Document xdeZ7d3aEgGRaYJjOjyMx5yK6

FILE NAME: General Electric (GE) DATE: 1923-1934 DOC#: GE036 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Dr. Alice Hamilton's Reports - Downs Collection Schenectady Museum, NY 113.81 DR. ALICE HAMILTON'S REPORTS DOWNS COLLECTION BOX A -15 B FOLDER 113.81 SCHENECTADY MUSEUM, NEW YORK GE MUSEUM 00050 ^ Co l&c.'bt of) fio* I5 Pa\Lur W ^ t l GE MUSEUM 00051 Ne/ lA PARK* CLEVELAND. / April 13th, 1933. The day in Cleveland was spent chiefly with Dr. Ralph Edward, discussing the system of physical examination and medi cal care which he has introduced into the National Lamp Works* I visited the Ivanhoe division where wire is drawn for the welds, hut found absolutely nothing to o ritio ise there, either in the works or in the medioal department. The Pitney Glass Works are, on the whole, good; but a plant using a r t if i c ia l gas, with 40 percent carbon monoxide, should not be dependent wholly on natural ventilation, even when this is provided by windows on four sides and a saw-tooth roof. It would also seem more desirable to provide cool air in summer If in a plant of this sort than in lamp works* The mixing room 1b bad* The ingredients for glass, including very fine sand and ground glass, are handled with great carelessness; and there is ; a fin e duet over every surface, showing that it has been depoeit- (j ed from the a ir . This dust i s n f the kind which is known to M injure the lunge and favor the development of tuberculosis. But 'j such an effect is produced slowly and does not attract atten tion t ill the damage has gone pretty fa r . If it is impossible to do away with the dust, the men employed here should be ex amined at regular intervale by the p hysician/ There is an im pression of driving speed and breathless hurry among the women in the glass blowing room. GEm u s e u m 00052 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, BALTIMORE February S3, 1933. m The buildings are unusually v eil lighted, wit'll good natural ventilation* sinoe they are all but one story high, with saw-tooth roof, and the sides are almost a l l windows* There has been an intelligent effort to avoid glare by putting clouded glass in the windows of the roof and in many of the side windows* with Venetian blinds covering the sunny windows. Unusually good features are the hooded compartments for enamel ing and japanning whioh are placed along the outer wall of the building, with a powerful fan in the wall. During spraying the spray is very efficiently removed. Benzol is used only in one varnish, hot in use at the time* Another good feature is the acid department, which has a good exhaust. A third is < the use of canvas glue wheels, covered with carborundum dust for polishing oast iron. There is no risk of breaking with these wheels -- and the dust which is for the most part carried off by a good exhaust, is far less harmful than that from natural emery wheels The poorest feature is the sand-blasting department, where three men are employed* This is completely separated from all other departments *whioh is right but GE MUSEUM 000 - 2- 'Mmm there is a bad escape of sand from the revolving maohine, and t ji; a fine duet is scattered abundantly over a ll surfaces. The |I brass foundry ie better than the average, but during pouring the fumes are very dense> the crucible is o&rried down the room along the moulds and there is no possible way for the fumes to escape, for the windows are not open during ehilly weather This is always true in brass foundries and cannot be corrected because the men know that a ohilling draft w ill precipi tate an attack of brass poisoning That is why natural ventila tion is of l it t le use in a brass foundry. Dr. M. J , Hannah made a very favorable impression on me. Indeed, he seems to me to be doing remarkably good work, on a very soant allowance of time. He is supposed to spend only two hours a day at the plant; and during that time, examines from two to twenty-five new applicants for employment. There are about thirty C4. dispensary oases W d & y -- about half of them new These are chief ly cases of minor surgery, including foreign bodies in the eyes. In spite of this large amount of routine work, he has apparently found time to aoquaint himself with the actual conditions in the plant, and could tell me about the effect of various varnish and paint sprays before the installation of proper exhausts and of the conditions in departments where carbon monoxide from gas jets was .formerly quite troublesome. It is not, therefore, a critioiam of Dr. Hannah to say GE MUSEUM 0005- the medical supervision in the plant is very incomplete. Two hours a day for a physician taking oharge of twelve hundred men, exposed to the usual hazards of machine shop work, brass foundry, paint and varnish spraying and sand blasting, is certain ly insuffioient, if one takes as a standard the Rational Lamp Works with a physioian on half-time to take charge of two hundred girls and twenty-five men doing far safer work. Dr.'Hannah oannot make a thorough examination of new men but he wisely devotes most of the few minutes he can give to an examination of the heart, for which purpose he has had a special sound-proof room constructed. He does not reject men with compensated heart dis ease but acoepts them for oertain less strenuous jobs* However, he has no way of assuring himself that the man w ill continue to be treated as one handicapped, and w ill not be shifted to a job too heavy for him, for a l l further contact with the man is through the employment o ffic e . It is of course quite impossible for him to do anything in the way of regular medical examinations of these handicapped men, or of the men engaged in sand-blasting. Dr. Hannah's connection-with the University of Maryland Medical Sohool, with its hospital, is of great advantage to the plant, for he can keep aooident oases under his own carle* The girls are examined by Dr. Anna Abercrombie, who comes out whenever there are ten or fifteen waiting for examination. The employment department is well arranged and pleasant, and ths GE MUSEUM 0005E t o ile t 3:00ms for women are e x c e lle n t. I visited the plant with Mr. Lawrence and Mr, Martin and had an interview with Mr* Muir. The last named told me that 06 percent of the payroll covers all oare of the sick and injured, including compensation, court oases and hospital care* GE MUSEUM 00056 ST. LOUIS, MAZDA DIVISION March 16th, 1933 -4 *23 i ! v Mr. Dalton took me around the plant. He impressed me very well, indeed. He has evidently gone into every de t a il of the work himself, for every question I put to him brought ewfcavery well thought out answer. The factory is excellent, with an elaborate airconditioning fan for cold washed air in summer, warm in winter. The space is more than abundant. The girls are apparently not rushed, but they have not yet In sta lled the shop unit system -- as they are about to do. The lighting is good. Glare is pre vented. The toilet rooms are satisfactory except for the plac ing of wash basins outsideJ in the main room^and the provision of roller towels. The only featureswhioh I would orltiolze would be the roller towels, the sand-blasting which is still done by two women but which is , I understand, to be given up, and the laok of an exhaust over the carborundum wheel where the ends of glass rods are ground. There is lit t le dust here, but it is dust of a dangerous character. The medical department under Dr. Dalton is the most elaborate that I have seen in any p la n t. It is really pre ventive medicine, highly developed. The physical examination GE MUSEUM 00057 - 2- takes fifteen minutes Instead of the ouetomary three to five minutes, and the handicapped girls who are accepted are kept under oareful supervision; even anaemia and underweight are treated as handioaps and the girls are given nourishment morn ing and afternoon, which they pay for themselves. Temperature curves are kept in a ll cases of suspeoted tuberculosis. Wheth er or not this has anything to do with the labor turnover, I do not know; but it certainly seems very low for a plant employing g i r l s . Jit the time of my v isit eighty-seven of the three hundred had been there five years or more. T h e re .is, well equipped dental department largely patronized. yi .t. .r ' GE MUSEUM 0005E SSSSC^ $33 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, FORT WAYNE, April 2 6tfc-1933 The general impression that this plant made on ms was very good. There seems to be no driving speed at a l l . The employees walk abo ut, stop oooasionally to ta lk , pause and look up when a stranger passes by, and seem to be working easi- ly and comfortably. The p e r s o n n e l 's unusually well planned, being under a group of g irl managers selected from the regular workers who take charge of the new g irl^ , select the employee who is to teach her, give her advice about her d iffic u lt ie s , and make themselves responsible for her t i l l she is settled and contented. They also follow up absentees. Aside from the usual machine shop hazards, there are few risks to health. Benzol is used in three departments but in small quantity, and by only three men, who appear to be immune -- at least they have done it for several years. L ea dp a in t is used in spray form to coat transformers; but the work was not being done while I was there -- so that I could not judge how efficient the protection i s . The features whioh are open to criticism are the fol lowings In spraying lacquer the objects are hung on hooks, right at the edge of the hood, whioh is about three and one-half feet deep, with the exhaust at the back. The workman who is GE MUSEUM 0005! ? "--.r-.<\ -.' **-i" - - 3- spraying holds the object enough to turn it from side to side, pulling it even farther out from under the hood -- so that a good deal of the spray is not oaught and oarried o ff by the exhaust. The equipment is not nearly so good as in Baltimore or Sohenectady. No thought seems to have been given to seating, and the girls* chairs are often poor -- too high -- without proper foot rest -- and they often use treadles whioh are single in stead of double. The sand-blasting is carried on inside a large cabi net, and the man stands outside hut he looks through a window which is covered with only a fin e netting -- and a continuous stream of the finest dust comes against his face. Twelve to fourteen men do t h is . The dust is of a very harmful character, although in most cases the harm would be apparent only after several years* exposure. However if it is impossible to protect them from the dust, they should be examined at regular intervals by the doctor. I wonder whether mioa could not be used to cover the window? Glass would not do because it would be completely frosted in a very short time. Two unusually good features are to be seen in this plant. One is the protection of the girls* eyes against arti fic ia l lig ht. Hot only do they have shades over their own lights, but small screens on either side to protect the eyes GE MUSEUM 00060 3 against the Bhaft of light from the flame on either side of them. The second good feature is the prevention of fumes in the brass foundry. This is really the beet foundry I have ever seen. I stayed there during brass pouring and oonvinoed myself that at the end of the process the air as almost d e a r . This result is accomplished by wide hood which runs along above a ll the furnaoes and is provided with a curtain coming down to within seven feet of the flo o r. The exhaust; under this hood is entirely adequate. The room itse lf is very high, with a monitor roof, (the windows of whioh open) and with windows on all four sides. Mr. Barnes took me over the p la n !, spending most of two days with me. He seems familiar with every possible detail and alive to most of the possible risk s. Dr. Cartwright is on fu ll time and hae a close connection with the largest hospital in the o it y . I should say that he was giving very adequate care to surgical oases and a oareful enough examination of men who apply for work; but, as usual, the system/ does not provide for enough supervision of physically handicapped men, who are quite rightly aooepted for lees strenuous jobs, but who should be kept more ox lees under the doctor's supervision, especially when they are shifted to other work. The system does not provide, either, for