Document VKNg44rpyBkKM9owkGEJDgmej

FILE NAME: National Safety Council (NSC) DATE: 1933 Aug DOC#: NSC449 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NSC National Safety News - The Mechanical Control of Occupational Diseases with Underlines SAFETY A VC> UV ST ' 1 '' V \ *J NEWS1cj 33 R ational Safety I P u b lis h e d m o n th ly in th e merest of accident prevention and th e health o f industrial w orkers VOL. XXVIII, No. 2 C O N T E N T S fo r A U G S T. 1933 We C an't Advance W ithout R ecords-- ]. L. Vondegrift........................................ ? tVhat ''Perm issible" M eans in R espiratory Protection-- WtUiant I1. Yant . . . . 1 1 Uncovering the F ire Hazard?---J. l'.\ J u s t ...............................................................13 c .;, ;-. pavs the Small Plan: Too-- Kuheri l_ .S e h m itt.......................................... 16 iUndling M aterial-- A Real Problem ior the Safety Man-- I. A . i 'u r d y ...........17 pacing the F uture-- M . .4. ( j i m b c l ......................................................................... ;. 19 Mechanical Control of Occupational D isease-- David S. B e y e r ......................... 21 An Eye Saved--Sten-an j . O w en, ]r........................................................................ 23 Sound Objectives for the Vocational School--John A. McCarthy.................. 25 The C ongress R e p o rte r..................................................................................................27 lillion Children Ride in School Buses--Curtis Biliiass.........................29 Mcctric Shock and Burns C ause Much Lost T im e ................................................ 36 R e g u lar D e p a rtm e n ts 12ii.*i i.:1 N . M " mc:iic iJinVi" ii)>:io.li>Mi O r,! 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THIh maetslhc 1 In^cxrd In ihe hitfunirU) Ann Jftd*x. .V K U 's ^KltrpfniK and opinions adv:mr*d In n n lfN are to Ih* 4, f ( h i r a u t U e r v . ne* l (tttiw *f t h e X n lt n s il S u l e t v <*-u rtl tnllvldual N a tio n a l S a f e ty C o u n c il, I n c . /4 'w ffru itt u % rf i t n l ' #*/ / I*/ A " ' ' (ru rn 20 fViirlli \ \ ': u - k r r D r i v e . l i l n a "ii. I . Ni-w 1 nrk Office. 9 Ea.*l 4 lit Street National Safety Council O ffic e rs. 3932-1933 Jam*. 1. Iu k . u i , I're in lr a l ii.m jrr I. IU 1U . Vtre-Pre-illfiii for l*Utc 5(ri) J. r. Cii-MMcv. Vle-IVniilnil for ITn- cin erfin e I. Kokim. V lr f - I V jI d itit fo r M rnUeeM p i*. T . IlKLLMimi. Y lr* -P r i leu t far flurtnn* Administration J m i s IT. L a x t , V e.|*m idM u i..r Cannella i n II. W m w .' V ir e P n ) id l far lo o w n a l Joiirtr I . C asw rs IL W a n s s. V irr-F w ld rn v for Itralth . tUwtma rrmIiVU.mt Y i i m u r . V irr-Pr-M i.lm l fo r \V iu fim ra . T rn su rrr tt`. II. I.tv o u ix . 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Ia WPWIM. )!MHbTiMS' ir ia>N A StT l.utia il ll.X'a.l%*I. a < | i * `A <i L i a a t t The Mechanical Control of Occupational Diseases By DAVID S. BEYER*" THE control of industrial diseas* cannot be covered adequate- It- in a single article; all *e ,;m h|x- i' do is to touch upon a lew fhi* importani x>inis encountered by :h. managers who are -trcg^l'mc problem today. rih-t.- are some ioriv different diseases -bi-h>l.-<l in ihe compensation acts'of various American stales; in Massa- ,hii.s-H5. ( onnecticut and several other stairs there is no definite list of diseases iii.it are compensated, but these diseases arc considered as " personal injuries" .tinier the law and compensation is paid without any specific schedule of disease' Many of these diseases are of i"* frequent occurrence. Probably most of us outside the medical profession have w-ver rvrn heard nl "('onioma tiamassi" i African boxwood) on " miner's nvstag* mus." which appear on some of the sute lists. A half dozen of the more im- lir!:uu diseases, however, will probably . .*mt ninety percent of the total pay ment- :-intr made thrdufthout industry r i ndus t r i a l diseases today. .