Document QJpaz4oQN35MxYOdaY74KxG24

AUGUST, 1946 Industrial Hygiene Digest --1 w----~ mmrn ----ig--ggg--egj^=a^^n. --'' *=g---- (Vol.10, No. 8) Juteldtule Gidiach MEDICAL ENGINEERING LEGAL -- decisions and trends ^nbustllal Health Tlews Uemi Mmtkfy By INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION 4400 FIFTH AVENUE PITTSBURGH 13, PA. FOUNDATION FACTS Foundation Facta ia a monthly news-letter iaaucd to induatrial concerna holding membership in induatrial Hygiene Foundation. The Foundation ia a non-profit aeaociation of induatriea for the advancement of healthful working conditions. taUi r r o Au^st f 1945 | ! ljprf\N.aiAer Jfamed foundation Medical .Director Iiaa-8 Announcement ismade of the appointment of Dr. C. Richard Walraer as Medical i rector of Industrial Hygiene Foundation. Dr. TPalmer took up his duties as full-time physician for the Foundation on August 1 He will direct the medical phases of the organization's efforts for the ^.prQvenent of working conditions and the advancement of employee health. He will ilso serve as Secretary of the Foundation1 s Medical Committee which is headed by :r. A.J. Lanza, Associate Medical Director, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. For the past five years Dr. ffalmer has been associated with Dr. T. Lyle Hftzlstt, Medical Director at Westingfaouse Electric Corporation, serving as toxicolo gist and as a consulting specialist in industrial medicine. He has had wide experience fith sick disability cases and in protecting workers against health hazards. He is a staff member of Presbyterian and Braddock General Hospitals, Pittsburgh. Upon graduation from Washington and Jefferson College, Dr. Waimer entered the University of Pittsburgh Medical School where he obtained his M.D. degree in 1935. After interning at Pittsburgh Hospital, he took one year of postgraduate work in medi cine at the University of Pennsylvania. Besides his medical training, Dr. Waimer lso holds the Master of Science degree in chemistry. Annual Meeting Nov. T A series of informal, round-table Conferences are planned for representatives from member companies in connection with the Foundation1 s Eleventh Annual Meeting this year. The general meeting will be held on November 7 at Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh. The Conferences will be held the day before and the day after the regular meeting. The tentative arrangement follows; Nov, ft AM -- Medical Conference PM -- Medico-Legal Conference AM -- Engineering Conference PM -- Engineering Conference Nov. 7 -- Eleventh Annual Meeting of Members Nov. 8 AM -- Chemical and Toxicological Conference PM -- Chemical and Toxicological Conference An agenda covering subject matter to be discussed at the Conferences will be sent to members in advance of the annual meeting along with the preliminary pro gram for the Annual Meeting. Members are urged to see that this material reaches a_U Interested personnel in different departments within the company. News Brief; "From the Research Laboratory to the Armed Forces," a series of six radio talks describing wartime work at Mellon Institute, is now available to Foundation members. One of the talks is devoted to Foundation activities. I-H-F Digest - 14 Control Methods ? I 4 854 The_Coritrol of Lung Disease in Industry... R. Hermon. Brit. J. Phys. Med., 9, 23 (Jan.-Feb., 1946) In the past, in industrial medicine, attention has been focused too closely on silicosis, but the other forms of industrial pneumoconiosis have been neglected. The term "benign pneumoconiosis* has tended to stifle or postpone needed investigation and institution of preventive measures. Any industrial process giving, rise to dust, the inhalation of which subse quently produces roentgenologic manifestations in the lungs, should be sub ject to the closest scrutiny. Even though there may seem to be no resul tant disability, steps should be taken to control the hazard. Attention is called to reports on pneumoconiosis affecting boiler scalers, graphite wor kers and radiator and boiler finishers. In all dusty occupations routine roentgenologic examinations are advised, but roentgenograms of high standard should be used and never of the miniature type. -- From Occ. Med. 855 Rotes on Ventilation of Grinding and Other Foundry .Operations. H.H. Valiquet. Am. lad. yg. Quart., Z* 22-24 (June, 1946) The fundamental principles of foundry ventilation have been presented in a number of papers. The author gives a number of miscellaneous notes on various details of ventilation and dust-removal, which add to the general efficiency. In conclusion he wishes to make it perfectly clear that grind- - ing wheel ventilation is no longer in the era of speculation, and that methods of successful control are well developed. Industrial Health Hazards and Their