possible injury from sand dust, or lead from spray p ain ting, or possible injury from benzol^ GE MUSEUM 00061 u %'-f *i naphtha, "turpentine substitute,* or denatured alcohol, con taining 10 percent wood alcohol, lien and women exposed to these solwong should be looked over by the physician at regu lar intervals. I should like to emphasize again the pleasant atmosphere in this plant and the personal, individual attention which seems i to be given the employee GE MUSEUM 00062 Bridgeville Glass Tubing Works. OCT 30 "23 October 18, 1923. Mr. Aberle conducted ire over the plant, and I was much impressed by hie sJCicSlZ**. y t h e health and comfort of the men employed under him. Since all the blowing is done by machine, the heat and glare from the furnaces has to be encountered only about once in fifteen minutes, and the rest of the time the men can be over by the windows. The only place in the plant where I should look for any trouble is the mixing room where 450 pounds of lead oxide3litharge^is weighed out and mixed every batch, and 40 to: 50 batches are made every day. The litharge is evidently carefully handled but the color can be seen all over the floor and. while weighing and mixing goes on, the dust is quite thick and is visible for almost five minutes after. The dump is well managed. Three men work here; the oldest has mixed glass for nineteen years and says he has never had lead poisoning although he has seen a great deal of it . It would be a wise precaution to have these men looked over by a physiciar once a month, as would be required by law in an English or German plant doing similar work. Seven girls work under good conditions and have a large and abundantl equipped lavatory, rest room, and toilet room. XhgSHxg-xxxkxkgxxxKxx The Soc men are b e t t e r f o r than in any other plant, Their xx lockers are of the best ventilated type, the lavatories are clean^with sinks provided with a foot release for the water, soap, and paper towels, and shower bath There is a large and very pleasant smoking room, sunny, with easy chairs, and the cafeteria, which is used by men in overalls,is sunny,with window boxes, and gave me the best cafeteria lunch I have had in any plant. -here is no medical care at a l l . In case of serious accident the GE MUSEUM 00063 man would be sent to a Pittsburgh hospital, but only one has occurred in four years. First-aid is given by an office girl or anybody else who happens to be around. There is no physical examination of applicants for employement. A Bridgevill e physician is on call for injuries too serious for the first-aid man- to handle. GE MUSEUM 00064 073 I''l ; ; //3X Hew Kensington Manufacturing Plant. October 1 8 , 1923. This plant uses no lead, no benzol, no sandblasting, no red lead paint, and they have had no trouble with cutting oils. xhe two buildings that interested me were the pickling shed and the zinc casting. Fourteen pickling tube, containing sulphuric acid, are in an hed with a high roof and one side completely open. The pipes are moved up and down in the tubs mechanically. I was told by Mr. Maines that a new building is to go up here which w ill shut in the pickling room and that they w ill have to depend on a rtificial ventilation. This feature ought to be gone into very carefullyjfor pickling is notoriously an unhealthful process. Ordinary iron is very lik e ly to be contaminated with arsenic, and so is commercial sulphuric acid, and. when the two are brought together the conditions are ideal for the production of arsen- iurretted hydrogen fumes. This poison, when breathed in considerable amount, causes acute symptoms fallowed by profound anaemia and jaundice4 when breathed continually in very small doses, it causes chronic anaemia, loss of weight, and general ill-health. The pickling tubs in the large building, twelve in number, are better because they are deep and narrow. The surface of the liquid here is covered with "Sunfoam", looking like a thick layer of soap suds, which is supposed to prevent the escape of fumes. Whether or not it does this, I cannot say. There are also two pickling tubs with hydrochloric acid. In connection with all of these the possible risk of arsine poisoning should always be kept in mind. The enamels and laquers are thinned with gasoline, and I should not expect any particular trouble from the fumes in spraying and dipping. GE MUSEUM 00065 z There are two features on which I should like to comment, aithotgh thqy are not quite in my lin e . I should think that there must be a good deal of risk of eye injuries in pipe cutting where the red-hot sparks fly far and wide, and I should be almost certain that a grave injury would be done to the ears by the s h r ill, hissing, and peculiarly trying noise which comes from blowing the scale off the cast zinc. GE MUSEUM 00066 -fr'S :y Ha d ly m e, Co n n e c t ic u t TELEGRAMS VIA SAYBROOK TELEPHONE, DEEP RIVER 65-2 'IV Y i July 24, 1935 ' -'> My Gerard : My work for the General Eiectric Company for the year from August 1924 to August 1?25 has taken thirty"dgys, which at $ 50 a d-'!y comes to $ 1500. This covers investigations made in Fort Wayne, Youngstown, Harrison, Pittsfield, Schenectady and Erie and West hynn. and conferences in Schenectady, Erie and Boston. My expenses amunted to f 284, which makes the whole b ill $ 1784, I have only a lame Corona, which is however more legible than my handwriting. Your secretary Miss Marratt has again been most kind in securing for me a passage to Europe, with a cabin all to myself. I sail AugUBt 27, to be gone about seven weeks. ------- Very sincerely yours C lJL tu . M -- GE MUSEUM 00067 Dear Alioei plant ever inWeHaorbeokleanr,gethlye Oinotoepreers-Hteederi1In1 a CDoammppsanayn,dVthhiOehreafowrnefshoatnadrleeaMercernoimryy. TfcSpaonre tIimweouilnd htheegflaudturtoe hhaetn yyoenn veries iitnthleiws T ett, pdulacntitonaadto 1thae e.in&eelsesldinspgt.avlialltteyor nopflainaetreo mseipcearyaetearfrhoillthfoerotthheerv.isit to th is Company yen ooae easFt efaosribtlhyeyeouonofaenradaoest,haisndahetn nthsa( totrinIns teserni feotnhsaetastutiotsthyosnobonenttteryr.with Sinoerely, DBoaclltoHr oAusleios Hamilton Ghioago, Illin o is Port Wayne, April 25, 1925. * CScohloenneecl taEd. y2W. oSrtkese. ver, My dear Colonel: to thMe rg.ooSdworneephoarts wthraittteDnr. toA lMicre. HGaomll ilctoanllimnagdehoisf aouttrensetiaotnin aorfrathnegemotehnetrs phelaren tas tliPkoertEWriaey,nePaintdt s"f ibeelldievaensdthLayntnpaenrdhatphse so RanaddioexDpeerpiaerntmceenht earte,. Schenectady might p r o fit by her ob servati th at pInrotbaalbkliyn ga t ovyoeurrthcoisnvmenattitoenr wMiitshs KMirn.nGa omlbigihtt hoacvcue rrthede otop ptuonstiutyret,o fotaoltk rwe sitths arnedp rseismeniltaartivcoesndoiftiothnes eoxthisetrinpglanIntsoathbeorut tWeolrlikgs,e na tftlye r own htihchiswseuwbojuecldt, a l l be in b etter shape to ta lk I d regardIinhgavehehrawd osrkevaenrdal shleengetxhpyrecsosnesvehrseartsieolnf saws ibtheinMgisas bslienntac wovheircchomcae sseo,moe f ocfouthressee, woeb jwecoutilodn sloothkaotnIhheardcornaitsineudedbeefomrpeloiyr dmeeanlt hoefrneewin thaoudgifhfte raenndtaplipglhicta. tioHnowwevilelr, coImefe ferlomthyaotuar mgreeeatjl athndeseI wlionuelsd, utnhteirl etfho rise, mwaitsther tohads ebfeerenancoyndsiedfeirneidte fraocmtiotnh is&1<i angle. With kind personal regards, I am Yours very truly, EAB;CK GSwooe t- WSCrOll GEHERAL SUPERINTENDENT GE MUSEUM 00069 /' 25 April 24, 1925. 77 \ My dear D r . Hamilton] I want to thank you for your letter of A p r i l 17 and the suggestions contained t h ere in . Mr. Barnes and Dr. Garton h a ve 'a lr e ad y written about your v i s i t and your suggestions made at the Fort /Wayne Works have been adopted. I be l i ev e we have the s i l i c o s i s hazard f a i r l y well in hand i n the Company. About a year ago I sent X-ray photo graphs to those foundry superintendents and pl a nt phy sician s 4 where we had sand blast h a za rd s. The i n s t a l l a t i o n of the newest Pangborn sandblast equipment, which you w i l l be Invited to v i s i t on the occasion of your attendance at the conference, and the use of the B ur r el l dust mask and frequent medloal examinations are the p r a c t i c a l steps to take care of s i l i c o s i s . Dr. Garton has been put down on the program, as you have suggested, for "P re ve nt io n of S i l i c o s i s in S a n d b l a s t e r s 1. I am also asking one or two of our superintendents to give us the b e n e f i t of t h e ir p r a c t i c a l knowledge of s andbl as ting As a resul t of your suggestion, we should have-a very tb orough re vie w of this most important subject* We are tremendously indebted to you for inducing Mr. Barnes to send the specimen of chair that has been devised as the r e s u l t of Miss E i n n a ' s research on " S e a t i n g " . 1 am sending to the West Lynn Works for a sample of their low table chair and table a l so , and suggest that if you oan se cure a sample of the low table ohair from M r. E i r c h n e r 's pl a nt , in Youngstown, we would be only too happy to pay transportation both ways. Do you know anything about the medical p r ac t ic e at the P i t n e y plant at Youngstown, Ohio, and also the p r o v i s i o n of milk fo r underweight employees at that plant and the cost? I f it is not imposing too much upon your time and good services, I would appreciate your obtaining a descr ipt io n of the work done and the r es ul ts accomplished th ere. GE MUSEUM 00070 Dr. H am ilton-2-April 20-1925 B e f e r r ln g "back to Mias K i n n a ' s work on " S e a t i n g " , I was very muck impressed with the resu lt s that had been obtained after discussing the matter with some of the girls who were taking part in the seating experiment. I believe that there are one or two important p r i n c i p l e s developed as the result of Miss Einna*s work. It was because of this that I put her down on the program. Ple as e do not hesitate to make suggestions and c ri tic is m s on our program as they come to your mind. We are deeply indebted for your a s s i s t a n c e . will greatly benefit from your wide experience. Our employees Faithfully, E. Z. Steever. T o Dr. Alice Hamilton, 800 South Halsted Street, Chicago, 111. e z s /feb Oerard Swope * P . S . We w i l l make reser va tio n for you at the Van Curler H o t e l . Ple as e let me know the t rai n you expect to arr ive on. S. GE MUSEUM 00071 A p r il 2 1 , 192a Mr. 'alter doll FORT YA H Pear Mr. Go11: Doctor Hamilton spoke of the excellent work Miss Kinna has done at Fort Wayne and understands from her conversation with Mr, Barnes that Miss Kinna has gotten pretty near the end of her work in Fort Wayne. Doctor Hamilton thinks it would he a great pity to lose her services and wondered if she could not he of value to some of our other Works. Don' t you want to take this up with possibly Lynn or Erie to see Tshthrthey would like to try her for a few months along similar lines to the work she has been doing in Fort Wayne. Yours very truly, GERARD SWOPE GS:H GE MUSEUM 00072 April 21, 1925 Mr. Walter Gall FORT WAYNE. Dear Mr. Go11: I am delighted to reoeiTe a report from Doctor Hamilton showing the fine progress that has been made at the Fort Wayne Plant, oo'py of i&ioh I enclose. Yon will notice that in two instances Doctor Hamilton speaks of the fact that yon have the best methods of any observed in the different Works of the Company. 1 suggest that you call this tc the attention of the various factories in order that they may profit by the good work you. have done. Sincerely yours, GERARD SWOPE GS:H Dr.Hamilton GE MUSEUM 00073 April 21. 