th, the positive diagnosis must cstaliat there is an actual tumor present e nature of the particular tumor." slRM A N P A IN E : Dr. Enzer, do nit to speak to the point? E N Z E R : l thought Dr. Reuter might word about the increasing attention ing given to highly complex chemical which have the property of inducing in the experimental animal. We know tin agents which have that property luman. The commonly known one is :er. We know also of certain aniline s which would produce cancer of the, the urinary bladder, and so on. *1 tat subject is highly complex, but I should be brought to your attention the dermatology of today we deal with dermatitis but also deal with DR. R E U T E R : I have Rad very little occasion to pass* on a question'of cancer of the skin arising from alleged contact with some carcinogenic agent. C. T. D EN SM O R E CKoppers Co.. St. Paul, Minn.): I would like to hear a little about the effects of coal tar and creosote oils in relation to cancer and what-not, and also the inhalation of the creosote va pors . DR. R E U T E R : Regarding the develop ment of cancer from coal tar and creosote, I have hud no experience. We do know that coal tar is the nearest to the skin and does produce an inllainnmtimi about the hair follicles called folliculitis. It is undoubtedly due to the plugging of the follicles with the tar and perhaps some stimulation of the epidermal layers of the skin from the tar, which sets up this inflammatory reaction around the hair follicles. I think the same is true with creosote. Rut, regarding the actual development of hypertrophic lesions of the skin, particularly cancer, I have had no ex perience. DR. B E L,K N A P : As for creosote, 1 have had no actual cases hrought^to my atten tion. As far as I know, the fumes would be no more irritating, possibly, than causing an irritative cough. I know of no cases, really, of acute chronic bronchitis or other car cinogenic results! C IIA iR M A N P A IN E : We will leave any other questions to the end of the ses sion and hear Mr. H. A. Nelson, Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, on the question: " Should occupational diseases he considered as industrial injuries?" Disease Vs. Injury H. A. N E L S O N : Mr. Chairman: The question which I have been assigned is sus ceptible of treatment in several ways. We can treat it in a highly technical way and quibble about the court construction of the word "injury" or wc can treat it in a gen eral way and ask whether occupational dis eases should be compensated. That is the real crux of the question today. It sometimes astonishes me that thirty years after the passage of compensation acts we are still disputing this question of whether we shall compensate a condition which may cause disability and which arises Occupational Disease 179 out o f industry just as clearly as docs an accidental injury. There are various ways of meeting the problem. One, o f course, is to do nothing about it and that is what about eighteen states in the Union are doing. They are not compensating occupational diseases at all. Out of the other states there are a few which are compensating all occupa tional diseases, and some of them are com pensating by schedule. Now, schedules arc usually designed so that there are a great many diseases which are named, hut very generally you will find that they leave out the one occupational dis ease which causes the most disability. Kor example, silicosis is left out of a great many of the state laws which have schedules. Therefore, silicosis, which is a serious oc cupational disease is nut compensated. When we go hack to the prime principles o f workmen's compensation, we wonder why the compensation fathers didn't face the* question at the time the compensation acts were passed. That was the time to do it. Kit her through inadvertence or, iri some eases, through design, occupational diseases were left out of the laws pretty generally, but accidental injuries were to be compen sated. f think that was largely because of the rather violent split from the old common law system and leaving out of consideration the question of negligence. It was a rather violent split, but it is surprising that in all of these years occupational diseases still re main uncompensated in so many states. When wc consider the nature of an occu pational disease, which is usually a slow, insidious process, over which the man him self, the employee, has no control, but over which the employer, as these physicians have told you this morning, has the entire power of control, there seems to he otic hundred times more reason why tfje em ployee who cannot protect himself in any possible way should be compensated for oc cupational disease rather than for acciden tal injury. I suppose there is no question but that the real crux of the matter is that o f ex pense to the employer, and that comes be cause of the so stated accrued liability. Here has been an accrual of dosage which finally eventuates in disease, and this, accrual is such that the disease may come at a given moment If the employer has a large number ot employees who have this accrual of dosage, it may he that in