Document DM3R415N1L99yMvyG83bOMdrn

FILE NAME State of the Art Literature SAL DATE 1950 DOC SAL050 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Book Excerpt - Pneumoconiosis C 0 3 : Edited by ARTHUR J. VORWALD M.D. * Director of The Trudeau Foundation and : The Saranac Laboratory with the collaboration of MANFRED BOWDITCH A.B. THOMAS M. DURKAN M.E. THEODORE C. WATERS L.L.B. ~~ ' Pneumoconiosis. BERYLLIUM BAUXITE FUMES ~ COMPENSATION Leroy U. Gardner Memorial Volume Fe te pC ce et SIXTH SARANAC SYMPOSIUM fi PAUL B. HOEBER Inc. Medical Book Department of Harper & Brothers The Management Viewpoint 567 ; (91ad- this , Discussion . will . per- . VANDIVER BROWN* ; , view- we jess than own : \ 1 fear that anything anything I may have to say regarding the management view- point on compensation for pulmonary and other occupational diseases will be somewhat redundant coming as it does after Mr. Fletcher's re- marks on this subject However I can at least underscore a few of his 01 ble ation nited -they wad tion eto guard r r : very lly if ectly ectly wa thatthat is at the bebsetst . al al the : + thoughts . In the first place there is not the slightest doubt that the overwhelming weight of opinion in American industry is in favor of compensation for which are truly occupational in character Quite properly man- diseases measures the problem with the same yardstick it applies to agement result it finds that workmen's for industrial accidents As a compensation in the long run all the interests involved employer the employee and the community benefited if occupational diseases are compen- sated in the same manner as traumatic injuries irrespective of fault on the of the employer or of contributory negligence on the part of the part Fletcher Fletcher out management can justify this view employee As Mr. pomits the im- dollars basis without taking into account * on purely in all ponderable values Although the employer must pay something spared cases he has a top limit placed on his liability and is the hazard of committing the corporate surplus to the tender mercies of a jury with : advanced ideas concerning the redistribution of wealth On the other hand the employee employee although he foregoes the gamble of an occasional generously nevertheless windfall with his shared with his has the assur- ance of receiving something approximately adequate even though he may have technically assumed the ris: k of employment or been injured byaxio- a negligently follows " fellow negligently contributed his injury It servant or his injury injury contributed to axio- incapacitated incapacitated having matically that the communitcommunity y benefibenefitts s by having fewer incapacitated mmmit wowr orkk thtaht at The The The persons occupational can on the charity rolls or charity think think of no better way on relief illustrating illustrating of illustrating for industrial accidents and view management's view of comthan diseases than tell occupational diseases to pensation great by compainsnuly ating you what felt concern was felt my own insulating decided after having after having decided to erect a new having . Manville insulating board Corporation Manville Secretary and General Attorney Corporation New York New York , ; , . : trevbes Piereteceneccaetl S4gits * An ot La: 568 Pneumoconiosis . plant in southwest Mississippi we learned that this was the one state in the Union which had no workmen's compensation law Of course we went ahead with our plans but we are hoping that early corrective meas- ures will be taken by the state legislature Mississippi by the way has been making rapid progress industrially during the past few years under the guidance of an able and enlightened group of citizens and we feel confident that they soon will be able to remedy the existing situation It remains our firm conviction that the worst Workmen's Compensation Commission is preferable to the best jury when the issue of compensation for an industrial injury is drawn between a laborer and his corporate employer , As Mr. Fletcher pointed out compensation for pulmonary diseases of occupational character presents great difficulties first in ascertaining whether the disease derives from employment and second in ascertain- ing the degree of disability These factors have induced some employers to oppose compensation for pulmonary occupational diseases and have provided sound basis for the argument that when they are compensated the law should provide for a qualified medical board to determine the existence of the disease and the degree of disability While recognizing an obligation for those afflictions which stem from employment management is firmly opposed to shouldering the burden on behalf of its employees of all the ills that flesh is heir to This oppo- sition extends also to tuberculosis as an occupational disease and to general health insurance As has been said management generally favors compensation for tru occupational diseases whether pulmonary or other although it is realized that those of pulmonary charact^r present many special and difficult problems These problems relate not only to the causal connection . between the disease and employment and to the degree of disability that ' * results but also to the determination of permissible concentrations of dust fumes gases and vapors in those cases where these are responsible for the diseases What is the called threshold limit on one side of which the concentration can considered harmless and on the other side dangerous We realize this is a difficult question to answer but it is one which industry has a right to demand he answered with accuracy and fairness if industry is to be held responsible for eliminating unsafe conditions and for compensating for those diseases that result from operations under unsafe conditions Mann upon State : askalie for inc A tem into Comm variety hope t and se able bof mon in la So certa certan this in the di will us cated cosis aim is expert like Juhu usbest ceived ceived us lat Sarana