Document 7gNqD3jXKaYg9rvwDxpNe3de

FILE NAME: Westinghouse (WH) DATE: 1947 Oct DOC#: WH114 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Journal Article - The Value of Industrial Hygiene Oct., 1947 The Value of Industrial Hygiene* T. LYLE HAZLETT, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.P.H.A. Medical Director, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa. HYGIENE is a branch of medical science that relates to the preserva tion of health. This definition outlines Perhaps the greatest advance made during the recent war years has been the attempt to analyze individual jobs the scope to which our thinking should in respect to the physical and mental be carried when we evaluate the effects requirements. This job analysis made that may result from the coordination it necessary not only to study the physi of the many sciences that are contri cal effort necessary for the job but buting to the well-being of our indus also the chemistry of the materials in trial population. volved in the job. Furthermore, the Since the main objective is prevention engineering aspects of the machine and of illness from the occupational envi its functional operation in its relation ronment, the medical profession must to the individual who has the responsi accept the responsibility and be the bility of operation has elicited extensive guiding spirit in realizing this objective. study. The effects of any agent on the Much still remains to be done in human body must of necessity be studied this matter of relation of the worker to with regard to the normal physiological the job. It definitely is a phase of in actions as well as the abnormal. This dustrial hygiene in its broadest dual concept is fundamental in medical conception. science. While the medical phase may Since 1915 much has been accom play a dominant part in our evaluation plished by our efforts in accident pre of the worth of industrial hygiene there vention in our industrial plants. These are three other distinct elements: en efforts were based on the theory that gineering, chemistry, and physics, all all accidents can be attributed to me of which must be closely correlated if chanical failure. The human element, we are to attain our objective. which perhaps is a factor of failure in Industrial management has at times 80 per cent of our industrial accidents, overlooked the value of controlling in has been entirely neglected. In view of dustrial environment, not only from a the broadening vision that industrial purely economic basis but also from well-being is an asset in any accident the point of view of the psychological prevention program to render it of real reactions of the individual worker. This value, there must of necessity be an fact has been emphasized more recently equal interest in and a study of the by the increased interest shown in the human element in its relation to the matter by our organized labor groups mechanical causes of all industrial in which were keenly aware of the psy juries. This requires the close coordina chological factor in spurring the pro tion of industrial hygiene personnel and duction reached during the period of those responsible for safe mechanical World War II. working conditions. With such an * Address of the Chairman, presented before the Industrial Hygiene Section of the American Public Health Association at the Seventy-fourth Annual Meeting in Cleveland. Ohio, November 12, 1916. organization we will enter a new era in our efforts to reduce the enormous toll of accidents in industry. According to [1302] Hygiene" F.A.P.H.A. ition, Pittsburgh, Pa. he greatest advance made ecent war years has been to analyze individual jobs ) the physical and mental . This job analysis made lot only to study the physiecessary for the job but nistry of the materials in he job. Furthermore, the ispects of the machine and 1 operation in its relation dual who has the responsiation has elicited extensive 1 remains to be done in if relation of the worker to lefinitely is a phase of in giene in its broadest 5 much has been accom>ur efforts in accident preur industrial plants. These based on the theory that - can be attributed to melure. The human element, ps is a factor of failure in of our industrial accidents, tirely neglected. In view of :ing vision that industrial an asset in any accident rogram to render it of real must of necessity be an -t in and a study of the ant in its relation to the auses of all industrial inequires the close coordinarial hygiene personnel and sible for safe mechanical iditions. With such an ve will enter a new era in reduce the enormous toll in industry. According to statistics of the National Safety Council for the year 1945 there were 16,000 fatalities, 80,000 permanent disabilities, and 104,000 temporary disabilities charged to industry. This constituted a man-day loss to industrial production of 46,000,000 days-- a loss which can not be estimated in monetary value. The working population in the United States now numbers approximately 60,000,000 persons, and out of this group there are probably 15,000,000 persons working in those industries which use potentially hazardous mater ials or processes. In these selected in dustries, perhaps about one-third of the total persons employed are exposed to some type of material or process which may involve a potential health hazard. These 5,000,000 exposed persons pre sent a very real problem to industry throughout the nation, and the value of industrial hygiene is being demon strated by the preservation of the health of these people. During the war years a new view point was developed toward industrial hygiene activities. Many industries sud denly were faced with the problem of protecting the health of thousands of men working with hazardous materials or processes. There was an instantaneous demand for trained personnel, and this demand was filled by drawing persons from related fields of activity in medi cine, engineering, chemistry and physics. One of the outstanding accomplish ments in the field of control of occupa tional diseases during the war period was the work of McConnell, Flinn, and Brandt in government owned ordnance explosive plants. In the 968,000 manyears of operations (among 309,000 op erating employees in 101 plants) there were only 28 fatalities because of occu pational disease-- 22 from trinitrotolu ene, 3 from nitrous oxide, 2 from