Document Zn2wrk2oGmVn33EMMMbmO2kjL

Occupational Disease--one resulting from the occupa tion of the employe--is a danger facing an.estimated onethird of Pennsylvania's workers. More occupational disease hazards are created continually as. new processes are developed in industry. A Metropoli tan Life Insurance study lists 900 occupations having in dustrial disease hazards; many kinds of dust and ?4 poisons are named. A partial survey of establishments in Pennsylvania disclosed 672,000 employes exposed to industrial disease hazards. But there has never boon any compensation for such in juries. Until January I, 1938, workmen's compensation will cover only injury by accidents--not physical damage tak ing place slowly which might cause tuberculosis, insanity, blindness or death. Dramatic incidents focused national attention on two neighboring states. A number of young womon, painting luminous watch dials, pointed brushes with their tongues and were poisoned by radium in the paint. They did not know the danger until too late. Men drove a tunnel for a power dam through rock with little or no protection from the silica dust. They did not realize until large numbers died that breathing tho dust was almost certain death. Pennsylvania has many more workers facing industrial dis ease hazards than both of these states, but wide attention has seldom been brought to specific situations. Some employers have spent large amounts of money to provide the greatest possible protection by equipment, devices and careful training ofworkers. 8ut they have had to compote with other employers who iqnored tho danger, told their employes at first they had minor ailments, and discharged them when they were no longer fit for work. There was no penalty for the careless employer. The em ploye had to bear the loss in wages and pay for medical tredlment. If ho couldn't pay, tho public did--by institu tional care, relief, or widowed mother's pension. j