Document v1ge9z3YwzzYprdLX806kdVLE

MEETING OF THE EMPLOYEES- OF THE LC.'.E BROS. CO, DAYTON,' OHIO. THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1941. *R. DONALD A. KOHR, presiding. MR. KOHRt In the spring of 1937, most of you will remember, we had a health survey, or.hygienic survey, by Dr. tlcCord, who went over our working conditions in our plant and who at that time examined several of our employees. When we had a general meeting in March of this year, at the time that we opened our locker room and this room, I promised you then that we would have another health survey and we have had that survey made by Dr. Kehoe and his assistants in Cincinnati. Dr. i Kehoe, by the way, has an international reputation on occupa tional diseases. At that time, when we had that survey mode, there were quite a number of our people who consented to have physi cal examinations. They went to Cincinnati with Mr. Clark and examinations were made of them at that time. Until today they had not received a report of the examinations. The reason for that was, there were several things that delayed us and we felt that it wasn't fair to a workman or to anyone, for that matter, to get a doctor's roport on the examination without having the opportunity of discussing that report with the doctor who helped to make the examination. The doctor who made the examinations, or who helped in the examinations ia Vt IV" SWO*T**0 ca**9`* OH O N 71 2i here today end has discussed with all of those men that needed en7 discussion their reports that they have received and are now in their hands. When I spoke about the locker room nd the facili- i ties that v.-e have made available there, I emphasised the necesslty of all of the people who work in a factory like this to be careful of their health. It is true that some of the raw materials that are used in the manufacture of paint are injurious to a human being, if those raw materials get inside of him, either through his mouth or through his nose, in the fora of breath that goes into his lungs. I wanted someone who knee a little bit more about such things than I do -- quite a little bit more, I think -- to say a word to you on that subject, and Dr. Ash of Cincinnati, associate of Dr. Kehoe, I3 here today and he la going to speak briefly to you on that subject. Dr. Ashl DR. ASH: The study which we made of this plant was done in this manner: A number of men from the various parts of the plant, representing each of the types of occupa tion which each of you do, were examined and studies of their blood and urine and so forth were made, to determine whether or not any of the dozens of things to ^.ich you are exposed will in any way injure your health. Now, it is extremely commendable that Air. Kohr and his company are willing and interested in spending a good dealj I of time and money to make that kind of a study. I sm not a part of this corporation and am here only because I am inter ested in the health of people working in factories, whether you know It or not, no matter what kind of a fr.ctory 7/ou work & 019 1 1 3 In, be it paint plant, paper mill or gun powder factory, thei'e are certain things in those plants which are potentially in- 'urious to your health, if those agents get Inside of you in one way or another* We have studied these men to determine how much of ' i i the things to which they are exposed have gotten into them* Y.e have studied the general set-up of the plant to see whetherj or not the things that are here are being properly handled, and we have studied the.air you breath to determine how much dust it contains and whether the things that are in that dust may be in any way injurious* The results of those studies are briefly, as follows: In this plant there is no more evidence of serious exposure to chemicals detrimental to you men than in dozens of other plants of this type in the coun try. It is a good clean plant* There are agents here, however, which are to you potentially dangerous and the company has made in the past, and is still making every effort to cut downj those dangers as far as it is possible to do so* Ve have recommended that in certain parts of the plant they make a study to find out whether or not better ven-| tilatlon is possible* I am not an engineer, I don't know whether it is apt to be so or not, but that study is being made* That has to do largely with dusts containing lead con taining chemicals* 5ut the large problem of avoidance of ex posure to dangerous chemicals now lies with you men. The dangers crs not great* The plant is well fixed up to avoid them, but a good many of you men who are working hero are workf lng either with powdered chemicals, with solids, or semi liquid pigments that you get on your hands and which get into 01912 4I the air 701: breath. The breathing problem is being studied carefully for ventilation in those places where It Is bad, but the bigger problem Is rrhat 70U fellows do from day to day about the kind of agents to which you are exposed. I.'ow v/e will take a specific example. Suppose a fellow is working in the mixing room and he is emptying pig i i i ment in the vat and it is a hot summer day and he is sweating and from time to time he wipes the sweat off his face with his hands. He may have a good deal of pigment on his hands which gets into his mouth. That la something no amount of prevention will prevent, unless you fellows take Care of it yourselves. fthen 70U get into the locker room to change your clothes, if you aren't thorough and careful about your washing, you will carry home a certain amount of that pigment in your nose and mouth and It will go down in the gastro intestinal tract and is potentially dangerous. That has hapoened and will happen to all of you to a small degree, but there is no evidence that the amount of material you are taking inis of sufficient quantity to do you aiy serious harm. There are, however, two or three or four places in the mill where the amount of dust to which 70U are exposed and cannot help but be eaqposed is very high, and I V. want to recommend that in those parts of the factory where that ia true, when there is special apparatus made available in the form of special ventilation or particularly the use of masks, that those masks be worn. The reason for that is not to protect the company against anything, but to protect you against Illness in the future. Now a good many of you fellows have worked here --- r ('*,*< h CRTn 0 OAVtOM <0 01913 more the ten years and you haven* t lost a day in all of th- time on account of illness. So, you wonder why I bring up n-.e possibility that you nay be cone ill* None of you have and there is no evidence in the immediate future that you will, but the ap-ents that are here are such that if you are careless you run the possibility of becoming ill* And Z am not here to scare you. I an merely here to tell you that this study was done in the interest of protecting your health, not only today, but in the future, and your care in handling those materials which are dangerous is the main thing which will make the working conditions here better in the future* I am sure that ix* Kohr and his staff are going to continue to carry out our recommendations on the problem of ventilation. But the job of personal hygiene, keeping clean, keeping these things out of your mouth and out of your nose, is entirely up to you fellows from now on* The plant is in good shape. The general health of this group, the ones I examined, which is a representative group, is excellent, better th many othor plants, but keeping it that way le largely dependent upon you fellows. If you have any questions about any specific thing I may know about, 1 will try to answer them. If I can't answer them, the stenographer la taking down the information for you and I will try to get the answers for you* 1R. XOHK: Don't hesitate if 70U rant to ask questions. Dr. Ash is hero and he will be glr.d to try to answer them. 1 just want to emphasize what he said, thet this is not a one-sided proposition. Vie want to do our part to keep you non well, but you must do your part, if you are * s* 6 g.ing to keep veil. If you eat lead and drink the various materials and get sick, that is your fault, not ours. If you want to eat It, you can, there is plenty of it here. It la dangerous, we want you to keep away from it. Any questions? (No response.) Looks like we have answered all of then already. if there are no questions, we will adjourn, and if any of you men were a little aodest and didn't want to ask a question before all of us, you can come up here after we adjourn and ask the question in private. And thereupon the meeting was adjourned. -" rj 7 v t vttCMta imo v t ma n d acwoavfa o a v t o * o m:o S 019i 5