1925 Dear Alioe: your letter of ApIrihla1v7ethroadadwtihthe rinepteorretsotn sthenetFtoortthe Man^aogrefreBw, iothopayyoofowsmheicnhtaIahsare sIhnocwindeonntatlhley,awtthaecnheevderoyoopuy hoafvleetttheerse. reports wtyopueldwrseitntdena,n1owrioguilndaalpwpirtehcioantee ictarbiofnyoonopy. Sleetrlo AppliancSehCeotmwpoanpylaanndtsthoef tVhiectoSrdisXo-nBay CSolmecpatrnyicinComCphaicnaygoinatrheensoatmoewtneendsbeytitihaet tGheeneral ointhteerrsstairne.the%t'sa dbouthathvee ma alnaarggeemefnitnaisnoqiaulite wdiaaittinfoort.a wXhitlheinaincdpIoswsiiblllykweeepwtihlel nleatttethremin mXinthdinaknditlawteirllobnei fa wgoeosdetiadebarintog hitavaebyoouut, variesitintthereesset,edas. well as two others in which we Sincerely yours, Dr. Alice Hamilton Hull House Chicago, Illinois GE MUSEUM 00074 t^ V T K I . / ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF V*> o OPERATED BY T h e O h io Ho t e l O p e r a t i n g Co. M.C.HANNAN,Genl.MSB, INOSTOWN, ` April 17,1925. Grard Swope, President, General Electric C c ., 120 Broadway, New York"City. "7 ' Y ii ' My dear Gerard: This r ill be a supplement to my- official report of the Fort Waj'ne plant. I am really very much gratified to see how persistently and thoroughly Mr. Barnes has carried out every single suggestion I made to him last year. The high-table chair which they have produced is the best I have seen anywhere and Mu. Barnes is going to send a specimen of it to Schenectady to demonstrate before the doctors when they assemble for their conference. Miss TTinna has done excellent work there. I read her reverts turnover and on the tests she made with different varieties of high and low seats, and I was much impressed. She can do accurate research work of high order. But I believe she has come to the end of her usefulness in Fort Wayne. What Mr. Barnes wants is a woman of the Ladies Home Journal typo, and Miss Kinna is a woman of the Journal of Industrial Hygiene type. Mr. Barnes believes that the two types could be combined in one person, but I doubt it . It would be a great pity to lose Miss Kinr.a. Could she not perhans be placed elsewhere? Perhaps in Erie or Bridgeport, or the Lynn River Works where the problems are much the same as in Fort Wayne. Mr.-Barnes told me of two plants in Chicago which belonged to the Genera] Electric and which I have never visited, <Sne is at 23C S. Robey Street, making X-Ray apparatus, the other is the Edison Electric 'Appliance Co,, in Austin and here they er.amel ard sandblast. Bo you wish me to visit them? Very sincerely yours, r;>5 Youngstown, 0 . , April l'7,' General Electric CoBinary, Flar-t at Fort Wayr.e, In i. ., This is my seconl visit tc the apparatus plant in Fort Wayne, In d It will "be unnecessary for me to make a complete report of the plant and I will simply note the charges that have "beer: made during the past year. It is gratifying tc he able to say that every criticism which I made lest year has been met and I am now able to state that the danger has been in each in stance lessened or ccmoletely abolished. The features which were critized wereas follows: Benzol was used in formula 462 in such a way that fumes escaped into the air. Now they are using formula 457 which is formula 455 with 60 or 70 degree naptha, and not only are.the fumes comparatively harmless but it is said to wort better as a coating- for paper than 462 with benzol. The sandblasting, especially of large objects, was open to criticism, although it was better done than in some other plants. The workman was not obliged tc enter the sandblast room; he could stand outside and control his work by looking through a window. This window, however, was protected only by a very fine screen and the smallest particles, those which do the most harm when inhaled, were not held back by the screen. I asked at the time whether it would not be possible to have a glass window, but I was told that the particles of sand would soon frost it so that it would be no longer transparent. Now I find a glass pane fixed on the outside of the screen holding back all the fine particles so that the man is completely protected, but the screen prevents the frosting of the glass.As the draft is inward no dust escapes even through the opening for the pipe. I believe this is the best method of sandblasting to be found in any of the General Electric plants. The situation is not quite so good in the tumbling work for there is some leaking, but this is probably preventable and the small objects are treated on a turn-table which allows no dust to escape. The only criticisr m I should make of the sandblast department has to do with the supply room. Here there is a collector for the used sand which is, of course, an extremely fine powder, and when this must be emptied'an excessive quantity of dust escapes and takes a long time to subside because it is so light. A layer of it can be seen covering the fresh sand. It would be better to have this collector placed outside the building. GE MUSEUM 00076 The Third point which I mentioned in last year's report had to do with the spraying of lacquer and of paint. The former is now in excellent shape; the latter will he in all probability when the apparatus is fully installed. I had called attention to the poor seating for the girls and now I find that as a result of very careful tests a chair has been devised which in my judgement is excellent, The best high- table chair I have seen. I am unable to say whether it is the best possible, but 1 feel sure it is superior to any high-table chair in use at present in the General Electric Shops. It is a source of great satisfaction to me to find that the suggestions I made in Fort Wayne were considered reasonable and that the management was willing and able to follow them up so promptly. 5^/ C.L. . . GE MUSEUM 00077 r :* T ?1 '.v i- , V. IGC >1 V i i y "ir pW ho m im i Y L m .. - i V .0: i. <- .. . . ; -:3 11 : " 1-U:~ lu .: : T. v*o U;;;.] '-rior. 0 `.\, 0. ;>: _ r7 . \: iY" - i--v er.c,., :. f ; i. U: t;. ri :,ing . It UUrf c-r.o V . , J. , 1 b oUfi h .1 r v:e 1j>:h- - -s- r-r`-.-V....y." i ' ; . V, i. r 1 e u K s t th r: e .' -V. ::.' .XV.; ; vi t'i icul t in ta vvcoj.-.; . Vc; f h-. ri a 17 0 i;.i re v:j.>:f sling crtii t7 S::.'b- ? --' iii suffer aoBt, Cort--ir.lv * e.i.who- go to tfco. dispensary co a lla ining of ir r ita tio n d GE MUSEUM 00080 vT-V---:k:^- lbh, ,tr > h ''it^iha, ' but the tii who worit near thtwa, -, ' ; ....... ^ V J/ *.'> j ;: >1 , J OOestiOTi Very ' . . .: ... : t y y ho .ol : r e , i .. i .............. y :r ! : 'r .\: Jo t h y : . < JV . . : .i. i J V : 7 O Ir., i... yhe h i r e o U c r . o f hi o 0 -...: 100 the - y".: !:-i -*- >-X'i ledhhy Z Le oh of y-V:i l--V. yoir r t'-iid 1. tb lo y-' .. ' 'hy - ho '' hvi. ?:o C >' f o t , rae '!'VV- t.hs b rov-r. p r i t i ;. ...r. the- .. i . ,,i.;...- 'h o -r .oh ... r 2, i.-2 v. hv.oo e.i. i t o r o oo.'bl cri i iu - 7 ' ri . - h t ` h . . . ..> ? V. c i ; '` .hi. 3 r r r t ; i r f *! * . V v-i ^ . : "'. . r y o ff t- b o o 25. If 3 V 3 1 - . e t y- ....: - o f :h e .:. - ' - I '.: ;.- ; j . t * >. j . . i. ' J i h . . ;. o 2 . 0 i h y . o o .. -O... f I h 5 ,' i y p o r f o o t P C U ' ' , S h < 2 0 i t Ih- l e t t a p o ih i .. .e r , -.-o -o. . ho,, 'y; .1 x ig the roso b.aoifLillv o y ;o ; o v r r t : : - h t i n hr;y o f y'-y.. y - i -3t i t a c i che b o iio r h i lo . trio, " I. .... I v ; ^ . i. i '.. o .1 -' lo y y;: the t il s h c u l . u o y -.-. . o-. ge MUSEUM00081 I "'coruary 17, 1926 . o1?nag,. e. r JGv/ir fc la m I'riclgoporlt Pear Hr. vnark: ;'cyhs poster Ilxailton has already sent you a copy of Lor report of her v is it to Bridgeport, dated January 4, hut at a ll events I am Enclosing a copy. I an disappointed to see that the illu n ination, r ich has recently heen modernized, seene to he only piartta lly suceeeafal. hhat is the trouble? .o surely ought to do a good job in illum ination. I suppose the question of cyanide casehardening ;rou are haring looked into, as the process at Baltimore seems to he hotter. I suppose you ere also taking up the plans for rest rooms for r.omeru Tory truly yours, rcr* tt n'.rT?m-7>t> t; -n GE MUSEUM 00082 INDUSTRIAL TOXICOLOGY HARVARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 55 VAN DYKE STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS January 18 1926. 3e.rard Swope. President, General Electric'Company, 120 Broadway, New York C ity. Dear Mr. Swope: a' fd/ During the last two months I have made visits to the plant in Philadelphia at Willow and Seventh Streets, the one in West Philadelphia, the one in Baltimore, and the one in Bridgeport. I also went, at their request, with Mr. 3. W. Stickney and Mr. Ward Harrison, to see the lighting system of the East Boston Lamp Works. Enclosed you will find brief reports of these visits, Prom now on, iqy reports will be usually brief because ny visits are more in the nature of a check-up than an investigation and it is unnecessary to comment on anything but a new feature or perhaps an old evil which has not been corrected as yet. Yours truly, CLL * 1 , l-c>t r. AK:P GE MUSEUM 00083 Bridgeport. January 4, 1926. On arriving at the plant I found that Dr. 'Baylor was about to address the foremen on health questions, and later in the day Mr. 0. -See'i was holding a meeting of the safety committee. I attended both and was much interested to hear the discussions on the two subjects and to see the close acquaintance the men displayed with the problems in their own departments. The health and safety work seems to be in admirable hands. Mr. W. Stuart Clark, Mr, H. Hunerkopf, Dr. F. A. Baylor, and Mr. C. W. Collins showed me the new developments since njy last v isit, the most interesting of which is the rubber department. The only risk I found here comes from the litharge used in rubber compounding, for that is the accelerator used in all batches of rubber and no rubber solvent at all is required. One barrel of litharge a day is weighed on open scales and emptied into the mixer. Bhe man works with great care and no dust was evident whihe weighing, but it was impossible to avoid it when the batch went into the mixer. Phis department is in course of reconstruction and the feed into the mixer will be through a pipe from the room above. It will be desirable to have some device h9re to prevent any escape of litharge dust. Bhe use of the mixer is of course a great improvement over the usual method in rubber factories of dumping the dry compounds directly into the open mixing mills. In the panning room great efforts are being made to diminish the amount of soapstone dust in the a ir. Certain features which seemed open to criticism had, I found, already been consider^red by Mr. Hunerko|3f and plans had been made for remedying them. Juch ara the poor vent '.lat; on in the department using hot paraffin, "wax", where window fans have been ordered, the steam from the GE MUSEUM 00084 potash tank, and the hoods over the tanks in the plating room. ?hese last are of the old-fashioned type, low and covering the whole tank, thus tending to hold down the fumes, while in the acid-dipping room the hoods are of the new variety placed at the back, slanting, with a strong suction, llr. Hunerkcpf assured me that the latter are to be installed in the plating room also. i'he illumination in several departments has recently been modernized, but seems to be only partially successful}for mans'- of the former lamps, low and providing direct lighting, have had to be retained. Cyanide case-hardening has recently been moved to a large room where the furnace and the supply of cyanide are out in the open. It may be that this is a temporary situation, but if not, it is open to criticism, and I should advise treating that process as is done in Baltimore. The provision of rest and comfort for the 1400 women is inadequate. Dhe chairs provided throughout the plant are better than the average, and it would be a mistake to make any change at present before the studies of seating now being carried on in Schenectady are completed. The only change I should suggest here is the provision of ordinary low comfortable chairs for the girls widdLing spools in 253 whose work requires them to be on theirfeet, but who could sit down and rest occasionally. It is in the matter ofrest rooms that there is decided need for improvement. Up to now,I am to ld ,the buildings have been in a continual condition of change and readjustment, but that is passing over and it is possible now to provide the sort of quarter which are to be found in the better plants of the Oeneral Electric. At present there is a matron's room with only one cot, and this is not open at noonalthough a woman can rest there during the noon hour if she reports to the matron before twelve o'clock. This room, with two straight chairs and one rocker, is all the 700-800 wire and supplies girls have. Buildings 25 and 27 have ICO girls, with no room. Office girls have no rest room at a ll, but I 'was shc(6 the GE MUSEUM non* space which is to be devoted to a room for them, The disoensary has a room for girls, with two cots, and the office employee a and those in 28 and 29 can go there easily; the others