Document mBnKdZjw9OnjkzDEoYpZzbEbk

Following a meeting in Chicago in 1941 with Hr. W. E. Crocombe, Mr. Morris Trainer, Mr. Donald Cummings, and Dr. Hamlin, the American Brake Shoe Co* established the present Medical Department. A modest start was cade at Chicago Heights where office space was furnished by the American Ivjanganese 3teel Division. The department then consisted of a Medical Director, Industrial Hygiene Engineer, an X-Ray and Laboratory Technician, and one secretary. The department was included in the Head quarters Division of the Brake Shoe Co. under the direct supervision of Hr. Arthur Aigeltinger. His sympathetic and generous cooperation did rnu'h toward getting the program initiated. A review of the situation indicated the need for setting up Standard preemployment and periodic health examinations throughout the many plants and also the desirability of instituting a modern program of plant hygiene which not only would discover health hazards in the plants but would offer adequate and practical recom mendations for their correction. The department has developed very rapidly and results have justified expansion of the program to its present extent. A pre-employment physical examination is given to people applying for work at all our plants. It is not for the purpose of keeping men who may have physical defects' from getting a job but rather to determine if these* 'defects will permit them to-work with safety to themselves and thoir fellow workers. Often, unsuspected illnesses are discovered -- about which the applioant knows nothing -- and he is then able to get proper treatment before it is too late, 'One of the most important features of the'examination is the chest x-ray. Since the program started there have been numerous instances where tuberculosis has been discovered in persons who never had the slightest idea they had it. It is well known that this disease -can r* t-. * -- ^