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r-27-90 TUE 16!59 L. R R R Y MRDEKSHO, ATTORNEY DUST CONTROL THROUGH ORGANIZED RESEARCH P. 41 MANY a small plant owner is in sympathy with the movement to reduce dust, but he docs not have the financial resources to plunge into the pvob- lem. What can he do about it? I should like to call to your attention the problem of the large plant as contrasted with the tittle ftl* low in organizing a dust control program. A con* crete illustration may give us the picture better than anything else. Let's make up, therefore, a composite of the best parts of several programs now being carried out by several good-sized companies. la point of fact, no by W. G. HAZARD Owens-Wingfe Glean Co. Toledo. Ohio one company can be paraded as perfect, but we can imagine that such a faultless organization actually does exist, and we shall label it "Consolidated Cor ** poration." In 1931, Consolidated Corporation was buying sand from a nearby sand plant The sand plant was small in size, having about 100 men on its pay roll. All of a sudden, at the depths of the depres sion, the sand operators were faced with silicosis claims presented by former employees, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Alarmed at the catastrophe that had befallen its neighbor, Con solidated Corporation quite naturally wondered how dean its own backyard was, for although it had escaped the "ambulance chasers," the fact re mained that it handled tons and tons of sPica sand --a potential hazard. This urge for self-examination was bom in the ht/at department of Consolidated Corporation, and this is the first important fact to bear in mind. Snieoale Unknown Silicosis was just as sew to the large company as to the sand company, and everything had to be learned from scratch. First of all, a committee was made up of a member of the legal department, a member of the insurance department, and a mem ber of the executive department This board of strategy was appropriately labeled "Hygiene Com mittee." The help of the engineering department was so licited in making a study to see if a sQica hazard actually did exist Generous sums were spent on laboratory apparatus, and Public Health Reprint No. 1528 on the impinger was practically, mem orized. The only men who had had microscope ex perience was drafted from another important engi neering survey and put on dust-counting in the company's plants from coast to const. Dust samples showed that control equipment was needed at certain jobs, and the Hygiene Committee had to hire an engineer to devote full time to these activities. Thus the Committee had a full-time lawyer and a full-time engineer marshalled against the dust men ace. It should be noted that the legal department not only saw the need of dust control, but took the tniiintivc in pushing it. A* ift4t"il hyfiftftft 1W*twy rf Lift Ut*rc Cft. Importance of Dust Counts Engineering work included the spotting of dust exposures through dust counts. Then as control measures, bins were vented, hoppers were hooded, -44^a W. -j 1^3-7 27-90 -rue 1 -rt&a i_rrry mrdeksho> rttormey R . <4- 2 *nd conveyor transfer points were enclosed. Ex instituted pre-employment examinations. The task haust systems were installed where needed. A sys of finding satisfactory X-ray machines in some of tem of monthly maintenance reports was set up, the smaller towns was in itself difficult, and some with copies going to the plant manager and the plants had to transport their men over 200 mile* general offices. for the X-ray, thus adding to the expense. Periods With no rule-of-thumb data available to give the check-up examinations on new employees were car proper volumes and air velocities for the exhaust ried out. ' systems, field tests were made with experimental "Ploying with Dyacaite" hoods and a portable exhaust fan. In some in Throughout this period, which w called the first stances, worthwhile information was obtained in phase, there was a feeling of tenseness, of playing this way, but in others, the field tests interfered so with dynamite, for every precaution had to be taken much with plant operation and took so much of the to stifle any outburst of false personal injury claims time of the already short-handed maintenance de such as had beset some other companies. The situa partments, that the tests were not practical. tion was paradoxical; on the one hand, each plant Respirators had already been furnished years ago of Consolidated Corporation had to be instructed in --and these, incidentally, were as good as the mar the dangers of silica dust so as to be fully aware of ket afforded at that time. what genuine hazard existed; When the Sureau of Mines but on the other hand, mention issued its respirator schedule of the word "silicosis" was made No. 21, Consolidated Corpora in hushed whispers for fear tion adopted approved devices. some less scrupulous person Every man was given two res might say "Here's where 1 can pirators. each marked with his cash in," This difficult situation number so that they could be existed because silicosis at that cleaned on alternate days. A time wa not under the Commu man will really wear a respir tation Laws of* any Stale in ator conscientiously when he which Consolidated operated. knows he gets his etrn back, The legal department worked cleaned every* day. with industrial organizations, la You can see that these me chanics of dust control are not bor groups and insurance com panies, in bringing pressure to novel. To put them into prac(ire, however, was a story of bear on State legislatures so that one by one silicosis was brought another color. It was a story many authors of technical pa under (workmen's) compensa tion and taken away from the pers skip over hurriedly, Dust . control work out in Consoli dated's plants was not* so much "engineering** as just plain "see ing." Everyone from the plant manager down to the janitor had C"*H4 Hi'wrt f NMHUwt". M***1 *** N*1* wpW jury- As each state enacted a compensation law, with its at tendant assurance of fair play, a huge sigh of relief was passed. Dust Abatement Permanent to be "fold** on the reasons for keeping down dust ' I'p until now. the position of the Hygiene Committee was quite irregular. Hera flntUne el Attack was an rwpfaccr attached to the Itgal department With the expansion of business that followed the and assigned to work that had industrial foiitth as depression, industry blossomed out with new bins, its prime end. Thus, legal, engineering and medical nw elevators, new drills, new machine tools, and activities were carried on in one room, but there even whole new plants, and Consolidated 'Corpora was