are pretty far away. There is a tiny room for a second matron, bat it has only two chairs. Less than half the women go home at noon, so there is no fear that pleasant rest rooms would not be fully used and appreciated. The toilet rooms are well located, easily accessible to all departments, and very good. GE MUSEUM 00086 P hiladelphia November 27, 1925. The visit to the plant at Willow and Seventh Streets where I met, W. E. Mr. 3 . P. Higgs, M r./Teele, Mr. G. ?. Bloomer, and Mrs. E. N. Miller, was rather hasty because my chief objective was the new plant in West Philadelphia to which Mrs. Miller conducted me later. I found here a change in the coating used for machine parts which is, I believe, a decided improvement. The new pyroxylin, lacquers, as made at present, contain less harmful substances than did the older lacquers of this class and the resin lacquers. These are free from wood alcohol and usually from benzol. The lacquer ovens in this plant are excellent and there are no fumes from them. It is unnecessary to repeat ny former favorable comments on the provision for the comfort and health of the employees in this plant. West Philadelphia. Mr. H. E . Kemp took me through those departments which were operating at the time, but a second visit will be necessary if I wish to see the sand-blasting of large machine parts, acid-dipping, and spray-painting. The employment department and dispensary are large and admirably housed and equipped. I should have no suggestion whatever to make except possibly that a door opposite the entrance door would make the dispensary easier of access for a large part of the plant. The wash-rooms tfor men are much the best I have ever seen anywhere. Spray-painting was not in operation during ny visit but it is apparently unusually well done, for there was no apparent scattering of spray GE MUSEUM 00087 droplets, and these would have betrayed themselves^ for much of the paint was red lead and would have appeared on nearby surfaces. The truck panels can be sprayed under great hoods, but much of the work must be done out in the general room, and if it were not for the skill with which the spray-gun is handled there would be a risk not only to the painter but to others. My impression at present, from seeing not the actual work but the results, is that the Eclipse gun which is used here is much better than the ordinary gun or else the painters are unusually skilled men. pyroxylin coatings are uaed here also. The buildings are large and no criticism could be made of the general ventilation, lighting, and accident prevention. It may be that there will be some trouble amoig the men who work near the welders because welding repair work has to be done in different places wherever the heavy machine parts are, and in order to protect other men from the glare of the flame there are heavy metal screens which must be set up as needed, some of them requiring the travelling crane because they are so heavy. A good deal of vigilance will be needed to see that thse screens are always used. A minor point, but one which is worth mentioning because it bears on a situation I have observed in other degartBants, has to do with the bubbling fountains for drinking water. Those selected for the Willow Street plant are of the best approved variety, carefully designed to prevent the carrying of infection. Those selected for the West Philadelphia plant are poor and do not afford the proper protection. It is hard to understand how this should happen. The explanation given me was that the water in the firs t plant v/as not cold enough and that the second plant is an improvement in that respect, but obviously this has nothing to do with the drinking piece. The medical department was not yet in working order and will have to be visited later GE MUSEUM Baltim ore. November 30, 1925 Mr. J . A. Muir took me over the plant and showed me several new features which are designed to afford protection against fumes or dust or accident. I should like to pay tribute to the close attention to details which is evidenced throughout the plant. The new glass shield over the grinding viieels is ingenious, does not interfere with work, and prevents flying particles from reaching the grinders* eyes. The exhaust along the edge of the cyanide tank does not present the men' s approaching it from both sides and yet undoubtedly lessens the escape of fumes. The new brass foundry is excellent, with no escape of fumes during fusing and so large and high that there is good dilution of the fumes formed in pouring. The method of handling the cyanide in casehardening is especially good and might serve as a model for other plants. It is done in a small separate room which is kept locked, is entered only by two men, and is well ventilated. There is also protection against splashing when the he hted metal is dropped into the water. The man in charge is perfectly aware of the necessity for precautions in using and storing sodium cyanide. Welding is not so much of a problem here as in some other plants because the work can be done in one room, and men who are not protected by goggles do not run the risk of eye irritation from the light of the torch. This plant has very simple and inexpensive equipment both for the dispensary-employment-office and the cafeteria, but they are so satisfactory that it is evident that careful planning may bring about as good a result as the expenditure of a good deal of money. Any plant which has only a small space to devote to the employment office and the physician's quarters might/ GE MUSEUM 00089 2. well copy the arrangement in Baltimore. The bubbling fountains are of unusual type, nickel-plated, instead of porcelain-enamelled, of a simple but entirely satisfactory type. GE MUSEUM 00090 EDISOHLAMP WORKS ,FN-352 300m 8-18-20 OF GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE o f p ic s or MANAeBR or . Ytf. R. BURROWS work Harrison July 9 19ZS. UNerw. GYoerrkardOfSfwlooep*e Free* Fear Ur* Swope of v isits to our vaIriohuasrewnoorltde*d D1r.wHiallmitlatokne**upsuwmimthary Uplra*nStst*iokneyXwthiellqaulessotiosankeofIitmapyroBveumsiennetssintoH paetrisnognaolulyr siseeptohsesibfalec*tory managers and giro them whatever assistance stated lighting co1ndniotitoenysoautr Heoamrmriesnotntharaet n*Detr*uJpactokswonhat they should he** I w ill hare this, Investigated at once. Tours Tory truly web/ s .ii Juno , .._i*jxo-Go, 17 1 0 f-.aliy* ;5 u r* * -U. '0 ., ooli I an attaching copy of x. haixiltou1n smarmy of visits nade to our v riouy worhs :hc post year, and aopp of ,r- letter to the m nsgers. I call our attention especially to t` -e pare.graphs in c *rmection .ith the .Ugh tin a U our aeons. l l i you be pood anoa-ft to tnhc this up ith . oo rs. -arvition and' tlokney, who I understand ore cooperating with the committee of the rational .^search 'Jouneil, and I should like to have a report from thcra on to v;' at ? ogress io being: made and f cir plans -.or further work along this line. Vf xy truly pours, tihukn) i u : C-S:H Hr. Burrows: I understand that at the recent conference of doctors at 'cheneotady Dr. Jachson stated that lighting conditions at Harrison are not up to what they should be* G.3 . GE MUSEUM 00092 Edison Lamp Works, Harrison - May 13, 1935. ' - -;M The day was spent in a rapid survey oi the plant and a long discussion with Mr. Evans and Dr. Jackson of the problems of preventi1 medicine as applied to industry, espeoiilly the problem of early tuberculosis. The first v isit made to this plant showed that general conditions were unusually good, chairs and foot rests well adjusted to the indiv idual, lighting and ventilation good and no apparent speeding up of the employes. The present tfisit confirms this impression and appar ently the unit system, which had just been introduced on my first j v is it , iw working well without any evident h i$i tension although the f i , pace is pretty steady. The repeated flashing of lamps in the finish; ing jo b ,is bad,for no protection is provided against the light. The tungsten wire departments in which mercury is handled in sintering and in annealing are just as at my first visit,w ith mercury in droplets scattered over benches and other surfaces. These rooms are hot enough to favor volatilization of the mexoury, but Dr. Jackson has found no mercury poisoning among the women or men and he assured me that he was on the lookout for it . Medical service has always been excellent and the level of excel lence has been fully maintained during the last two years, if not im proved. This is one of the plants in which preventive industrial medicine is provided. GE MUSEUM 00093 //J. N WILLIAM A.D. EVANS PHCSIHKT TREASURER N. R. Bl R O C VICE PRESIDENT E. E. DAVI C S SECRETARY AUOTTO* Co o p e r Hewttt E l e c t r ic Co m pa n y OFFICES and WORKS: HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY DISTR IC T OFFICES BOSTON CHARLOTTE CC IHNICC AI NGNOA T I CLEVELANO DL OEST RA ON IGTE L E S PHILADELPHIA P lT T S B U ftO SS YT .RLAOCUUISS C 9 5 RIVER STREET OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT July 6, 1925. Mr. Gerard Swope, president, General Electric Company. 120 Broad-way, Sew York City. Dear Mr. Swope: - 1 have your favor of July 2nd written at Association Island and enclosing report of Dr. Hamilton's relative to the condition of our plant. I will go over this report with. Mr. Mailey and will then he in a position to communicate with you further regard ing Dr. Hamilton's suggestions. As to the question of a new factory I will be glad to discuss this matter thoroughly again with Mr. Birge on his next trip down here and will he prepared to talk about it after that time. I will have oheok for Dr. Hamilton prepared and mailed direct to her at the Harvard Medical School at Boston. Thanking you for sending this, I am, ^Fery truly yours, wade/ g GE MUSEUM 00094 s~ociation Island -July 2, 1925 fiUj resident '1o o o r uewit "ohokcn, J: lootrio o 5j^ Company correspondence and your request doctor Hamilton report. T thought you and " r* 'Talley would be or to me, rood in'" as follows "1 have Just finished v isitin g 'he ',oooer:Tev/itn -'leotrie lomo&ny in ho oaken, which T round under the charge of a very intel ligent man, T* !> M ile y , who evidently knows as much about mercury poisoniny as I do myself. The plant is not perfect, as you will see from the enclosed report, but the oreca.ition3 that rave been intro duced are, I feel sure, adequate to yuard against any serious attack of poisoning in an employee. They mould rave ample w a m n y of the beyinr.iny of such trouble and could tak steps to remove the individual from danger*" This brings up the vxestion which raised before, you w ill remember, thet i3 whether we ov Id not fin d a b etter fa cto ry for you. e have so many fa c to r ie s a v a ila b le now, where the conditions are b etter than your own, und I should be glad i f you would study th is to see whether GE MUSEUM 00095 or s o yoa. v ;ith a&TK&fcsHS aso d a s o f them . marg of footer ter 11 '}'-. ter s-te/loes , \ . !