\n analysis of approximately $300,000 in Inssri of nne insurance company duinc a general workmen's compensation and liability business, for recent industrial disease claims, showed $4 per cent for cases involving pneumoconiosis (includ ing silicosis, asbestos. etc.) 26 per cent (r lead poisoning, 9 per cent for various f..rni'-if dermatitis, 5 percent for benzol. ;:n<! ;hi- remaining 6 per cent for scaiter- "i- t.'Sei such as carbon monoxide, car!inn i.tracbloride, chrome and chlor ine. MV will accordingly look at the sub ject from the standpoint of these fe# im portant causes, bearing in mind that the uost important nl all is covered by the scncral heading of pneumoconiosis, or caused by dust. Of these dis- - ill.- most serious come from inhal- :n- il,,. <i l i , f o u n d in sand, granite dust. ll-r.|.|\,. OIC j * nnd ClMrf Kncin**^r i * * r* v - Vn" a liiM ii'*ir< ` pBpcr read C om tm flY . * i* Tweifin cu f , ~ n **r*'\c- >/ >11. m u m - # Bodt the engineer and th e physician a re needed in protect ing the health of the w o rk er and the pocket book of the employer. In this article M r. Beyer presents the engineering side of the problem . In th e Ju n e issue D r. Vt\ Irving Clark discussed il from the p o in t of view .of tin- plivstcian When the subject of dust is mentioned most of us probably think of visible p articks. In fact, much of the dust re moval work, even by companies special izing along this line in the past, has been directed at this form of dust. Medical research has shown us. bowever, that the dust that is most danger ous. through its deep inhalation into the lungs, is so small that the individual par ticles are invisible and can only be seen by the naked eye if they are gathered to a dense doud, which may have the ap pearance of 3 gray fog. We are told that the amount of dust found in the luma of miners who have died nl silicosis is nlwwt 13 grams', or a|tpruximai<ly half an ounce - - about enough to till a ten-cent soda-mint bottle. Microscopic Menaces Some idea of the pndikrm of collecting such infiniiestimal particks may be had when we further leant that these 13 grams contain some 20 million million particles: many of them are. about the size of the tiny globules oftarry sub stance that make up eigarct smoke, that is. about a hundred thousandth of an inch in diameter. If they were equipped with legs (hey could march fifty abreast through the hollow center of a human hair! So little has the seriousness of this hazard been appreciated in the past that it is not uncommon to go into a plant and find four or five tons of this fine dust which has ih>;ttrd in the air and settled on the roof lni"e* and vrrhead structure; of (he building. Here it may lie di.'lodged by gust; oi a ir or vibra tions front moving cranes, etc. If one <", 0c5T ' i ' * n i ' ' t o r * l stops to figure how many 13-grara bot tles are contained in a ton of this dust, (5 potentialities are appalling. The first need Is to get rid of these unneces sary accumulations, and then try to prevcnP-jheir recurrence. Many a plant manager will say, "Why go to all the trouble and expense neces sary to catch this dust when, in most cases, it isn't worth anything after it is caught?** The answer is that it is better to spend the money and effort in getting rid of the dust than to be overwhelmed by occupational disease claims, as is the case with many industrial concerns to day. In one section where there is a socalled "dusty" iriide employing only aixiut 3000 men on an annual basis, there have been 92 occupational disease claims during the latest available fiveyear perktri (OK of them fur death j>r permanent total disability) with ebrif^ bitted losses of nearly $300,000. In some industries the cost of indus trial disease is now four or five times that of all other industrial accidents combined. Many concerns that have serious occupational disease hazards ex tending over a period o f'y ears find tltrm sdv virtually uninsurable. be cause of the heavy liability for claims that has been built up as the result of past exposure. A M atter of Self-Preservation Il follows, therefore, that as a matter of self-preservation plants in these in dustries must start immediately a com prehensive program of improvement that will at least check the development of new cases. Tn general, the most reliable wav to