no space to fit this room into the company's tion was no exception. A rare opportunity was house. From an organisation point of view, dust here afforded to design this new equipment and abatement work was a "pain in the neck" when mese structures with the thought in mind of mak- it came to tying it in logically with some depart Utf them dust-free. The help of equipment rnanu- ment of the company. The remedy was found, .Acturers was enlisted, and the slight extra cost however, when the personnel department of thv entailed in the Mfitxtble designing of a dust-free tool company took over this work and incorporated it vl*1 lnve5lfd. No other approach to the prob* in health and safety, good housekeeping medical t? ? ^ndamental nor so productive as this. service and employee relations program that it whs 1,llc of attack which should be followed by already carrying on. Dust control work was not I`lurchn*ing anything from a one-inch merely "lodged" in the personnel department but 5 li.0 * f*cl0*T building. was permanently built into it and today the com toedteal side of the picturo. Consolidated pany's safety program include* not only accident M^iR-27-90 TLJE lT:ei L ARRV MfiDEKSHO * ftTTORMEY R. 3 m prevention but occupational disease prevention. With the program now in its fifth year, the third era of Consolidated1* experience is dawning. NVhat was born a "pain in the neck," has now grown into a full-fledged interest in occupational disease in geneva!, not merely silicosis. The trend is shown by pre-employment examinations for everyone, and the increasing use of voluntary periodic examina tions. I: is reflected in a different type of plant doctor; he is no longer just a bone-setter, but an industrial physician on the lookout for both acci dental and health injuries, it is further reflected by n better understanding of the purpose of physical examinations. Their chief function is to aid the personnel director in placing the individual who has some disability in a job for which he is physi Sect * b-ilS!*q Mt**tl>** -'k, Yon Ci*>, cally suited. Their function is nof, of course, to weed out from industry evety individual who has a physical disablement. While the actual amount of money that Consoli dated Corporation has spent on these three phases of its silicosis problem is unknown. It is easy to see that salaries, etiuipment. consultant's fees, and ex penses of other kinds during the 5-year period have amounted to a very considerable sum. Such a pro gram is too rypcaafrc for a malt plant. Although everyone is Min sympathy with the movement." the wherewithal is not always to be found. politan. Travelers and others, have an engineering and medical service that is outstanding. Industrial trade associations, like the American roundsmen's Association, have done yeoman serv. ice in making available material on dust control to their members. The American Society of-Heating and Ventilating Engineers, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Stand ards Association, through committees, have crys # Klp for Small Float* tallized the thought of the authorities on partic ular engineering phases. ASA Code 29 on factors There must be some agency that a small plant can involved in the fundamental design of exhaust sys turn to, some clearing house that will tell it what tems, is a bible for any engineer who delves into it7 all about. Fortunately, today we can name such this phase of the work agencies. Many are still in swaddling clothes, but With the burst of interest of state legislatures in the infants are husky. occupational disease, many states have set up bu a First, recognition should be given to the old- reaus of occupational disease for the service of in timers who weve well established long before the dustry*. depression bred the silicosis "racket." The United In addition to these, there are at least two States Public Health Service, for one, has for years developments that art backed by industry itself. been vitally concerned with industrial health condi One is the Occupational Diseases Research Depart tions. Dr. R. R. .'`aver** Division of Industrial Hy ment of Northwestern University. This unit began giene handles specific problems of industrial com to function last November and has a dispensary panies with amazing skill and much patience. clinic to which any case claiming occupational dis The Bureau of Mines, likewise, for years has ease can be referred. An excellent aspect of the Mudied dust conditions, especially in the mineral plan is that the staff spends half its time in the re and allied industries. The Director U constantly tackling specific problems that are of general Appli cation. * search department and half out in the plants mak ing industrial surveys. Its first symposium was held last September. Two other leaders through seniority and accom plishment are the Harvard School of Public Health and tiie Saranac Laborntoiy, Insurance Participation One of the most fruitful sources of information for the small company is its insurance carrier. In surance companies like the Aetna, American MutwJ, Employers Mutuals. Liberty Mutual, Metro- Alt Hygiene Foundation The other development is the Air Hygiene Foun dation, of which Harry Meller is managing direewy, with offices in Pittsburgh. The Foundation is unit;.:* because all phases of the hygiene problems arc considered--engineering, medical, and legal. It ! incorporated at the end of issfi, after a year of preparation, and its Initial assignment, which has r. (5iR-27--90 TUE IT 502 LARRY M ADEKSHO .. ATTORNEY P . -* -* jus- drawn to * close, was to gather together the tacts relating to silicosis in all its phases, and to evaluate them. The results are three reports: engi neering, medical, and legal. They are of unusual merit, ar.d could only have been obtained by the pooling of resources and united action in the part Of recognized authorities who compose the three committees. This fact-finding survey showed many chinks in the structure of silicosis knowledge that needed to be filled in b.v further research. A research program has now been drawn up by the Foundation in the light of this first survey, and with the .sponsoring of this, the Foundation has taken Sts second step. Special Problems Handled Special problems of members are dealt with by the Foundation which is well .equipped for this service because of the exhausWi library that has been assembled and because of the ability of the members of its technical committees. Membership in the Foundation is open to any in. dustria! company for a fee that is scaled according to payroll. "Reprinted from SAFETY ENGINEERING MAGAZINE, November, 1937" i I t( 4 * iI I I 1f a *