- ,V .; .,: ?te?S3 f t e : r j a ra;f o .. L te .: te ob r. j. Y'XrX9 GE MUSEUM 00096 TELEPHONE` V A JiD E R B lLT 6 0 0 0 Mr. Gerard Swope, President General Electric Co. 120 Broadway, New York, N. Y. My dear Gerard:- I have just finished visiting the Cooper-Hewitt Electric Company in Hoboken, wbioh I found tinder the charge of a very intelligent man, R . D. Mailey, who evidently knows as much about mercury poisoning as I do myself* The plant is not perfect, as you w ill see from the enclosed report, but the pre cautions that have been introduced a r e ,I feel su re,adequate to guard against any serious attack of poisoning in an employee. They would have ample warning of the beginning of such trouble and could take steps to remove the Individual from danger. You asked me to send you the b ill for this particular piece of work. It should include my expenses from Erie to New York and one day's work: that means $26.75 for the former; $50.00 for the latter, making$76.75. I went to Erie because Colonel Steever wanted me to attend the meeting of the Industrial ServicettKen on Thursday and Friday of this week. It was very worth while and gave me a lot of information about^non-medical matters which I am glad to hare. The only thing that seems now left to do is a visit to the Bridgeport Works, which they seem anxious to have me make. After that I shall consider that the Investigations for 1925 have been made and that we can dis cuss what you would like to have me do next year, provided the plans I have outlined do not render my services quite super fluous . Very sincerely yours, A k J X/ri.. i l In# GE MUSEUM 000 COOPER. HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY 3th and Grand Streets, Hoboken, ft. J. June 27, lriio. I escorted over the ySlant by Mr. E. C. /alley, Factory Manager, v.ith vsho. I had a lone: and very satisfactory talk concerning the hazards of the work end the best way of dealing with them. ?.'r. Me 11 ey is a chemist^ familiar with mercury and not only alive to the possible dangers but very well informed about the medical aspects, the symptoms to be looked ^.for and the preventive measures to be adopted. The building is not an ideal one for the handling of mercury because the floors are of wood for the most part and where linoleum has been used there are worn places or cracks or seams which allow droplets of mercury to lodge and escape the broom* The only proper flooring for such a building is smooth tind Impermeable with a curve instead of an an;~l whore floor and wall meet a *cove base* - otherwise there will always fee more or less accumulation of mercury in cracks and that means more or l?ss contamination of the air with mercury fumes because volatilization takes place below ordinary room temperature. The rooms in which the hazard is greatest are the pump room and the mercury cleaning room. The rump room is hot but there is a good deal of air dilution through open win- GE MUSEUM 00091 RrPXmi ON C '0P"F HF-WITT FLfc'CTF.IC CO?A.KY. -2- dows. Bo* --cod the air is in v,in ter I aaj not, sure, but perhaps the heat ie great enough to allow cf or-on winders ever. then. The ideal system of cvurse would be artificial ventilation. The floor hors is covered with linoleum in very fair condition and not much mercury' ie sp illed, but there is more or? the floor than c^n be considered quite safe and it Is almost impossible to sweep it up from under the -pumps and ether apparatus. The mercury cleaning room rrx**.acor depends on open windows altogether. There is more roerc-i y spilled here and the floor is hardr tc keep clean# It would be a good thing to give this floor a fresh covering of linoleum and to curve It into a "cove" base, for as it is now,it cannot be kept really free from droplets. I am even more doubtful about the ventilation o f this room in cold weather and much more meroury is exposed to evaporation here than in the pump room. The finishing department has a good wooden floor* not worn, and it is kept very clan but close inspection shows droplets of mercury in the cracks. Th~ room is large and probably the mercury fumes are amply diluted in summer when the windows are open; about the condition in winter I cannot speak. The same thing can be said of the shipping room which also has a good wooden floor with droplets of mercury in the cracks and with natural ventilation only. The room for final tube testing also has mercury in the cracks of the floor. GE MUSEUM 00099 RSPORT ON COOPER HIT?;ITT ELFCTRIC C MP/U'Y -4- by the nurse. I %&r<t to comsend very highly the intelligence and solicitude Sherri by Mr Mai ley in M s 'tacageuent of this, dang bus trade* ge museum 001 c REPORT OM COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC CM?* NY. -3- The medical service ia very good. Dr. H. E. Matthews of orange, 8 . J * , who has had much experience with mercurialiam among hatters, corses to the factory once a month and looks over every employee who works with or near mercury Between times, the dispensary is in charge of a trained nurse ho gives mouth treatment to these employees twice a weak The company provides shower "baths, soap and towels, toothbrushes and torthpaste^to the same class of employees To sum up* Thera is a very real risk of mercury poisoning in this plant because have ample evidence that mercury scattered over the floor and lodging in cracks can con taminate the air sufficiently to bring about mercurial ism if the supply of outside air is not great enough to dilute the fumes past the point of danger. To da away with the danger entirely would require new flooring, a system of artificial ventilation and some measure for preventing breakages and spilling* However, I do not believe that the risk of mercurial- ism is anything but very slight in this plant because of the close supervision maintained by the dispensary. Mercury pole- oning does not come on suddenly and the people who are expoeed aro seen twice a week by the nurse who would note not only a change in the mouth, b .t also the development of a tremor* The monthly visit of the doctor means a thorough examination and it would bo a very exceptional case which v.ould develop^ in serious form between two visits and without thing detected GE MUSEUM OC " t o P ff A L f e. . eO ;:-; rGfU^ g03) "U K <0 Z Z g U < Yard.M aio,-Hydrants 8 c . ^ Dry-pipe Connections Bein^ in s ta lle d -As Shovyn, H - E Lunch Rm. on R?. < ( K S ; C io C o n s tr u c tio n } Z6 ei *=>* I S to . W d . 0S t . (T o Be S p r in k le r e d ) C UJ * te- e-u->- B TTC M Hoi. T i l e E n d C\ To Sprinklers*0 ftio. -I00J,- - /<1 ; ^ - - i^-iJj *M0* ' * 8*- u0i 0 >t . A -tin. S.P, 3&-- -! 1; -' " ' 1 ; " 3 5 *~c 6 ,n = = . c0"**-<j ft in. . e0 : . . . d s^ c Oie V a u lt I1Ri Ja or PVUACMOPURMH i . . . *-**((7..In Const.) . ._ Index Mo. Z 5 0 Z S Q h E R A L E L E C T R IC C O " WEST YARD" S c h e n e c t a d y / M.. Y. - " Drawn Oct . 17, tD2.3 Scaie; tn.= loo ft. ll-eues , Cnic** o , I i l i n o i s . chine 4 , k 0 ;.. r. i'rer-c is 2. Pratt, vice-ti e s . , Bens' ral iectric Company, Bcheriec ta.dv, He?- York. .* Dn.-x --r. Pratt: i, My visit to the Pittsfield Plant '!'?s rather 'brief, taking only one day, ana was made for two ourooses onlv: To talk over with the cdemists some new compounds about wnich. trey had consulted n.e by letter and to oey another visit to tae lightning arrestor department, including Building 41. / ' r . Chesney was absent, but Mr. In^ull took me in charge and accompanied me cn my visit to the lightlying arrestor depart-"* a>ent. Mr. 7 . Y., Clark was also away but his assistant, Mr. Endicott took me through tne ceoecitor department ana I discussed the various problems arising in connection with certain chemicals with '"essrs, Branson, Cox, Crain and Dobell. Hr. Crain went thoroughly over the situation of the lightning arrestor building with me. To take up the capacitor situation f ir s t : They are contemulating tne substitution of nitrobenzol for the t r m s i l oil wnich is used at present. 'Already they have had trouble from the iransil oil because the men necessarily h*ve their hands and forearms con tinually covered with i t . If nitrobenzol is to be used in the same way, skin contact cannot be avoided. Nitrobenzol is notoriously a dangerous poison which enters the body primarily through the skin, Humes will cause poisoning, but the serious cases which have occurrec in industry have come from the splashing of nitrobenzol over the ski: or from soaking the clothing or boots in nitrobenzol. During the war, when aniline was manufactured on a. large sfcale for rubber vul c a n iza tio n ,! had a good deal of experience with nitrobenzol, and later on witn^ the same poison in the making of coal tar dyes. It is a. poison to the blood ana the central nervous system causing the formation of methemoglobin in tne place of oxy/hemoglobin and pro ducing depression of the centers controlling respiration, heart action and temperature. Ajcnronic form of noi soiling causes anemia, emaciation, loss of strength and impairment of sight and hearing. Wosorntion of nitrobenzol is encouraged by not, moist air which flushes the surface Vessels, makes the skin moist with sweat and also helps to vaporize tne nitrobenzol. The caoacitor work is carried on in rooms a little below tne level hf the'ground, only 9 f t . high, with many treating tanks at 10C0. These rooms are hot, even o.n ?. eris-o, cool day. partly necause the windows are screened with cueeee cloth to kee~ out tne soot from the locomotives continually passing by. There is a fen to blow in air but even tne comfort of the men in summer weather ge museum 00103 _u ._ iv *c i.c - na :/:/ '-j 1-h;; uea...ire ..-.ore ~arced rev ..& -a de ; - -..-fj- .Vi -/: it VS suit e unfit 0 i i onous v'oru is to ;r on. y- . -J itror-e..: zol, wuicu .-.am U vu t : ...e v?cU .S tilled ft vat, will s aimed f run a v- : : to a Vr'v '..m0 cat in , tank in v-.nicn t..e cau p c it or nas abread" -v--r red. t alived a 'r, t-.a :re 1 1 uinarv vi rte 'r-et nireun.lrte iincr.ruceo nlas.i.s't:s? : oi nr vso.?w ei r . .:^tso:e. c p tacit or in p '.fill soak in;:: it .11 if ry ? is i 1. t :r-cr et e:oupzt re l a . andTrrree nhiet ar ot ebdel ny z osol ursei lslin?be -ruudn slowly into t~e vac.uum--treat inr tank *r.ci when the capacitor is saturated tue hLeaft wr iilll be turned o f f end the flu id cooled down "CO -bout b 0 J C . "30m im, 9 A table on vessels is then run in and. the full- pans containing the (BAH capacitors ere lifted out witr. hooks to tre table, ha fcontact is needed here end cere prevent s :tilin g. The table goes into the next room, The nitrobenzol almost inevitably being snip shed out over,the metal covered ten of the table as the txansii oil nor &&*&'? it goes to the transfer tank,8. galvanized iron tank abou tnree feet long, 12 inches ride and 13 to SO inches deep, open, fille d with- nitrobenzol. The can with tie capacitor is placed here .nner nitrobenzol, the capacitor slipped out, and taxious slight adjustments made taking about five minutes, all under nitrobenzol. Cue man would do about 100 two or three times a. week. A tin can is then nut in and the capacitor slipped into it under nitrobenzol. These pin containers then go to the soldering teble which is covers rltn ralvau-i ec. iron which has raised edges to eaten tue crip. T- sclderers get tueir hands and arms smeared and their clothing soaks uilfess it is protected. Possibly this elaborate transfer method map ne simplified or eliminated as the system is better worked out I am told, however, that the Schenectady chemists advise them to do it in <?. big, open tank which, of course, would be even more o.air- : -erous. , It*. Vj-*4'W^> The orovision]even now, wuen transil oil is used, is in adequate. Ten wash cowls for f i f t T- men ere su fficie nt but tue wate is- only warm and neitner soap nor towels are provided, nor vrotecti'- clothing- for the menl They tie rags around their arms and also use them as tow els, these rags being provided by the Company instead of w aste. They should have a. bland , r.on-irritaring, liqu id scan o i soao oowder and cotton, not --peer, towels, and they should be giver castor o il and instructed to /ano in t tne hands and arcs before work and p f ter washing. In this way they car. be protected against the trade dermatitis 'r o t which there has been a good deal of co.tr`lair If nitrobenzol is used instead of transil oil there rust -.,,e ituch more than t h is . Baths w ill have to be^ provided; u 11 S u . nitrobenzol is sv-la sired over tne s'.:in tue man ought to strip at one and take a f .,11 bath u sing a we a'" solution of acetic acid to remove ti.e nitro b en zo l. Tue men w ill nave to learn to do tiuework without uetting- nitrobenzol on th e ir hands and arms. The problem of cro i.ec GE MUSEUM 00104 - : ; - *:? c/o /'^ lO V ....... I dif ficult . -*J**. a. : . u ::1 it , - --- 'V - 1..; vi y.: end f r _ ..b tice - it "`orse . o : cion j -C : a cer t "-"111 ele-, :e te ce ;s uto e---rr te-i t U' P U il;-- -isits -jo t :0 IP to ....; c l o u e redlcr-i s- try su i.-.-., t o "OU r er r te fore erf: o: v ...r-1 il! ;oer i*7 nit rotondo 1 is un v.SUl-2 if is not. if you r i t ..e Lui-out 0 ositi?nv or of tl.t. consult aoelkopf Ctnoeuoo&rsanmryceiti'r.y.;. e'Sxuufepf rruttieo,1 e t n e i t h e r in ayyoeu sorforirs.eniror e xe xp pe rloiesnivcee vvi t.rnu"fL'icetucroenvnooorunidn ertei e - '"ine of p-utterous ei-nfi rlsinnieo nnr-evne iI t e ve is r n sr eo enno s en d i t rtoo o eLne so n l i e h ia t n d il n e d P iint t srfs i e l d . GE MUSEUM 00105 :r . rO"*Ti !no s - r i I ':sf ie id P l a n 3/5/' The lead hazard in the lightning arrestor department has always been a preeled, and at this visit T find matters not at all improved, rattier the reverse. From beginning to end. of the process there is dust, chiefly of the 'orown peroxid lead. lay reason for making the visit at this time was that I have just finished inspecting storage batteries, the largest factory in deruany, the four largest in England and the eight principal ones in this country. Inasmuch ae the work in the lightning arrestor department resembles very closely that in the pasting department of storage battery manufacture?