carbon tetrachloride, and 1 from ethyl ether-- a rate of less than 3 fatalities per 100,000 workers per year. Despite the magnitude of explosives production, the total of 22 fatalities due to TNT re ported here is but a small fraction of the 475 fatalities reported from TN T and related compounds during relatively limited production in World War I. The Army has a commendable record. It established this record even though there was no industrial medical program in the Army in 1941, by using civilian physicians already trained in this field. I am glad to see such results published. Many industrial organizations have equally commendable records and they too should be published. In fact, I have been amazed at the dearth of such material in our journals. We can be proud of our records, so why not set them down for all to see? Our story in this regard which we all hope to see published soon and which again will show the need for and the value of in dustrial hygiene is that of the produc tion of the atomic bomb. I am sure all of us, now that part of the story is known, can imagine the magnitude of the task which confronted the physi cians, engineers, and physicists at plants engaged in this work. We do not know the whole story as yet, but at least we know industrial hygiene stood the test and was a great factor in the success of this project. The atomic bomb was a dramatic unveiling of the tremendous power and energy which now can be made avail able for the benefit of man. It has opened new fields, not only for the possibilities in the generation of power, but it will make available many of the ninety-six known elements in radioac tive form. The availability of these radioactive elements will result in many important applications. Perhaps one of the most important applications is their use as tracer elements. Another definite possibility is in their thera peutic application. The smashing of atoms produces, among other things, tremendous radia- tion; and the usefulness of the various tective equipment and sanitary meas radioactive elements will be determined ures. Adequate pre-placement and to a considerable extent by the emana periodic physical examinations were tions which they give off. A challenge made on all employees involved in this is presented to us in this preventive operation. Several months after produc field, and the successful utilization of tion was started, certain laboratory atomic energy will depend upon the findings indicated a need for slightly elimination of health hazards associated better control, and such control was with the variety of radiations which established. The production of Bug occur in their use. Electrons, neutrons, Bombs has continued into the post-war alpha particles, gamma rays and other period, and there have been no cases radiations will be included in the field of of illness of occupational disease as a industrial hygiene as lead and benzol result of these operations. have in the past. Another of the high production war Among examinations of noteworthy items was radar equipment. The manu effort were those made on workers en facture, testing, and operation of Ihe gaged in the manufacture of insecticide various types of radar equipment in bombs for the armed services. Over half volved numerous exposures to high of the bombs produced used a formula frequency radiation. This type of radia containing pyrethrum, sesame oil and tion had been relatively unknown ex freon. Since none of these materials is cept in the laboratory, and of course very toxic to human beings, there was there were many suppositions that this no particular problem of health pro radiation might be harmful to human T * ` tection involved. After D D T had been bodies. Some of the common illnesses developed and sufficient information was to which average persons are subject available to indicate that it could be were quickly associated in the workers' used with safety by personnel of the minds with this new radiation. Exten armed services, a potential hazard was sive tests and examinations have indi created by continuous eight-hour-per- cated, however, that these radiations day exposure among persons performing have no harmful effect on persons other the various manufacturing operations, than the slight amount of heating which and this had to be given serious con may occur. Usually this heating is sideration. negligible and no particular hazard has The problem involved not only the been demonstrated. possibility of breathing the fine mist Recently a completely new concept produced by the aerosol from the Bug has been established which unites the Bombs, but also the possible significance growing of food, its processing, pack of absorbing D D T through the skin. aging, and distribution. This close co *. I, f This hazard was recognized prior to ordination of all these activities at one the actual use of this material and, by location has been referred to as "agro close cooperation between our industrial industry." Agriculture and industry hygiene engineers, manufacturing per have been transmuted into a single sonnel, process and layout engineers, integrative activity. This concept of a complete new installation was made agro-industry is extremely large. It is with protective measures built in as a in fact one of those grand ideas that part of the original layout of the equip stagger the imagination with their ment. Where it was not practical to scope, complexity, and implication. eliminate the hazard by suitable design Agro-industry has been applied to the and layout of equipment, the hazard cultivation of cane and root crops, and was controlled by use of personal pro the manufacture of starch and sugar in Vol.37 Industrial H ygiene 1305 the Everglades of Florida. This concept of agro-industry opens another new field in industrial hygiene. The impetus given to the study and control of industrial health hazards during the past few years has resulted in a fuller appreciation of the value of industrial hygiene. It is a broadening field and it is now utilizing the services of hundreds of specially trained per sonnel. The field of industrial hygiene is continuing to draw talent from related professions and it is uniting physicians, chemists, engineers, and physicists in this broad endeavor of safeguarding the health of our industrial workers. Those of us who are devoting full time to industry and attending the man agers' meetings to insure an adequate budget for the current and following years have had it only too thoroughly impressed upon us that the era of "cost plus" is over; things are now different; competition in the price of production is again becoming the paramount issue, and curtailment of expense will be the keynote in every possible phase. This is quite a different story from the one we heard during the war period. This brings us then to what I feel is an important phase of this discussion concerning the value of industrial hygiene. What are we as physicians doing to preserve the gains made during the war? What have we learned that is going to help us to continue to achieve greater stature among industrialists, the employees, and, last but not least, our own medical profession? It may be presumptuous to suggest the means by which an employer can evaluate his preventive hygiene service. Our exper ience in large and small plants, however, indicates that management is anxious to have a yardstick by which it can measure the effectiveness of all services. This applies in particular to those who are genuinely interested in the welfare of their workers. There are tangible profits which may be shown, such as a reduction in ab senteeism, a diminution in the number of grievances presented by individual employees relative to working condi tions, the reduction of occupational disease claims, the reduction of actual compensation costs through a reduction in accident frequency, and a reduction in labor turnover. The intangible bene fits such as the improvement in general health as the result of periodic physical examinations, and an intensive program of health education can well be included in the estimate of the value of an in dustrial hygiene program in industry. All of this brings to our attention the necessity of an annual inventory of our work which can be presented to man agement only if adequate records are kept, and this factor too is of the utmost importance for future programs in the field of industrial health. In considering the future value of industrial hygiene, one cannot neglect the problems of education. .Although limited training now is available in various universities to those who wish to enter the field, there still is need for the establishment of complete courses which will develop workers for the field of industrial hygiene. We all are familiar with the studies made a number of years ago which in dicated that the mortality and morbidity rates among the industrial population were greater than those of the general population. The value of industrial hygiene will be measured in the future by a reduction of the mortality and morbidity rates of industrial workers to the point where they may even be lower than those of the general popu lation. It is not possible to treat this subject wholly in the time allotted or by a single presentation, but even a brief consideration of our topic suggests the existing challenge to us physicians, engineers, chemists, and physicists upon whom falls the responsibility of safe- 1306 American Journal of Public H ealth Oct., 1947% guarding the health of our industrial ventive medicine in its broad aspects, workers. And, further, it suggests a If we meet this challenge we shall conchallenge which presents a new horizon tribute greatly to the continuance of and new frontiers in the field of pre- our American Way of Life. International Tropical Medicine Congress to Meet in Washington, May, 1948 Wilbur A. Sawyer, M .D., Executive Secretary of the State Department's Division of International Congresses, announces the first American meeting of the International Congress of Tropi cal Medicine and the International Congress on Malaria in Washington next May. The Department of State will sponsor the meeting with the co operation of five governmental agencies and fifteen scientific societies including the American Public Health Associa tion. These organizations all have repre sentatives on an Organizing Com mittee appointed by the Secretary of State with Thomas Parran, M .D., as Chairman, George K. Strode, M .D., and Clarke L. Willard as Vice Chairmen, Rolla E. Dyer, M.D., as Program Direc tor, Wilbur A. Sawyer, M .D., as Execu tive Secretary, and William L. Breese as Secretary. The representative of the A.P.H.A. on the Organizing Committee is Henry E. Meleney, M.D., who is also Convener of Section X I, Public Health. The scientific meetings will be held in twelve sections: I, Research and Teaching Institutes; II, Tropical Cli matology and Physiology; III, Bacterial and Spirochetal Diseases; IV, Virus and Rickettsial Diseases; V, Malaria; VI, Helminthic Diseases; VII, Protozoan Diseases; VIII, Nutritional Diseases in the Tropics; IX , Tropical Dermatology and Mycology; X , Tropical Veterinary Medicine; X I, Public Health; XII, Medical and Veterinary Entomology. There will also be scientific and com mercial exhibits and a program of motion pictures on subjects related to tropical medicine. In addition, there will be visits to the laboratories of the Depart ment of Agriculture in Beltsville, to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, and to other scientific institutions in and around Washington. Physicians, scientists, and other pro fessional persons qualified in tropical medicine will be enrolled as Members of the Congresses. Those interested are advised to write to the Executive Secre tary, Fourth International Congresses on Tropical Medicine and Malaria, D e partment of State, Washington 25, D . C., for a copy of the Preliminary Announcement with the Advance Regis tration and Hotel Reservation Form. 4. 37 Age An Example of > Executive Din W 7 H ETHER a j W not receive he (0 be governed by b don rather than by tl needing care. How, fact that much dat; illness are available cords forces us, at tl a compromise with < cision. Hence we fu data based on the fi and unpathologic < illness cared for in Even in view of the available concerning hospital care, its i materially limited arriving at any sati of the population fr pital patients came, cidence rates expres pital patients per ur year were available form. The growth of B! interest in this com have the unique ad known population to, and they do people who compi because it is necescription charges quently, we have, large portion of t * Presented before the ' American Public Health fourth Annual Meeting her 13, 1946.