periods of dep* --.ion the expense to him will be rather great for the time being, and that must fee met in various ways. Employers are humanitarian. Most of them would like to do these things but they are also in competition with each other, and that means there must be laws and regula tions for the compensating of occupational disease if the job is to be done in a satis factory way. Another reason that is often given is that industrial commissions and accident hoards are unable to decide the question of occu pational disease, as to causation, between the process and the final condition which ir suits in disability. I think that is a rather fatuous objection, in view of the develop nieiit which has been made in medical sci ence within the last few years. I think those questions are no more dilii- rull to decide Ilian the quest ions of a g g ra vation o f pre-existing conditions which are clearly under the law, if we nitty ascribe them to accidents, and also to the ohscurc- conditions which are ascribed to accidents and as to which compensation hoards and commissions have to mak6 decisions every day. ! i Can Stamp Out Disease Hut the most glorious thing that has been accomplished by occupational disease laws is the fact that employers have become con scious of the fact that they can stamp out occupational disease. I am glad to say that in Wisconsin we have practically stamped out silicosis, that in a few years more it is going to be `practically a negligible thing. Mr. Belknap has shown you how lead pois oning can be almost entirely eradicated That is the glorious thing which we have achieved through the passage of occupa tional disease laws. I want to give.a very few figures showing the drop in silicosis in the State of Wisconsin since. 19.1,1 to 19.19 These figures are the percentages of com pensation which were paid in silicosis case as compared with the total. In 1933 the fig ure was 9.4; 1934, 8.8; 1935, 7.9; then 5 at ' 2 and .9 per cent, and, in the year 1939, 1 3 per cent which we figure is getting about on a level. I think there is no question but that tie* public is demanding that occupational di<- 29th National Safety Congress compensated. The trend is n inline - clicve that industry and society will itified when the problem has been by whatever methods may 1m: adopted ttli-cl to the different states. UK.MAN PA INF.: Are there any ns you want to ask Mr. Nelson liee i*o into the general discussion ? H .F AMRA.M (Hamlin & Co., New ity) : We passed a compensation law \ York State some two or three years erhaps you recall that first we passed t illogical law, the all-inclusive act acted most disastrously not only to initself but to the workmen. You are lt with the history and the recall of :t. i dare say in a number of states it timely right and proper the compenart should include silicosis, but it include silicosis on a schedule basis, ink is the case in Illinois. N E L S O N : All states are not as ite as some other states. I think we twing generally throughout all of the :hat the problem can be solved. Protection for Welders vIRMAN P A IN E : We have a few s. Anyone in the audience has the re of asking this panel of doctors any ns they want to raise on these main G R EEN (Edgewater Steel Co., nt. P a .): I would like to ask to what an ordinary welder in a small plant bo protected? Once in a while there a hardening material which has ns results. Other times there will he utting of paint on a product which se some noxious poison. To what cxnld a welder or a cutter have to he -dr IRMAN P A IN E : The question is, c we going to protect, and vvliat is insure to welders on new material, ild material that has been painted ? i-k Dr. Walsh to answer that ques^ A'A LSl 1: Within the past couple of c have had occasion to go over a f about 1,000 welders. O f that group 0 have been welding for ten or more hey were gone over front the clinical f view. X-rays of the chest were taken. Disability due to sickness over the ten-year period was calculated and seen for each individual man. There certainly was no marked difference in sickness rates and in disability rates in the welders as compared to the general run of employees working at their side irt the same plant and in the same economic situation. When you arc considering welders who are cutting painted materials, lead-hearing paints, or who are welding in confined spaces, you have a different problem; but for the ordinary welding group, working in a large, airy room, with ordinary precau tions and ventilation, their health is just as good as any other group of workers. If they are cutting paint or toxic coatings of any kind or lead-bearing steel, or if they artworking in a confined space, then additional respiratory protection is necessary. So far as the question that was rampant a few years ago, that is the development of so-called fibrosis of the lungs due to weld ing, we have not found this to be the case. Dr. Enzcr and Dr. Sander at Milwaukee have had occasion to examine atj^postmortem a few of these individuals who have been welding for long periods of time in confined spaces, usually. They did find there was an increase of iron in