*?, I wanted to compare the prft&a2tions taken in the former with those which I found in the best plants of the latter; namely, the n illard, the Prestolite and the one connected with the Union Switch and Signal Company near Pittsburgh. I am sorry to say that the department in the Pitts fie ld plant., measures up to the very worst of the storage battery plants, the U. S. Light & Heat in Niagara Falls, except that there is a very good fao&'diiion of washing fa c il it ie s . But m construc tion and upkeep the Department is very bad, nor do I see how it could be brought up to modern standards without radical changes. It is impossible to keep the floors dust free, they are so rough, broken and, above a ll, so encumbered with cases and. old tables and other things that dust collects in inaccessible places and real cleansing is out of the question. The use of hand work in stead of mechanical conveying and dumping and tamping greatly increases the danger. As a result, the men have no standards of cleanliness; thtfy could not have in such surroundings, and one finds lead peroxide dust in empty pans, all over benches, in heaps on the floor and, of c o u r ^ covering window sills and other sur faces. Mr. Crain, who acted as my guide, was very readv to ac cept suggestions but I found it impossible to make any. The reforms to be -worth anything must be very far reaching, and if they are to be undertaken I hope that you w ill not depend on suggestions from me, but will let Mr. Crain and Mr. L. A. Thompson have an opportunity to visit the prestolite plant in Indianapolis and see for themselves what can be done for cleanliness and the substitution of mechanical for hand work. Before leaving the lightning arrestors, I ought to em phasize the fact that Building 41, where pellets of oxide are poured into the porcelain cylinders should oe regarded as a lead department because the pellets fly around on benches and floor ana there are fine coatings of 'crown oxide dust over these sur faces. In this same building are the radio arrestors. Colonel Steever had consulted me as to possible risk in this Department from radium-- barium chloride. Only four persons are employed here and it would be a simple thing for a physician to dis cover whether the radium was exerting any effect since it only requires a few white blood "ell counts. GE MUSEUM 00106 hr. Pratc Pac 5 - Pittsfield, plant S /o /'H S assumed The chemists talked poisoning from certain one ing '.vita, I cannot sneak too with which ;hey haws ove r with me theprevention, of they are using or expe rimer, t- hly of the conscientiousness duty of protecting she workmen against th; se dangers. They have written to various chemical companies for information about the symptoms of poisoning and about the way to avoid the dangers, but this is a. duty which should not be left to chemists. It is a medical problem and is so recognized almost everywhere. It is the exception owadavs to find in an industrial niant the chemist m onarge of the protection of h ealth. The problems about which they"con sulted. me included: The prevention of trade eczema, from the effect of transil o il on the skin; a situation which Dr. Smith had already dealt with successfully.J -shoe protection of the skin against the irr ita tin g effect of hexamethylenetetramine^ /flie p o ssib ility of a n ilin e poisoning :pTom grinding, melting and spreading on paper on a hot pi resin containing b> aniline^ cind the physiological effects o. formaldehyde, phenol, tetraethyle and the possibility of chronics lead poisoning from long continued work in a room with a lead floor. A brief summary of this long letter would be as follows: The substitution of nitrobenzol for transil oil will mean the substitution of a poisonous process for one that is relative ly harmless. It will necessitate better ventilation, much great er precautions in the handling of the flu id , more abundant wash ing facilities and careful, constant medical supervision. The lightning arrestor department is poorly constructed and the work carried on in a way and under conditions which constitute a con tinual hazard. The changes needed here are fundamental, in cluding the introduction of mechanical processes for hand work. Building 41 should be regarded as a branch of the lightning arrestor department and treated accordingly. The problems of industrial poisoning are greater and more complicated in the Pittsfield works than in any other works of the General Elec tric Company, yet this is the plant'least under medical'super vision. Sven a small lamp works employing 300 girls in nonooi3onous work has more medical suoervision than Pittsfield has. I have written very frankly as you see because r. Swope has always urged me in my reports not to mince matters but to say exactly what I think , I hope you understand that my criticisms have been based, not on an imaginary standard,but on the practice of the best inbust rial establishments with wale i I am acquainted. Very sincerely y T-* ^a 9 AH/AKR. GE MUSEUM 00107 44 Juno 10, 1925 Mr* 0 , 0 . Chosnoy PI5TSPIBLD Boar Mr. Ghesneys X know you will bo interested in the attached report from Doctor Hamilton in regard to the Pittsfield Plant. I am glad to see the progress that has been made and haven't any doubt you have in mind bringing all of the work: up to those standards. lours very truly, GERARD SWOPS GSsH GE MUSEUM 00108 Pittsfield Manufacturing Plant - May 15 & 16, 1925. This was my first complete visit to the P ittsfield ?Torks, for in the spring of 1933, when an investigation was made "by the Harvard group of physicians, my attention was turned only to the relatively small number of departments in which poisons are.handled. The report which was sent by this group to the General Electric Company contained certain recommendations and suggestions with regard to specific fea tures in connection with manufacturing processes and also more general recommendations with regard to the medical service in the ^ilant. The specific risks consisted in the use of red lead in the manufacture of lightning arrestors, the use of benzol in some departments, offlead paint in spray form and the exposure of sand blasters and porcelain workers to s ilic a containing dust, ^he more general recommendations coneBnned the organization for the care of the health of the employes, which was found to be inadequate and not based upon the principles of sound industrial medical practice. In this v is it I have tried to cover the same ground as was covered by the Harvard group two years ago. In general it may be said that there is a distinct improvement in the matter of industrial poison and dusts. The lightning arrestor department is much better. The * f il l i n g benches are now equipped with grated tops opening into ausuctio: pipe which draws down the dust. There is also suction at the spinning machine. The men who have the dustiest work, f il l i n g the pans from the bins and carrying them to the benches, do that sort of work only one day in the week. The floors are washed with the hose twice a day and although they are impregnated with red lead, they are not dusty. The benches, especially those on which the fillers-,ptack theirefinished material, have too much red lead dust and should be cleaned oftener and probably with water. A nd* bathhouse is to be b u ilt, the present one GE MUSEUM 00109 -- 2 -* being considered inadequate. The management provides clean, washable union suits and overalls which are kept in a separate room and are laundered by the Company. The men in this department are sent once a month to Dr. Tracy at Hillcrest Hospital for examination and no case has developed,according to his report, for a number of months. I think that under this system it should be entirely possible to protect these men against anything but a mild and early stage of lead poisonin even though they are engaged in lead work which is distinctly more dangerous than the average. Sublimed blue lead paint is sprayed by men who also are examined monthly for lead poisoning and who work with a sponge respirator to protect them from breathing droplets. Nevertheless, it would be bette to apply the paint from a hose as is done in Erie. Very l it t l e benzol is used. Formula 187 paint contains benzol, but it is used only in the machine shop where small parts are built. A v isit to the new porcelain works shows that there is very lit t le danger there from breathing flint-containing dust. Only three men weigh and mix the flin t for the body and glaze and work only about an hour a day at this job. The dust in connection with the finishing work is carried off by a very good exhaust apparatus. Dry sweeping at the end of the day is doubtless very dusty, but wet sweeping is im possible, because of the slipperiness and the sweepers are given res pirators. They are planning to use vacuum cleaners. The exhausts for glaze spraying and for paint spraying are excellent. There is much more danger of dust in sand blasting. This is done with the usual Pangborn equipment ina aoom with a slotted floor and exhausts and the men are obliged to work in the room for it is said that the castings are too large to permit of using the Fort Wayne closed chamber with the turntable. They are experimenting with GE MUSEUM 00110 ni - 3 the Burrell mask with which they are very favorably impressed. It would be a great improvement if they could introduce the shot blast equipment which is used in Erie and Schenectady, instead of the sand blast and the hydraulic method of shaking out castings, which was de vised in Erie. -Thether this is feasible of not I am quite unable to say. At present the men ffcom the sand blasting department are exam ined monthly a.nd at the end of six months they are shifted to other work, even if the doctor' s examination has revealed nothing in the way of a lesion in the lungd. This seems to me rather drastic, and I hope to see the system supplemented by one which does away with the source of trouble, the sand dust. In commenting on the medical service it must be said that our report of March, 1923, still holds good. It is still true that the problems of industrial medicine and hygiene deserve more serious at tention than they now receive, Although much thought and care has been given to accident prevention and to the general welfare work, such as education and recreation, a more extensive and effective organization of medical service should be introduced. Surgical care for minor and major injuries seems entirely satisfactory, but no attempt is made to deal with illness or to carry out a program of preventive medecine, except in connection with the peridibcal examination of the groups of employes mentioned above. The so-called emergency hospital is lamentably small and inadequat< It consists of three rooms only, 3bhe first is a waiting room for men probably large enough. Into it opens a small, surgical room for men and next to that, opening directly into it , is a tiny room for women which must be used both as a waiting room and a room, for surgical dressings. These three rooms must serve 6500 employes with an average GE MUSEUM 001 4 107 cases a day. During the last month, April, 1925, there were 659 new accident cases and also 33 compensation cases. In 25 days 1837 dressings were made and 95 eye cases were handled by the nurse. Burii this same time 143 cases went to the hospital and 30 eye cases were sent to the oculist. I f a sick girl comes to the "emergency hospital" she must go to the room in which surgical dressings are going on and where she must see those that are going on in the men' s room also, for the door is always open, since the nurses must pass back and forth between the two rooms. There are two chaiis in this room and one cot in a corner. There would not be space for any more furniture. The only toilet room opens directly into the men' s surgical room. The nurses have to go to the floor above. The surgical room for