notnot pe mental fines Partic oken the on hi the en ^lusiv wer a . ht ee ah 4ay te . . . me oo . ' :) :) , 1 t : : fo 8 F Doo, i ' . o The Management Viewpoint - 569 Management is not equipped to answer this question but must rely upon the experts in the medical scientific and engineering professions State industrial codes are being promulgated right and left which dog matically l'hope accurately certain mandatory requirements for industries whose processes use or create harmful vapors dusts etc. A tentative draft of one for the state of New Jersey has recently come _ into my bands through the courtesy of Mr. George Kruger Deputy Commissioner of Labor Maximum limits are prescribed for a great variety of materials with which.I have no familiarity but it is my earnest hope that these limits have been arrived at on the basis of a better factual and scientific background than exists in the case of asbestos The allowable limit for industries using this material is a mandatory requirement of not more than five million particles per cubic foot 10 microns or less in longest dimension So far as have ever been able to ascertain no one can state with certainty what is the maximum allowable limit for ashestus dust am certain no study has been made specifically directed toward ascertaining this figure and 1 question whether there exists sufficient data correlating the disease to the degree of exposure to warrant any determination that will even approximate accuracy It is my guess that the figure was allocated to asbestos either because it had already been prescribed for sili- cosis or because someone believed like the poet that not failure but low aim is crime My own efforts to obtain any satisfactory answer from the experts have been greeted with what is sometimes known as a lawyerlike comment is an answer that says Yes and No Maybe Manville Corporation and other members of the relatively small asbestos industry have solicited the assistance of experts and have received their wholehearted cooperation but even the best they could give us has not been enough Experimental work by Dr. Gardner here at Saranae demonstrated fairly conclusively that the finer particles would not produce a fibrosis either when inhaled by or injected into experi- mental animals Unlike the situation that exists in silicosis where the finer particles are the worst offenders it appears that the large fiberlike particles of asbestos 20 to 50 inicrons in length and 1 to 3 in thickness do the damage Unfortunately Dr. Gardner was unable to make a report on his experiments It our hope that one will be forthcoming before the end of this year based upon his preliminary findings notes and con- clusions Meantime the drafters of industrial codes will presumably ~~ FRR eo eter cinta Pletesecgseepettbertes Si POO BI HD! Bass Sav ee Tye det alias kot Bite nr ah? welhea Py vaa q we f, Sasyegbehul h ners g po agee 69 gs SR mae ela Feo"}atSart hate mad tay hee 4 pales 570 Pneumoconiosis tinue to provide us with standards which have no roots in exp^'riencebut which take their sustenance like orchids from the air and in the case , of asbestos will relate their standards to the innocuous sizes of dust and leave unmentioned those of the character that presumably can have some ill effects . I mentioned before that most representatives of management are still opposed firmly opposed general health insurance Cradle grave and other paternalistic programs we believe weaken two of the principal supports of our capitalist system namely individual incentive thaessurance that for a greater expenditure of effort one will receive a greater reward habits of whereby a person eating beans today may put aside the wherewithal to dine upon sirloins tomorrow or at worst still be able to procure beans for the pot without recourse to charity private or governmental Furthermore by saving for a rainy day on which une will in all likelihood contract pneumonia the thrifty soul is also able to afford doses of whateyer new wonder drug may be in vogue at the time ; Our strength lies in our productivity Incentive is the spark of production If we wrap the individual in the cotton of complete security he will lack incentive and produce nothing The issue involved in health insurance represents in miniature the world ideological conflict of the present day The opponents of our system have distilled the essence of their philosophy into an alluring epigram From each according to his ability to each according to his need At first glance this may seem like the finest flowering of the Christian ethic but this is an illusion The Christian ideal also includes such ancient wisdom as God helps them that help themselves and my own Presbyterian dogma includes the doctrine of original sin The Marxian dogma on the other hand overlooks the Adam that is in all of us Production was unnecessary in the Garden of Eden and Adam produced nothing Most men in similar situation today would produce nothing There will be lacking the urgent necessity incentive The more talented industrious and productive under a perfect socialist state will produce far less than their superior abilities would permit because of their knowledge that they will not enjoy the fruits of their labors The less energetic or intelligent will produce as little as they can get by with because they have been assured that the state will provide for their needs In this economic climate level est chat " TTS ha labor states A toward in Brit Charta is now differen siner the pr miser You him an trans it five in his by an that ou Willk can li The point pense employ of day A Iskunh advara these . with las V yecut into a gee 5 Pow h gsaiete BEAT Jones still -10- the Live ive tas ve or to a The ray rt icalical Jed ich ice KIS fh er e wy . ard + aul , ats eu The Management Viewpoint , 571 climate production will inevitably my opinion far below the level of the requirements of more than a fraction of the population At that point the powerful state will be compelled to apply the other