Document 8RZL34BwBzjaR2k9aRgbxLbem

FILE NAME: &'ZZ&' DATE: DOC#: &' DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION:d:Zt/, ZZ^ZZZZ 71t-1' P !Alf e0P4 P44,7lj ij itef raTipany? By WILLIAM E. McCORMICK Director of Industrial Hygiene, B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron. Ohio rics1111 science of industrial hygiene has come of age. Its grmYth, although slow, has been continuous i4 since its American inception just prior to the first World War. It remained. however. for the events of the last decade--notably the passage of the Social Security Act in 1936, and World War II--to provide it with its needed stature. In assessing the value to he derived from a well organized industrial hygiene prograin in a large industrial company. certain tangible benefits can he expected. These benefits are not applicable to any one industry, but are common to all. Value of Industrial Hygiene First. there should be tangible benefits resulting ill the form of lower compensation costs. While it is true that the number of occupational disease claims is small as compared to those due to industrial accidents, the severity of the former is usually much greater than the latter. Any reduction in claims, either in frequency or severity, will be directly reflected in lower compensation costs. Furthermore, certain factors such as poor ventilation, poor illumination, obnoxious (lusts and odors, and excessive noise, although not necessarily directly causing occupational disease, may contribute to the production of industrial accidents. A second benefit Might be termed more efficient production. The improvement of environmental working conditions generally has been found to increase workers' efficiency and morale. Numerous instances can be cited where. during the past few years, strikes and work stoppages have been prevented by the timely correction of unhealthful conditions, or by satisfactorily Controlling acrylonitrile vapors in the manufacture of Hyear rubber. Note the exhaust ventilation at the large extractor. 322 Control of solvent vapors by local exhaust ventilation (slot at edge of table top) at a fabric ecipentin! I operatio n. acquainting- viniii"yee, with factual uviiitinc, of the non-existence of alleged health hazards. Lower absenteeism slumld also result. This is si ,111t-what a corollary of the preceeding paragraph. It is a known fact that absenteeism. from whatever cause. results in tremendous costs to both employer and em- ployee. The vice-president of one of the country's large companies has estimated the employer cost as appoximating $70 per year for each iiiployre on the payroll of the com pany. "li t ere. o f )111-...;e. :!!! irreducible minimum for absenteeism, bin it ;, not to see that any substantial reduction caused improved employee health. better plant working con- ditions, or better employee morale. will pay dividends. Finally. an improvmnent in the itialitv of markemhie product should result. An impro`ed 'worker efficiency mac, of course, he rellec!ed in this. but frequyntly the proper control of contaminants resultintt from the 111;11111 f act u ring operation may result ill improve,: marketal le qualities. This is particularly true of those operations wherein very small quantities of impurities derivable from attnosplier:-- contamination a ffect the col han-er product. Prof zin at Goodrich wore I "42 lite L,,ttipaliv bas Leen activyly interested 111 industrial hygiene. .\ 'aboratrq-y 1yas maintained for this purpo,:e. ittiletii.r.ing as. part of tilt \\m-1:s Neeeittl 0:t. need 1...- further cxpantlin~ these acti\- itic:i. and !iti , re coordinating them with 'We medical aC111. ities of tit company. was realized. This has reS1111rd 111 the vet', (Continued on /'trot _;2S) R!.)3HR ACE ...UNE. !''` /9'17 Solution to the Problem of Uniform Abrasion ES STANCE to abrasion is an important factor in Ft the serviceability of many organic and inorganic products, such as textiles, rubber, plastics, leather, linoleum, ceramics, mastic tiles, concrete, stone, wood. and metal. The National Bureau of Standards is at present engaged in research on the measurement of resistance to abrasion as a part of the broad program on abrasion conducted by the Office of the Quartermaster General. One of the major problems in this work has been the design and development of an abrasion machine that will abrade a plane area of a specimen uniformly over the entire surface and from every direction in its plane. A complete mathematical solution to this problem has been worked out by Herbert F. Schiefer, and a machine based upon the solution has been constructed at the Bureau. In an attempt to approximate the conditions that produce uniform abrasion, numerous abrasion machines have been developed. several with highly complicated mechanisms. However, in most cases the relative motion between the specimen and abradant is not the same for the whole area of the specimen to he abraded, and in no case is it the same from every direction in the plane of the abraded surface. In the mathematical solution that was obtained, the abrasion at any instant is constant in magnitude and direction over the whole abraded area. From instant to instant the amount of abrasion remains constant, but the direction changes continuously through 360 in each cycle. This general . solution requires the plane areas of the abradant and of the specimen, which are in contact under pressure, rotate in the same direction and with the same angular velocity. The specimen must at all times be completely in contact with the abradaat, and the specimen and abrAdattt must nut be coaxial. The specimen may revolve about the center of the abradant with any angular velocity in the same direction as its rotation or in 'he op- posite direction. The simples( Autiott front mechanical considera- tions is the special solution in which both abradant and specimen rotate in the same direction and with the sante angular velocity while the specimen does not revolve. A machine based upon this special solu- tion has been constructed and found to operate satis- factorily for a wide variety of textile products. A new feature of this machine is the abradant. It consists of a disk 41/2' inches in diameter, in on face of which are inserted a series of parallel strips of clock spring, 0.025 inch thick and spaced inch apart. The edges of these springs. ground and tapped to a plane surface, constitute the abradant for tex- tile materials. Although tests indicate that the abrasive effect of this device remains constant, the abradant is, obviously, not uniform over its entire area. Any effect on the result of a test due to non-uniformity in the abradant is eliminated by rotating the abradant once more than the specimen in every 240 rotations. Abrz6ion machines based upon the - mathematical solution which has been derived have many advantages. The resistance to abrasion of many products, such as textiles, varies greatly with the direction of the abrasion because of structural differences due to the type of weave and the kinds of yarns and fibers used in the warp and in the filling. Since such machines can abrade plane areas of a specimen equally froni every direction, the effect of fabric construction or "form factor" on the resistance to abrasion can be ated directly. Why industrial Hygiene in a Rubber Company? (Continua front Page 322) recent establishment of a Department of Industrial Hygiene, functioning as a part of the Medical Division of the company and directly responsible to the Medical Director, with laboratory and office space in the central Dispensary of the main plant. Successful industrial hygiene requires the combined efforts of the medical, engineering, chemical. and nursing professions and it is believed the present arrangement enables this to be secured. A constant interchange of information. pertaining to occupational disease cases and the nature of the various manufacturing operations. occurs between the industrial hygiene department and the medical staff. Likewise a close liaison is maintained between the safety department and the workman's compensation department. The industrial hygiene laboratory, when completed. will be adequately equipped to handle all of the various analytical determinations necessary for the field control work. Of course every neede(1 facility of the present research and control laboratories will be utilized. It is not anticipated to duplicate such specialized equipment as x-ray diffraction units. spectrographs. ultraviolet spectrophotometers, etc. It is the hope of the company to provide all of its plants with the- best industrial hygiene service possible. This in its United States and Canadian plants alone means an inhinarial population of approximately 45.()00. The l',. F. Goodrich Company is not only a rubber manufacturing company but a chemical and plastics manufacturer as well. Consequently, the potential health hazards cover a very wide range. Many solvents, covering- the entire gamut of the toxicologist's textbook are used. .Many conipomuls of both toxic and dermatologic significance are employed. Of these. a fess are of singular importance to the rubber indus- try, and of (-special industrial hygiene interest. Styrene. acrylonitrile. and butadiene are typical examples. Fir,-tunately, for the most part. industrial hygiene and mdustrial toxicological research has progressed sufficiently to supply us with the necessary knowledge for emitrolling most industrial health hazards. However. in the newer. expanding industries. where today's laboratory curiosities. may be tomorrow's production rite or tank car products. constant toxicological rese:t: ch is-necessary to supply the answers to proper employee health and consumer protection. The indttstrial hygiene department of the. company charged with the la:ter. as well as the former, rep msibility and Iiir both of these reasons constant toxicological research is being- carried on by Goodrich. 328 RUBBER AGE,. Jl t. Ic47 N !ZeT' I lila poly: edge the' in m five V%. can l is se then all is the s X-ro bent, are :hat o(lic: actii: for : -oatt , :non tine. I! of r the . is ., vim-, the hay. nor, N still eon.' ;ear fan', ids. ati e tan,: is et re.1, NI :0 1, brim. t,.,, ler oi P,