men is very small and crowded. There are three trained nurses and a young girl assistant and there is also a V isiting Nurse. One of the three nurses is not employed in the dispensary, but is in charge of a lit t l e branch first-aid. room where she takes care of minor injuries only. The Visiting Nurse, however, helps out with surgical dressings for the first hour of the morning. Very lit t le illness comes to the dispensary. Curing April 75 women out of the 800 employed came to ask for medicine, dnly 68 men out of 5700 employed. The nurse deals with these cases as well as she \can. The women come chiefly for menstrual difficulties for which the head nurse gives them a proprietary medicine. She says that she cannot talk to the girls and give them advice, because there is absolutely no privacy. As a aaaal thing people who are ill go home without seeing anyone in the dispensary. The medical work of the porcelain factory is under the same management and the Visiting Nurse makes a daily trip for surgical GE MUSEUM 00112 - 5 dressings. She works in an inside corner of the main room behind a screen where there is a small sink with cold water, an old table and a chair. It is recognized that this is a very poor provision for her work and she has been promised better quarters and a good equip ment. The nurses connected with the Pittsfield Works seem to be giving admirable service under)very heavy handicap. There is surprisingly lit t le provision for the comfort of the 800 women employed in the P ittsfield Works. That the seating is poor is not to be wondered at, because the same thing is true of all the manufacturing plants, and the question will have to be carefully studied by the General Electric Company before it can expect any of the individual plants to intDBduce reforms on an intelligent ba sis, but the lack of rest rooms in the P ittsfie ld Works is striking as compared with the other manufacturing plants and does call for prompt improvement. Women are doing a good deal of work in some of the de partments which requires standing all day and in some cases, as in winding transformer reels, they stand most of the time on one foot pressing the treadle with the other foot. Another fatiguing piece of work is the punch press for which the woman is obliged to sit poorly on her high chair pressing down to one side all the time. The foot rests are of all kinds, not apparently planned with much thought. It is true that the majority of the women go home at noon, but in other plants, where the same thing is true, the cots and easy chairs are used by tired women who ought to be allowed to rest if they wish to. These are a few instances of the scanty provision which is found in P itt s fie ld . In Building 43, 200 office girls have one small room which contains 5 water closets, 6 basins, a cot, one easy chair, and 2 straight chairs. The factory girls, 100 to 250, are better treated GE MUSEUM00113 for they have a good wash room with adequate facilities and a tiny ?0 - 6room adjacent which, although-it has nothing hut a cot and three straight chairs, is at least separate. There is another room for 129 office g irls, about 10' x 10 *, but a raised place on the floor takes up part of this scanty space. This room has four toilets, four basins, a cot, two straight chairs and one old easy chair. A- bout fift y girls from the blue print room belong in this group and they must come the whole length of the building and down a flight of stairs to reach a water closet. In Building 5 are the women who wind reels, standing all day and using the treadle. They have one cot and one easy chair in the room which contains the water clostis and wash basins. The usual objection to providing rest rooms for women employees is that it would encourgge loafing, wasting time, but this objection would not have any force in Pittsfield for there is already a matron in charge of each one of these lit t le wash rooms. These matrons seem well selected and they could certainly take charge of much larger premises. My suggestions may be summed up as follows: A stricter standard of cleanliness in the lightning arrestor department. The substitution, if possible, of the shot fclast for the sand blast. More adequate medical care. Better quarters for the dispensary. Better and more numerous rest rooms for the women. I should also advise the management to cooperate w ith the manage ment of the other manufacturing plants in working out a proper program fo r s e a tin g women employees. GE MUSEUMOOlt Tbli eopy aent iItOAoNrwyoOMeE.PatXtifllSi -v mnce Campanie!,' R E C O M M E N D A T I O N #.7 feci^hff a w l 'lsetrfeg REGULAR INSPECTION. 28 " la s t Yard ." Hours T im e iti M ill Y a rd ...............i Sopt.26,27,21 RAL ORDER and NEATNESS--Neglectet fair- gaO/Eicelleoi M u t t l i y j ............... .......... nbus'le Waste Stock...4 ..removed before night. Floors--oil soaked. ShU.t..Olifj. WASTE--Neglected. .Well cared for. Ractpticlll--Scant. Poor. Good. ....................... AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS - f t r iR U e .l .l . . .< 9., W P i l .f Bind " ^ (Name)'Fed from : Tank. Pump.-Auto.gov'n'r. Priv. reserv. H f t f l D S . W a n d T...*tT.TT E | .T V * Pressure:on highest spr....... Jbs. fromPub. Supply.Priv. Resv?. ETS, Etc. --Too many. Mostly disorderly. Neat. -.................................. On highestsprinkler...... Ihi. fiyiniWin. r.,.ir-..50 T b S . e i t h TEAM PIPES -- Examined. Combustibles in contact. All clear....... ............................ Shut oil In wlntsr -- None. Shutoff i n . . y . ..... .......... Heating' pipes,-- Mostly, all, t side. A THTTTlfflf^ M W fl.t ......-............... ci nnA :REDOORS--Patera--Defective Pair.... -- Self-closing............... ..................... A~A M -TTmiirS----------- T|i trnfvi -- y ^.................. ATORS, STAIRS, BELTS--Cut-offs at Boors--Poor. J t e y n S 3 J a ...a ..f .6 M ..B A d S I PAILS-- Supply scant, good. u .j i--.-*v nr.n filial ft ** L HOSE- In ...lh r .Q g b .O .W t.A .............................. HOSE-- Condition suspicions. Good. Supply--scant, *Buale........... .. :amined............. tested.............-apparently goo&jJ-^.a.Q.QKu-ti.*.^* LES-- Supply scant, goad. Mostly, All, poor, pood- .............. .........*J.. NERS, Fire-axes, Bars, Ladders, Straps-- Supply scant, good..... .................. ........ Valve, shut In winter: location poor. iflubtfalI ynp vqnirnst j&ihA*.. Dr, Pip. sy,tem.Ggin n e U .,.afl4 in c.krvoeoodO^in.Co(.QY.exp.r..at. (Kind of Dry Pipe Valve.) dlY O p Y ^ , Arrangement of Pipes: Poor. Fair. .Good. Improper circulation.Rr..f.i.^. YalVES---fFlTfltniflpd- All inside sealed. AIT found onetf........... Inspection Recor ds None, Poor. Fair, Good.Q.r ... ....... . <IAHK or Prjvate Resv.i ,.& a $ .,.8 S i > ......... ....empty.... ........j j j i ^ .e * r l y . ........... Usedfor! y. T^'|-> <tp,yA** tt7^ . giving..3.5...lbs. atyd. .................. ......... YARD cvsTCuiyi.,t.,M..hyt-off3oii all nines r>v.vtjl" * "t-'''nt'M fr.............................. YARD HYDRANTs\con.toPub.Supply..., .Old styledry. IKmst.prnof FIRE BRIGADE--Unorganized. Undrilled, -n^n^..................................... babte Efficiency: Doubtful. Fair. Good. ......... ............ ........... ^ Ti.rH HMAN {8e, ^ Cr0a*} --None. Poor. Pair- r.nrvL Jtniinri; tnud^-HpUrl y ................ T MEN -- In yard availablefor fife.lQsimd^.w .Q ffe e k (k y p ^.9.1ife...sSr.j.j.?...... ERNS { * $ * } -- Open. Risky. . /air. Good. ................................... f-- Kerosene. Gas,--retort, gasoline* *Ptip+rN>-- ** ............;.................. TRIG EQUIPMENT-- Old style. Mndaon. poor. Fair. Good....... ............................ . -QU . GasoIIas or........... ........ Wall anuBgod. Dangerous. ..............._ ............... . i STEAM FIRE ENGINES...-2-.-in tomin.....3,,..more in 30 min. .................. In addition to thegeneralreport bearing this same date, . - IancsoppeyctoiofnwhDicehpahratms aelnrte,adthyebefeonllosewnint ygourecdoirmecmtefrnodmatiothnes were also made by the Inspector regarding improvements L. which were in hisjudgment desirable, Ml *-**'"* \ . Tested. FIRE gm*n--TT<uvr^i^:HoTi.blvff.rmfg. Pr.T >Ynivhr. a-ei.uiJav. Started how often ? r tfw ifly . PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY^Qiccct4 U *5. only- G ra vity ligliiitqcy. Not connected into yard.. attippfctiw t. Oobbssttiructed by metety -wV......................... Dlam. Main Into Yard,..............................D iam etri inain'..,...;;., t? ...,................ . Specialfirepres*.... ....Jbs. Ord.pres,by day:.. ..lbs* Tested. .......................... . PROB. NO: GOODW STRMS. allsourcs(pmp.pblc. feres.) taneonsly furnish atany point in yard(Ip ^ 1^lE^ ^ f " ) CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING THIS REPORT TO BE ADDRESSED TO Tourconsiderationofthesepointsisinvited. al Ifyou see a better remedy, or if there is good reason for . delay, or ifyour ownjudgm ent is different, kindlyfavor us aAficdrevstiysweieadlelebt^aec^thefereadotnheoinrprereeooemer'nbetuuraobtoeihmtalen^tnbidaulirldbeilsantngko;ff.>o",.rr jt;r with yourcomments, GE MUSEUM 00111 O fA MMRAOIXNIIS AMTABN PUCrS'a C 'EsN;oTo. sF.LOVON Includingtowen,foundries andwet* ARC* IP IIlH S L E O , Of important ) j_ ^ wsloigrkh,t bhuazt anrodt odretsamchaelldvbaoluiled.iegat-i- 1 95 7 STOHAae [ 7 n buildings, ,) wPehreiceeanpt,rioaUf eabtaovaere' mTsdariinti pb-uefedddreiTnd*gs. outside : t ^ | a f ^ | i a :t% e^z^^oyl^dac'..ased. in snail rneomrents Ijj^our, ^fectriOiane' A in 'f ir s t story rested. I .Store Room and Receiv- 24 B* Uremarks. ^ ^ $ m & & r d oobs 29-"2'7aic ^ Jjtiiintd4ineqr.O.#sS2m*ealiulnn.PdTleaurt:rf;boiinrnmteersmMReonddPe>ialtR^e2ofoSmjeaondr under important 1 t S^tchbda^d^fire# floor of ^#6 ^nnktlieodnrwoiomsi e other H / ^(Gauge on Hydrant at Junction of (:lcpehrasra,antpugrseo,stoeirnc-V1f igSi' . , . , Butt 1,100 Gaisl lWaehing#o4 Avenue 4 River Road. J,S ____ , r l?2--|/2 l5e0o'uth of Bldg.#50 InHlyedsrat nYt ard. htatnwdoarmk.otmtTj l m: i f i t #1 FIRE PUMPS I[Hfo.rPPa. msvpsaUfarboUmLI'j " s u r W isol. I r4 ^ RATED pwl9fin8.0 SFA 0 AtPntop SSAtSft^hS S ; WATER PREMURE, Speed tried m-of SE Lb, p* 94.i.- .-Kin. DTRU8. STBRAW* A tnydh .HrOuItE.. SHIZ0E8E0.f |1 y fM ij -jjr * OurF.(nH9y008E*.'' otum. 809 U TH- Wf iCI- ! NESS OF 5 J- ACTION. RERERAL CONOmOl m 1 i v y >uinrd. e ^ ftjctou jell, luride. 3 f - +0? " * u s i Improvements*_- -Continued* lp?'- f(ocromnesiadter2a3bleaadex2p8o,sulrae tIonst#r1u0m)e, nPtumaapdRMoomeasuraintgoRfoo#m14,in13#*1C8,1, 3i-n1,APddlai*t- tsitoanirstoinOf#f1in6d, aunt daenrdwoofodCcaelllelirnyganind DunridveerwSaytobraegtweeDenec#k22neaanrdc2e3n,tetrwo o hleeat)d,s ounudtseirdePlaotffoprmarstitTioownerooffn#ew28Taensdt oRnooemeixntra#2h7e,adinin2&s-Ema(lclosnetcraticotn o(df eOflfefcicteorsof2#42t9o. 25S"prdionwklne)r.s Lunindeesr sthheou.lGdalbleeryraoisfed#1.6 are too low pSippreinskylsetresmn.ow Mshuucht oofffthine awbionvteerwionrk#2h3a-sBaalrnedad2y4-Bbeesnhoourlddebreedo. n a dry (3) PFruornvaidceesshcoiemlidnsg iinn #c8onttoacptrewviethntchoymdbrougsteinbleflammaetefrroiaml. large Brasing ((54)) MPraokveideencfloirseurecsuratatinsstaiirnwa#y1s6. in #14,23 and 26 double boards and complete f(Oirpeenfirnogms tbheetwfeierns tstatoirsupapnedr wfliondoorwss). wPolualdinngowlaspsreisnendtoroerasdyshopuasldsagbee roef pfolarceadllwsittahirwwiarey, gdolaosrss t(hIrtouigshouuntdetrhsetoopdlawntir)e. glass has already been.ordered (6) Pinrsoivdiedetrnaonns-fcoormmbeursstiwblheereenoculotssiudreesloacnadtidornasinasrefronmotthfeeaesnibclleo.sures for ao(ra)ImpProrvoetemcetntws"ood partition in #12 against open gas flame(Understood to have (b) Wbeheamn deoxnteingbuefisohreersinsapreecntieoxnt wehasargcoedm,plpertoevdi)d.e tags showing date of (c) Pchroavrgidinege{xTtoingbeuidshoneer)n; ear moving picture machine temporarily located in Rwohoemn p52e7rmoafneBnutliyldlinogca5ted(t,o be dene) and enclose machine in metal booth ((de)) RReeppllaaccee wmoiosdsindgoosrhaeet tCianblefirTeoweeur rBtauiinldaintgn#o5rthwiethn,dfoirfe#1d2oo(rTo(Tobebdeodnoen),e). aeTrwaol oRredmianrakrey" cans of gasoline noted in #12 were removed during inspection; omAatfieewcfloirseingd.o.ors need miner repairs an.d some attention to provide for prompt: SApnruinmkbleerrsofaFreoasmhiutet oexfftinihguwisihnetersr iannd#2470 Lgoalaldoinn7genSgheinde, s#2a3re-Bininculsued.ing Box Shop, Bs,aBt r#id1g2e. s between #24 and 28 and at rear of#5>Montor #29-A and Sxceieior Store baSr tUainrapTroinwkelersr,ad.