the lung but no fibrosis causing barm. Recently, we also have examined another group of welders, that is a variant of tinwelding trade, scarfers, in the continuous production of steel. These scarfers use a long torch and blow out the defects in the billets rather than chiseling them out. This group also, while it is an infant in the group ot welders, apparently have no health haz ards of any consequence in their trade. In other words, I think if ordinary precau tions, so far as ventilation and so forth arc concerned, wc need not he concerned other than if we are using lead or chromium or some of the toxic materials. CHAIRM AN P A IN E : Dr. Enzcr will speak for a minute on the subject and then Dr. I'.elknap will follow him right up. DR. E N Z E R : I want to seize the oppor tunity to make some comments relative to the general attitude of this panel discussion. It is most important that in any approach to the problem of industrial healtli we re member that a statistical analysis of groups is not a true criterion o f the health of the individual. In other words, just like the sur- Occupational Disease 181 "inn ivlio might lioast of a W /j per cent recovery ralo from a spcifi operation, (ho indiviilnal who happened to belong to that l/z per cent constitutes 100 per cent mortal ity for the individual. There is a very sharp contrast there. Now, when we talk about safe limits of toxic solvents, safe limits of toxic agents, safe limits of an industry, we must remem ber that the problem is not going to be solved by a blanket generalization of a problem, hut by a careful and meticulous analysis and study of the individuals ex posed to the industry. I know of no other way that this can he done except that in dustry realize that the profession of medi cine forms the keystone to the solution of these problems. DR. B E L K N A P : I simply wanted to am plify what has already been mentioned, and that is when a welder or cutter works on material that has been painted or coated with lead, he, of course, probably will ac quire lead absorption in a serious fashion about as quickly as, if not quicker than, in any other way. It is very simple now, with the respira tors we have available, for a shop welder, whenever he is doing that type of work, to use such a respirator. In my own particular scries of cases one of bur cases of lead ab sorption was a welder who had been re pairing some ovens containing a large amount of lead. Also, I had occasion recently to see half a dozen cases of cutters who were cutting up tanks in a large chemical plant. These steel tanks had been lined with lead. They could not understand why the men were getting lead. They went through the lead with a torch 3000 or 4000 degrees and they absorbed lead exceedingly rapidly. It is not a difficult question to solve' at all but it is a matter of having perfect confidence i'j what the work is for and preparing for it. MR. C A R R : In connection with welding, we have had instances of zinc chills from work on galvanized iron. We have also had nitrous fuinc poisoning from the use of coated electrodes. I would also like to call attention to a relatively new development, that of the flame cleaning of metals before painting, by the use of a special oxy-acetylcne t6rch. That includes previously painted metals as well as those which simply have mill -cab: oil them. R. J. W O O D H O l'SK (Continental C as ually Company, New York C ity): I had a case a short time ago that I was called upon to investigate. The man worked in a small printing plant where he was assumed to have contracted lead poisoning. After mak ing impingcr tests which proved negative, an award was given by the commission t" the widow in the amount of $1.5,000. The lead was melted around 650 to 700 degrees and the experts proved (hat toxic fumes were not liberated. I wonder what yardstick the referees used to measure those cases, in the face of such expert testimony. MR. S K Y R M : I would like to know the relation of hemlock poisoning and poison ivy to skin disease. DR. R E U T E R : Poison ivy, o f course, is the most common plant that causes derma titis. Hemlock is occasionally the cause. Poison ivy is an intense irritant to most people's skin. It is a question of whether in itself it is not an irritant to all people's skini. We used to think we knew the cause of poison ivy dermatitis, but more recent work ha$ tended rather to disprove that we do know the actual cause of what it is in the plant that produces dermatitis. Apparently it is a water-soluble fraction rather than an oil. Its relation to occupational disease de pends on what the individual is doing. If he is exposed to it in his occupation, for ex ample, as a farmer, W PA worker, lumber man or any occupation that keeps an indi vidual out-of-doors, and he contacts poison ivy, it certainly would be an occupational disease. Poison ivy dermatitis is apt to he a much more violent dermatitis than that from hemlock. CHAIRMAN P A IN E : Mr will you repeat your question? Giunaer, P. W. G U M A E R : The question was, what is the basis of the comparatively low maxi mum concentration of toluol in the ahseme of any reported occupational disea-e ca-e-, and are there any experimental data to war rant such a low concentration where such experimental data deals with chronic poison ing and not with acute poisoning ? 