Effects 856 Silicosis, the Moat T-moo-rt.nnt of the PTmimocftnloweg. K. Enzer. Occ. Med., 1, 425-442 (May, 1946) This paper is a critical review of the present knowledge of silicosis. In addition to the well-known fundamentals, which must form the groundwork of any such review, -the author presents several angles of the subject that may not be so well known, as well as his own views and suggestions. On the historical side, there is great need of a treatise concerned with a critical review of the subject from the historian1 s point of view. The author has "long felt that history will yet be written from the point oi view of medicine and health - for the influence of the growth of knowlec of disease on social and economic laws is profound and far reaching". I usual classification of simple silicosis into three stages, though usefu is arbitrary and subject to wide variation in interpretation, and does not consider duration, rate of development, or noninfectious complicatic The literature emphasizes the advanced stages, and there are sufficient studies on pulmonary conditions in patients dying of other conditions. The essential anatomic features of the silicotic lung are summarized as PIgfi3t ~-as August. 1S4Q follows: (1) nodular fibrosis throughout both lungs and in the correspond ing lymph nodes; (2) coal or other dust pigment in the fibrotic areas; (3) pigmentation and fibrous thickening of the pleura; (4) emphysema which may assume several forms; (5) agglomeration of the nodules; (6) progressive enlargement and induration of the lymph nodes; (7) bronchitis and bronchio litis;..^-) evidences of strain on the right side of the heart; and (9) tuberculosis.. These manifestations vary greatly in time and severity. Bsphyseana is as much a part of silicosis as is fibrosis. Rhen sufficiently advanced it alters the shape of the chest, produces dyspnea, obstructs the passage of the blood, and causes strain on the heart, sometimes causing death by-heart failure. The extension of lymph-node fibrosis into the hilura and mediastinum contributes to those effects. The roentgenogram is of great Importance in diagnosis, and when similar nodular silicosis is present, a simple examination is adequate. However, the roentgenogram is not diagnostic in the earlier, pre-nodular stages, and when emphysema, mediastinal lymph nodes and heart effects are present, highly technical and refined methods by skilled examiners are necessary, because emphysema obscures the effect of fibrosis. In addition to roentgenological examina tion, a painstakingly elicited history is essential, and various tests of respiratory function should be made. Regarding exposure, the author says: "It is important to remember that whatever notions one may have regarding the safe limits of a dusty ataosphere, the final factor deter mining a safe atmosphere is what happens to the persons exposed to it." He considers the use of neutralizing dusts as still in the experimental stage. The final point emphasized is the necessity for an open-mind on the part of the physician and of those who pass judgment on the legal and financial aspects of the problem. 857 patent Silicosis and Tuberculosis. H. Dayman. Am. Rev. Tuberc., .53, 554-559 (June, 1946) The author presents four case reports, all bearing evidence that silicosis can exert a harmful effect on resistance to tuberculosis even when generalized pulmonary fibrosis due to free silica is so slight that evidence of it is meagre or entirely lacking on technically satisfactory roentgenograms. This condition is designated latent eilicosis. More over, a survey of 77 patients coming to Ray Brook Sanitarium with both silicosis and tuberculosis showed that there was no correlation between the size or mznber of the silicotic nodules determined roentgenographi cally and the rapidity with which death from tuberculosis occurred. Therefore, the degree of nodulation is not a reliable criterion of sus ceptibility to tuberculosis even in obvious silicosis. 853 Tfre Incidence .of-Sideroals in Iron -Turnerrand Grinders. M. Buckeli, J. Garrad, H.H Jupe, A.I.G. McLaughlin and K.M.A. Perry. Brit. J. Ind. Meu., 3, 78-02 (Apr., 1946) One hundred and seventy-one individuals (S3 female, 138 male) exposed to iron dust in iron turneries were radiographed in order to gauge the incidence of changes in their lungs due to iron oxide. These changes, in the form of reticulation, were present in 15 instances. In five cases the man had been working in this occupation for more than 20 years. The changes were not gross, symptoms were few, only one com plaining of shortness of breath though six said they had some cough. The dust obtained from rafter samples contained 57.1^ metallic-iron, 25. iron oxide, while the total silica content was 5.4^ and the sili cate residue -- Authors* summary.