means of getting production out of mankind namely the forced labor and concentration camps- as already exist in the Communist states And what of those states that have advanced only part of the way toward the Marxian Utopia The answer lies in the current situation in Britain That ancient home of the Mother of Parliaments of Magna Charta and of the Petition of Rights after two years of applied Marxism is now about to engage in the peacetime conscription of labor a step different only in degree from the barbarie measures long since adopted by the Marxian Fatherland Such steps are inevitable if the paternalistic State is to support its population at even share misery level You all know the parable of the donkey There are two ways to get him to pull the cart One to dangle a bunch of carrots a short distance in front of his nose and the other is to use a suake whip or to build a fire under his belly last mentioned expedient sometimes resulting in his moving forward just far enough to burn the cart Our own system by and large still adheres to the carrot philosophy and I for one believe that ours is the path of productivity and of power and as Wendell Willkie said that only the productive can be strong and only the strong can be free The statistics submitted by Mr. Fletcher very clearly exemplify the point I have tried to make They show that if an employer provides compensation for a given number of days of sickness he will find that the employees will be nonproductive on almost exactly the identical number of days , A less general objection to health insurance laws as enacted in Rhode Island and California and as proposed in a number of States is the disadvantage suffered by an industry in one State which is burdened burdened with these added costs when it attempts to sell its product in competition with that of another industry in a neighboring State which has no such law We do not believe in laws of this type but if the philosophy of security from womb to tomb is to be our doom let these laws be fitted intu a national social security system so that they will be applicable to aaskathitillish} siCzatehles tee cadets eetcoae: 5 a eae afe & 2 polcoediee hohe pg . 8 we Pod Mf le 2 wis reewe pom oe me e eroe Sane wet tan Re Pe oak se Bae a peps.24: Bis 2B n Fes Se pepe es et 21a) ys ikSetay ie Nay ghee ms: 572 Pneumoconiosis everyone equally and at the same time and let the through taxation on the community as a whole Further Discussion MR WATERS Thank you Mr. Brown That was very well done Mr. Fletcher's paper and Mr. Brown's paper will now be open for discussion I believe we have in the audience Mr. McMahon the Managing Director of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation of America Mr. McMahon would you be kind enough to say a word MR MCMAHON In the experience of the Industrial Hygiene Foundation the problems of occupational disease control are shrinking Mr. Nelson referred to the fact that in Wisconsin they had fargely eliminated silicosis and that lead poisoning was going in the same direction In vary- ing degrees think that is true throughout the country The current interest of much of industry is in what you might call positive industrial . health That is illustrated by a study which we are now undertaking and which will attempt to devise ways and means of protecting men in hot industries from exposure to high temperatures Occupational disease prevention is usually a matter of improving work- ing conditions We are currently engaged in working with a large chemical company in the design of a series of new chemical processes with a view to building maximum health protection into the processes themselves The program even includes the instruction of the plant managers , in the operation of those plants * Studies are also being made for a number of industrial associations checking the different plants within the same industry and reviewing the good and the bad practices The exchange of pertinent information which results helps improve working conditions on an industry front So the emphasis is on positive industrial health The Foundation through the assistance of Dr. C. O. Sappington has completed a twoyear survey of industrial health facilities Almost three hundred plants were covered in this study which shows among other things that most companies or most plants now have some industrial health service About in Nate brow Good ... ... As better clearh impe that COAST O when tive indiy ! tion C2131 13.11 he. healt can . . . - - , ' : t 7 . The Management Viewpoint 573 About thirty per cent of them had some industrial hygiene service in varying degrees The reaction was quite uniform as Mr. Fletcher brought out that healthful working conditions are just good business Good working conditions attract a good type of employee and that means a good product . As Charles Kettering has said The better the working conditions the. better the attitude of the individual and the better the work It's pretty clearly demonstrated that this pays off on the economic side and it is important to bring this out in order to get action To emphasize the positive approach further we found in this study that in more than half of the plants visited the preplacement physical examination is no longer regarded simply as a measure to determine whether the man has an occupational disease disposition a rather nega- tive approach but is used to help in the successful job placement of the individual We think this adds up to this basic concept there is no longer a ques- tion of whetheorr not industry will sponsor industrial health but rather can a company afford not to engage in industrial health activities But aside from the tangible economic benefit to management the immeasurable intangibles are perhaps even greater for just one thing health promotes harmony and harmony is one of those things that we can all use a lot more of these days Jere iibbladiliittueress cseesetaiabl Aeatcedat saclisectssdedodahbarealpibteateudkdebnel}enaaeisterty4 oh} = mee 4: