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FILE NAME: BF Goodrich (BFG) DATE: 1947 DOC#: BFG026 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Trade Journal Article - Why Industrial Hygiene in a Rubber Company (See also #53, out of order) By WILLIAM E. McCORMICK Director of Industrial H ygiene, B. F. Gnmlrieb Co., A kron. Ohio TI !!' science of industrial hygiene has come of age. !ts growth. although slow, lias been continuous since its American inception iust prior to the lirst World War. It remained, however, for the events ot the last decade--notably the passage of the Social Se curity Act in 1936, and World W ar II--to provide it with its needed stature. lit assessing the value to lie derived front a well organized industrial hygiene pro gram in a large industrial company. Certain tangible benefits can he expected. These bcnehls are not ap plicable to anv one industry, blit are common to all. Value of industrial Hygiene First, there should be tangible benefits resulting in the form of Icnver 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 compen sation costs. Furthermore, certain factors such as poor ventilation, poor illumination, obnoxious dusts 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 pro duction. The improvement of environmental working conditions generally has been found to increase work ers' efficiency and morale. Numerous instances can be cited where, during the past few years, strikes and work stoppages have been prevented by the timely cor rection of unhealthful conditions, or by satisfactorily Controlling acrylonitrile vapors in the mauitjacturc of Hxcar rubber. Note the exhaust ventilation at the targe extractor. Control of solvent vapors by'local exhaust ventila tion (slot at edge of table top) a! a fabric cementwg operation. acquainting emplovees with factual evuleitei ot tinnon-existence of alleged health hazards. Lower absenteeism should also result. This is some what a corollary of tile proceeding paragraph. It is a known fact that absenteeism, irmu whatever cause, results ill 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 app oximatiug $70 per rear for. each employee carru-d on the pavroll of tile Company. There, ot Course. is :m irreducible minimum for absenteeism. but it not lieu t to see that anv substantial reduction caused >y improved emplovee health, belter plant working con ditions, or better emplovee morale, will pay dividends. Finally, an improvement in the guality of mark-ctaHc product should rese.il. An im posed worker eiiieiciicy mas, of course, be rellected in this, but trequeutly the proper control of coiUa.mmanis resulting troni the m aim fact tirin g operation may result in improved markeial le qualities. This is particularly true ot those operations wherein very small quantities ot impurities derivable from atmosphere contamination may ad- verseiv alTect the cmisurvr product. Program at Goodrich S'. m e e I1'42 t h e It. l l o o d n e b ( o u t p i m v has been a r l i v e l v interested ill industrial hygiene. A a b o r a l o r y was maintained for ibis purpose. I'miriioeing as r part of tlie Wo r k s I . a b o r n l o r v . KeeeiilK l l u n e r d o - ' further expanding these activities, and more close; coordinating them with the medical aclouies oi m eon pane, was realized. 11ns has resulted m the ver (Continued on Page PdS) 322 R 'JS S F R A C : C U N s. f 5- tu-a Solution to tim Problem of Uniform Abrasion P ESliTTAN'CE to abrasion is an important factor in f t 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 Quarter master 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. ehiefer, and a machine based upon the solution has been con structed 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 mo tion between the specimen and abradant is not the same for the whole area of the specimen to be 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 abradant, and the specimen and abradant must not 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 simplest olution from mechanical considera tions is the special solution in which Iwih abradant and specimen rotate in the same direction and with the same angular velocity while the specimen docs not revolve. A machine based upon this special solu tion lias been constructed and found to iijH-rate satis factorily for a wide variety of textile products. A new feature of this machine is the abradant. It consists of a disk 4'/j inches in diameter, in on; face of which arc inserted a series of parallel strips of clock spring, 0.025 inch thick and spaced y% inch apart. The edges of these springs, ground and lapped to a plane surface, constitute the abradant for tex tile materials. Although tests indicate that the abrasive clTect 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. Abrasion 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 tilling. Since such machines can abrade plane areas of a specimen equally from every direction, the effect of fabric construction or ''form factor" on the resistance to abrasion can b>` -'valuated directly. Wiiy Industrial Hygiene in a Rubber Company? (Continued from Pane 322) recent establishment of a Department of Industrial Hygiene, functioning as a tart of the Medical Division of the company and directly responsible to the Medical Director, with laboratory and office space in the cen tral Dispensary of the -main piant. Successful industrial hygiene requires the combined efforts of the medical, engineering, chemical, and nursing professions and it is believed the present ar rangement enables this to be secured. A constant in terchange of information, pertaining to occupational disease cases and the nature of the various manufac turing operations, occurs between the industrial by- gicnc department and ihc medical staff. Likewise a close liaison is maintained between the safety depart ment 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 held con trol work. Of course every needed facility of the pres ent research and control laboratories will he utilized. It is not anticipated to duplicate such specialized equip ment as x-ray diffraction units, spectrographs, ultra violet 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 :ii<tu.-.tnnl population of approximately 45.000. The l'>. F. Goodrich Couipanv 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 sol vents. covering the entire gamut of the toxicologist's textbook are used. Many compounds of noth toxic and dermatologic .significance are employed. Of these, a few are of singular importance to the rubber indus try, and of especial industrial hygiene interest. Sty rene. acrylonitrile, and butadiene are typical examples. Fortunately, for the most part, industrial hygiene and .ndustrial toxicological research has progressed sufficiently to supply us with the necessary knowledge for controlling most industrial health hazards. How ever. in the newer, expanding industries, where to day's laboratory curiosities mar he tomorrow's produc tion 'ne or tank car products, constant toxicological research is-necessary to supply the answers to proper employee health and consumer protection. The indus trial hygiene department of the company L charged with the latter, as well as the former, responsibility, and for both of these reasons constant toxicological research is being carried on by Goodrich. 17 8 RUBBER AGE. a m i. !C1'