182 29th National Safely Congress DR. B E L K N A P : The question is, The American Standards Association has whether toluol is really as toxic, as I inti a committee .at work in this field, with a mated it might be, being permissible in only small subcommittee. We have just finished 200 parts per million. Is that right, Mr. dealing with two gases and two volatile sol Gumaer ? vents, carbon monoxide and benzol and car MR. GU M A ER; Yes. bon disulphide and hydrogen sulphide. There DR. B E L K N A P : As far as the official we have been able to get pretty accurate authority of that is concerned, it is taken figures because we have data to-go on. from the code for safe concentrations of We are now trying to deal with twelve certain toxic substances used in industries, others which arc going to be increasingly whose authors are Bowditch, Drinker, H ag important in the munitions industry. We gard and Alice Hamilton which appeared in hope to be able to give out more accurate the June 1940 issue of the Journal'bf- ItT-~ -.figures then. But it is a very difficult prob dustrial Hygiene and Toxicology. le m . You see the only way we can get any 1 do not know whether there is any prac . iancqcuuirrayte mfaidguerebyisthebyphhyasviciniagns,a thceomcbhienmed tical experimental work hacking that up, but inasmuch as toluol and xylol are very ists and the ventilation engineers, because closely related to benzol, I assume that the we have to know bow many cases developed in a given workroom at a givSn concentra aanutheonrtsirefleylt stahfaet irteacsoryde,t fcoorulidnsntoant cbee, gciovmen tion, and also at what concentration do no pared to gasoline. cases come. We could do that with the four I have I will say, among a group of workers who mentioned, but it means, as you see, a great have been working with adequate protection . deal of careful study in the factory and in for several years with toluol solvents, I have the physicians' examining room. Bringing seen no general reaction. those two together, we can do it with re DR. H A M IL T O N : May I speak to that gard to lead; we can do it pretty well with for iust a moment? That presentation to regard to mercury, and we have pretty good which Dr. Belknap refers was . got out data with regard to zinc oxide fumes in simply because a small group of us felt galvanizing iron and brass foundries and that we might as well let the public know zinc smelting; hut the rest of the substances what was our best guess at the present mo still are more or less in the realm of guess ment with regard to maximum allowable' work. concentrations of the most commonly used CHAIRM AN P A IN E : May I. in your solvents. It is founded very largely on guess behalf and in behalf of the National Safety work. Council, thank the gentlemen on the plat The quantity of 1,000 parts per million for gasoline is guess, and so is 200 parts of toluene. We are hoping that we shall be able form who have so kindly led us in this dis cussion? Will, von express that thanks by giving them a rising vote? to give more accurate figures presently. . . . The audience arose and applauded. A D JO U R N M EN T V" i the time ,'t takes to "ii made to plastics and present time, I have xa^vvith these materials here and a little there. U'rials are synthetic in >t properly handled and 'iiatitis. 4, reased sensitizati has connection with dermaaccelerators. Patch testterable to bear out this >n who has been slow in io the first test, may later vc to the materials used, kcrs have been forced to i work they arc doing be ork causes an immediate rash, usually in an ag- ctions in varying seasons Ve often see a little epiin the spring where the ~>rked for months on the Steam Railroad Section Officers 1939-1940 General C/nnYmim--E. L. H enry, Chicago & North Western Railway Co., Chicago, 111. I'id'-Chairman--D. G. P hillips, Wabash Railway Co., St. Louis, Mo. Secretary and News Letter Editor--P. F. B uckle, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co., Chicago, III. Program Committee--J. R. T enney (Chairman), Western Maryland Railway Co., Hagers- ^ town, Md, P. F. B uckle, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co.. Chicago, 111. O. F. Gnadinger, Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co., Joliet, III. .11ewtiership Committee--R obert S cott (Chairman). Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co., Wilmington, N. C. A. O. B eck, Canadian National Railways, Montreal, Quo., Canada. ' F. A. B ogue, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co., Chicago, 111. Statistics Committee--T . H. Cakuow (Chairman), The Pennsylvania Railroad. Philadelphia. F. R. B radford, Boston & Maine Railroad, Boston, Mass. 3 D. G. P hillips, Wabash Railway Co., St. Louis, Mo. Contest Committee--C. L. L aFount.mne (Chairman), Great Northern Railway Co., St. Paul, Minn. L. R. P almer (Secretary), Equitable Life Assurance Society of U. S., New York City. T. H. Cakrow, The Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia, Pa. A. V. Kohweder, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway Co., Duluth. Minn. Robert S cott, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co., Wilmington, N. C. ; Poster Committee--L. J. B enson (Chairman), Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paid & Pacific ! Railroad Co., Chicago, 111. C. H. B i.akp.MORE, Norfolk & Western Railway Co., Roanoke, Va. W. F. L opgren, Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Co., St. Paul, Minn. : Safe Practices Pamphlet Committee--T. K. G age (Chairman), Chicago, Burlington & 1 Quincy Railroad Co., Chicago, 111. W. J. F i.anm gan, Northern Pacific Raiway Co., St. Paul, Minn' F. A. Hogue, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co., Chicago, 111. | Nominations and Elections Committee--W. C. S iiei.ver (Chairman), Union Pacific Rail- | road Co., Omaha, Nebr. I M. T. F ulton, Kansas City Southern Railway Co., Kansas City, Mo. H. A. D aake, Eric Railroad Co., Cleveland, Ohio. j Health Committee-- Dr. I. S. C utter (Chairman). Chicago & North Wi-oern Railway j Co.. Chicago, III. | Die H arvey B arti.e, The Pemi-ylvania Railroad, Philadelphia, Pa. i D r. A. W. W ai kf.r. Southern Pacific Railway Co., San Francisco, Calif. Officers 1940-1941 Generis! Chairman--J. R. T enney, Western Maryland Railway Co., Hagerstown, Mil. Hiee-Chairinan--O. F. G nadinger, Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co., Joliet, 111. Secretary and News Letter Editor-- I. E. L ong, The Delaware & Hudson Railroad Corp., Albany, N. Y. Program Committee--P. F. B uckle (Chairman), Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. Co- Chicago, III. P. A. Bogue, .Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Co., Chicago, 111. 697 ! 69R 29th Satinimi Safety Coni/ress J- M. Guild. Lnion Pacific Railroad, Omaha, Nebr. Membership Committee--R orf.rt S cott (Chairman), Atlantic Coast Line K. U. Co., Wilmington, N. C. A. Y. Rohwf.der, Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway Co., Duluth, Minn. Statistics Committee--T. H. Carrosv (Chairman), The Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia. F. R. B radford, Boston S; Maine Railroad, Boston, Mass. D. (i. P hillips, Wabash Railway Co.. St. Louis, Mo. Contest Committee--C. L. L aF ountainf. (Chairman), Great Northern Railway Co., St. Paul, Minn. I. . G. B entley, The Chesapeake & Ohio Raifway Co., Richmond, Va. <i. W. E lste, J r., Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co., Baltimore, Md. L. R. P almer (Secretary), Equitable Life Assurance Society of U. S., New York City. J. I. S navei.y , New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway Co., New Haven, Conn. Poster Committee--L. 1. B enson (Chairman), Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific R. R. Co, Chicago, 111. _____ ____ t . H. B lakemore, Norfolk it Western Railway Co., Roanoke, Va. W. R. L oit.ren, Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Co., St. Paul, Minn. Safe 1'ractiees Pamphlet Committee--T. K. G age (Chairman), Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. Co., Chicago, 111. W. I. F i.annkjan, Northern Pacific Railway Co., St. Paul, Minn. G. C. J e ffLRts, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway System, Chicago, 111. N aminations and Elections Committee--H. A. D aake (Chairman), Erie R. R. Co.. Cleve land. Ohio. M. T. F ulton, Kansas City Southern Railway Co., Kansas City, Mo. E. L. H enry, Chicago & North Western Railway Co., Chicago, 111. Health Committee--D r. I. S. C utter (Chairman), Chicago & North W'estcrn Railway Co.. Chicago, 111. D r. H arvey B akti.f. The Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia. Pa. TUESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION ( iciohev S, 1940 The opening session of the Steam Rail road Section was called to order hv the Chairman, E. L. Henry, Superintendent of. Safety, Chicago & North Western Railway Company, Chicago, who presided. He outlined briefly some of-the activities of the Section during the past year, and took tlie opportunity to mention the work of many Standing Committees. He then intro duced J. R. Tenney, Supervisor of Safety, Western Maryland Railway Company, Ha gerstown, Md., Chairman of the Program Committee, who assumed the Chair. Mr. Tenney introduced the speakers. The Effectiveness of Grad Crossing Protective Devices from the Viewpoint of State Authorities By WARREN HENRY A ssistant Chief Engineer. Illin ois Commerce Com m ission, Springfield, 111. this field seemed, to some of ns at least, the prevalence of what was often called the claim agent point of view, that is an undue emphasis upon legal liability rather than on public safety. Another very persistent mental attitude, whie' is tini liighu driver gettili, it is wlicthwartiir betwec point < Veri (and li been - th di>. th oci affair Tliet demon imposs;. iato tilt on a n trcspa> bave bproceri bers <1 A .. a fasi crossili. a ceni r: of pcuv and ih th init raghi d Can ti occupai dangerin th tion or tbc pii' gered r Anoli stutniilii carrelli Membri danger ing. in th ecident r cruen tile acc togcthci menta'.!', empitasi tions th upon r. ccrtain .