-Hhemsg,^ . pbreessreomr oRvoeodm)..at Telephone;Rooms of #2,4 and 6, #22-A,23-A,25, #Hl;.lhl non^eembnetble};ad 'i& rQ ceSnttorCahgaengOesf"moulds Is being removed from lower story of Building 30 and this i t AwsimllalbloMuesteadl, CfourttainTginRooSmhohpa.,s been erected south of #12 and sprinklered ainnpreolvl idheedadosn) tbhyeMenildl pleinpgetrhs.s. Work is good except that two hangers should have ersAtonoewd wstoorkrywiisllbbeeingan..eerexctetendsioonn aof-ptahret woforkBuiinldtihnge 2fl3oo(Sr kbeetlcohw), (SIktetcish). Index No. 25 02 5 GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. " EAST YARD" Schenectady, M .Y. Drawn O c t . 7, 1 9 2 3 Scale: I in. = OOtt. To accompany report o f W. 76 Ot.oPluOmcet r. 4d-ai tnecd. , S 19 e 2 .p3 t. . GE MUSEUM 001 U li copynut frgto laiyctloo D^m Untat ta SuarMe. flew ttdarliifiiiMnwi'lb h.fatwkt^t U.UM, *jr"- \^ \ IMPTDOMECP.u'utuanlM,?'a, . 44 "fM t Tard," ince Companie, rReEGcUoLmARm eINnSdPEaCtTiIoONn .* f Hours Time m M ulYard.............* * .......................................................................... . . . o a 'l ; B a ? r.,BOSt5 -' p a rlftfy ftf g en eral S lsct r ic ........................ - ' -------- ---------- Dy j _ ..SSSS0 s&FlIiinsP' ' IL ORDER and NEATNESS--Neglected. Fair. Qflod_Excellent. ms'le Waste Stock....I s ,,removed before night.,Floors--oil soaked.. ASTE--Neglected. Well cared for, Receptacles-Scant. Poor. Good . S, Etc.--Too many. Mostly disorderly. N eat.............. Htmaiarrikg. tank fu ll. AM PIPES--Examined. Combustibles in contact. All d ear............. leating pipes.--Mostly. ' all, overhead................ DOORS--PattM v--Defective.....Pair......Good....Self-closing. ............. More needed. M***Tfepairs needed. In good repair. ............. ORS, STAIRS, BELTS--Cutoffs at floors--Poor. Fair. GeoA.j j f t l f ULS--Supply scant, gaflf^ Mno-lantadV nr.u an--< MA.3 HOSE- I n ... T fe ra iy ig jta ^ SE--C...o..n..d..i.t.i..o..n.tseusstpeidc.i.o...u..s.......G..aopopd.areSnuptlpylyg--osocda.n1*3 0 t Boibyard. S--Supply scant, gpMM^ Mostly* All, poor, gxuxL R$, Flre-axesj Bars, Ladders Straps--Supply scant,, good. RE BRIGADE--Unorganized. Undrilled. Qagfeod. Thrilled ble Efficiency: Doubtful. IAN{^eonl*}--None. Poor. Pair. Fair. Good. Wound* Good* -mndai .s....r...a....n...t...y....r................. flEN--In yard available for fire.ifiiAunday*..M jfc= k da2!^ f t j t i x . . 3 a i lrA # .... NS {wr;"i * } - Open. Risky. Fair. Good. .... -Kerosene. Gas,--retort, gasoline. Blantrioi-. ItO Td, arc. ,,.. IC EQUIPMENT- Old atyle. Poor. Fair. Good. ... H, Gaiolln. or............... .,,...... Wall arrangrd Bangeroua._____ TEAMFIREENGINES..---..in so m in.......i.m o fe ln 30 min. ........ In addition to thegeneral report bearing this same date, a copy of which has already been sent you direct from the Inspection Department, the fallowing recommendations were also made by the Inspector regarding improvements which were in hisjudgm ent desirable* AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS -- , Fed from i Tflllh T1,fT" r Pn<vN..mrees)erv. Pnhlic m .jpi', Shtfc -f*tf T* Preiure:on highest spr--.,..........-lbs. fromPub. Supply,Priv. R u n ._. ........... .....,, On highestsprinkler..........I t w r---ufr.,-- n fT .n v . r 4 8 l p S . V 1 XD VSheulvteotffshInutwInintwerin--terN; oLneo.catSiohnutpoofofr- Doubtful ............... Dr, Pip. Arrangement of Pi(pSeins:d PofoDo1r7.PipFeaYira.lv#G,)ood. Improper circulation. VALVES--Examined. All inside sealed, all r, A ................ Inspection R e c o r d ^ P o o r . Fair. UlULor private Rosy.. ' .......... i.gals-..................empt- Grind. nearly: Used for: M'Pg. Toilets. ttpr-fmy.LB.aia-, giving..?......lbs. atyd. YARD S Y S T E M -- O u t s id e s h n t- o ffa o n a l l r ,, W s o v e r y l A . " . n l e i ! n A l d . YARDHYDRANTS--Con.to Pub. Supply....Old styledry. Krnst.prnnf fill ss 11minf i ~ Tested...... ...... a11.pp.,... i p J FIRE PUMPS--Usedobjeddonahlvformfg. Po,.r,ir lita HrSundays Started bow often?.............f"T * i*""--1 *"-dr PUBLIC WATER clmo1 v-- p' ""p p-" 1" " 't * -- Not connected into yard. lm. obstructed by myter. Dlam. Main Into Yard......~...A.T.........-- Diam. Ec Specialfire pres...........Jbs. Ord.pres, by day.......... .libs. Tested.'^ PROB.NO. GOOD1T4 " STKMS. allsourees(pmp.pblc.&res.)cawsitaqt . taneousiy furnish at any point in y ard (flffi^\^`y ).'--..... CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING THIS REPORT TO B E ADDRESSED TO ' Tourcontidentionofthesepointsisinvited. GEMUSEUM00118 deIlafyy,ooursiefeyoaubreottwernrjeumdgedmy,enotriisfdtihffeerreeinst,gkoionddrlyeafasovnorfours - ; v < : * with your comments. 'AsStvtooorirryeaopRfaoco#ea4bi0ne,t'viBneaee#ne4to#0e4*n21t-'Bann"addn''`4dn0eiirBl'ir:o,J.oiiaii"nroonoFfrlooeduorf' 71 (1) P ro v id i-s irtiiik ie^ ' A epeeX IM A TI P M A IN ty. HOON M CA M IN IU IA , .fOwsdof trikd,WlbnuAgt:ItNnoow' tedMrseA,tfpbNdiiUmedfd'arbieu' sHedLni0dsQwgtVeot.fA' If 88 Of Im portant 1 vonans | .sllgbtbazaid crem ali value, - ,, J building*, I . wfehrerceesnptr;lpokfleambovaemmstafilnl nbeuelldied -Store Houses spriakled t IO ?Measuring auai ^ansforner Adonp 'In #52 'i(nor bettaelrs,oreipnlace' theae 7572-,609,9-7F,and senta | roons v itb non^conbotibl contruetion), outside of nav Office, led. ) 99, oinn*eSbtoecakd liononCifloSr eparator-tRuroboinneans*d tihnree inonu#npbroatdecoteudtspidoeckoefts , emarka. : fiiM'......... ' tplieoodnrrteoadonmt sVtr lsraa,ntpugraeo,atoeicrn-1f ..-Cb e^'r^eas^sefrifAbc-otBndpiAiRaut:nftdoite:mt: onArgei^^f^tfo6:B, r . CurT*xtra`"hsadn in Offleo'bf' 70-J, in' " ,, ,fe i g .#.:,.^.lbB.to-.. ir y i> 8 8 C aaiLRwlBMLAitM. (a) ^'J , t>,(1^ ( rs* *Urgent IaLpraobvoaraaetonrtsie"e-laCo#7n0tin(uoaanlsluliprffp.l'y from'*fi're- hose systan), under PlatfO rt^' atot 7In0-tBen, siendiCatoealFSlotoorragseouRthowome,stucnodrenrePr loaftfo#6ra8 n(DeaorinDg riynesrt,aallneddexiate.Jnasitotenr lioncsatatilolant)i,onin' innew70r-Eoon(ceoannndecptiaosnsagnoews binet)w, eeinn #A6d8diatniodn6t8o-A7, 2c-Bo,apilnete76t-hAe,76-E, 5(M1,ioxvinegr ERoleovma),toarlsaonduinndeornPe lauintfporroatenctoerdthBeaayst2nsdidestoorfy#6o9f #36rd9 Astdodriyti,onin top oinfteharfnedrehowisitthnseparrinNkolrethr Tdoiswterribaundtiownh.ereSOprfifnickeleprsarsthitoiuolndsalisno thbee iunpsptearllsetdory buentdweerenFasntoFrlaagteferraackansdininSntoewckMRooonmitoorfo#f7#35, 7i,n uCndaelribfrlaotoiorendRooveserinPa#s7s7ag, eusn, der POlvaetnfsonins #in65#,69in, 6on9e-6haenadd iinn ONefwficAeddEixtitoennstioon#4in5 #an9d5, 6u0nAdenrneGx aAlldedriiteiosna. t Ounrddeerrsstohoadretoalrheaardeybbeeenenlegtleafnorfospr rqinukitleersa linittAleddiotifonthsetoab#o8v5e wanodrk1. 09C, oanlstroact iSnprPinakttleerrns SshtoorueldHboeusreespalancded40-iBn.the Passage between #77 and 77-C and in the #S4o9uthshSouelcdtiobne ospf r#in10k5ler(eTdo ober tdhoeneu)n. deTr hseidPelaotiforthaeinPltahtefonmortthhowreosutghcolyrner of #fi4r0epsrhoooufldedb.e reFpoluarce3d60w isthprlionwkelerrsdeignreteheheTadoso.l Roon (Fora Department) of (2) AQduveniscehinemg eTrganenkcsyinov#e1rf0lSo,waslsfooraddivplsetanFkosa, aiintsseecnognidneflfooorrlaoftte#4r0loancdatifoonr . (3) Eotnchlooosed Efolervsattaoirrs3rd(2ntod 4fltohosrtoleryveiln) NinorMthixSinegctiRoenoaoAf d#d6i9t,i-onprotovid#e69eanncdlosiau-re (4) . Aprdovvies,ecfuitr-eofcfuatt-'osfftabirestwienen#4B4u*ilding #109 and the Addition to be u.s' ed;for. lwiirree Egnlaasmseliinnga,etparlovvfiidiBngesfi(rTed dbeoodroannsd).*brAiclkibngppubpviwdsindfoiwi^s dooroprro^vidsoinugth . (5) ,Aenddviosef #f6ir4e (Tcourbtaeindsonien)..Build- <ln'g #4n9r. .. vy v ' - . a h cfeoanstiinbuloeusiCn psrouVbsidtainngtidarlaninosn-fcrooaabiefnstcAlobsluer;ae^slltio atnhde*whsewreeru.ase is aore orless (7> Provide higher and aof, eeapietf; dike at above ground fuel o il tanks and "Mino(raI)apProrvoevaiedn*tid r b p |e I ^ t | > instill* - .(Tc*a tb)- *ednTd.|j` pifqe;a,tcfb'%biotnoye.yoxrt:-o.enaddiinogu'urep;;bbetweenthe ro lle rs. %" '7f|liSd loa.b4effiodnewreelestdrn'isdp.eaca.*eh4d--(Bsouui.lt.hding ^ oerre" weaxsptoesie;4a ^Jt*or'isb4re:.a-kina.g'pela, nceotoabf l.yb,a!rrir e#l4i 2"i,n6 6u,eppt ce.r and^aetal cabinet for oils and varnishes in #70-J W. ' * 'X - - :v -: v-vt.- (e) ?beD'-ercekaetvfedPlaotrf'dirpartiidi4kSifdtfeidraiP:`P%4:'tF. \ story; 9f #68, said, to ' be no longer needed, should (f:),i vSaurgngieasht tahndatpcaoinntsisdperraaytiiongn jbwedgpivaeinnttomiexnincgloisningButihldeintwgo#7ro7omwsithusaedlifgohrt (g ) ,:aSoung-cgoeastbu'hsotsieblceonpnaerctittiioonn^headeraT for steam^ pumps in #61.*.. . . . GE MUSEUM 00119 Index $25026 o"fGe#n7e5Trha#alndRtweonmoatrratknhsk"off#o6r7b. enzol .mentioned by the last inspector, have been buried east mulatTiohne olafrgmeoreamoorunltesosf oeoldneMtrautcetriioanl watorka afenwd plaoeikntsofanhdelpattheanstiroensuwlteildl bine agniveanccuto cleaniSnegveurpa.l Indicator poets are operated with considerable difficulty and the main gbaetfeoreoninthsope2c0ti7ontanwkasdcisocmhpalregteedcaonudldonthoet rsbewaiolvlebde. gTivheenlaatttteenrtivoanlv.e wee loosened up due toThleeankoargthe sthteraomughpumthpeinva#lv6e1 oshnowtheed dexisccehsasrivgee psliippe,. but the loss may possibly be PlatfoSrmprsinwkleesrtsoafre#5o2n, #th77e*Adr,#y10s1y-sAtemandinP#la4t2f-oAr,mPalattf#o1r0m5. at #50, Sheds east and PaperSSptroinrekleSrhsedaraet #sh80u,t Mofofniitnorws ionfte6r0-iGn Manidca$R80oo,mf,i#rs69t -Ffl,#o4o9r*Bof, NSaowrtdhusSt tHaiorppTeorswearndand #P5la0t,foOrmil Roofom#6a9t, .#S6h4a,vinSgeaBrcinhlaigth#t4T1o, wSearndinS$h4ed6,#T42o,ilPetasasnadgeBs a#b7b2itttoR7oo2m*Bi,nB#r9id7g,eo#v4e6r to Ovens in #91 and,in extreme cold weather,in Building #71 "OtheCr laUynsBpirnisnkalter#ed68R, o#o5m3s-"A, Passage under #56, part of #72**B, Boiler Houae and Conden RseoromRso,om#7a0d,pjoairntinOgf ##7600-,A#,6#02-B28, ,2m6o0s,t Toofw#e6r1s,O#f6#34,67,35,6D-Aie,&S8to,#r9ag3eEaxtte#n7s7io, n#,#9650-BA,#n6n4e,xLime Extension (non-combustible construction). "Rece#n4t1Chhaasngbeese"n vacated and is being remodeled for an Office Building. A Stair and Esildeev.atoAr Tfeowwe'srpirsinbkelienrgs 'earreectdeidscoantntehcetedsoaunthd ethnde asnodutha- nsetawndTpoiipleetsThouwt eorfofndtuheetowest constBruucitlidoinngw#o4r0k-.B is being ere. cted between #18 and #40, one story with a concrete annedctisotneel,totruBsuseilddinrogo#f4.0: rCeolonnceactetidons(SfeoerSskpertcinhk),lers have been installed and the con DiningA Rsmooaml.l roof house is being built on the roof of #48 Wing, to be used for a storiePsataterrsnstohbaveeubseedenfmorovmedanouuftacotfurtihneg.twoAnloEwleevrastotorriaensd oSftaBiruiTldoiwnegr #i5s3baenindgthbeusielt athte euacphpeerndstoorfyt;he building. The Stationery Department has been located in a part of TAheVaAcudumditPioumnptoRoothmehDaispbeeennsarbyuialtt #b4e5twiesenn#e6a4rlyandcom64p-lei,tedonaendstoisrytobribcek aapnrdinkroloerfed. plankTohne Estxetaenl sbioenamtso; #60 Annex is completed and occupied and it is understood that sprinTkhleerEs xaternes-itoanbtso in#8s5tailsledne.aring completion and pipe is on the ground for a line east PofatttheernbSuhioldpin#g99foisr hcoymdrpalnettesdanadndsopcricnukplieerd.coSnpnericntikolnesrs. are installed except in TAnoielxethsauasntdstyhsetemsmfaollr Oshfafvicineg, s Yisardtopbipeeparnodvidcoedn.necStipornisnktloerspwroirnkkalendrs yaarred pbiepiningglaairde. bSepirnignkdloenrse hbyavtehealsGorinbeneenll sCaotmispfaancytoanrdil,yaisnsfatarllaesd CboymtphleeteGd,rianpnpeelal rCtoompbaenysaintisBfauciltdoinryg. $fu6r6n.aeaIt. isThperbobuailbdleingthiast paahritglyh toecmcuppeireadtuarnedhaeadfirweilwl ablel nheaesdebdeenovperrovthideedoila-thethateedsouth end oTfhtohoPaotnteernstoSrtyorasgeectiBouni;ldings feat of #,99 are completed and partly occupied. SprinTkhleersNoarrteh tAoddbietioinnsttoa.llBeudi.ldinTghe#1u0n9deirsgrocuonmdplpeitpeed aisndboecincgupliaedid.and connections for sprinklers have been installed. The sprinkler work will be done by the Grinnell Company (C o n tin u ed ) GE MUSEUM 00120 Index 25026 T"RheecSeontuthCwhaenstgeAs"dd-itiCoonntticnu#e1d0.9 is to be used for Wire Enameling end a few of the enam-eSlwinegllohvoenses iaiares bbeeeinngreinplsatcaeldledin. Automobile Storehouse #225. outsidAel.l pTuhaepea,ixsointogrta,nkfasnas,reaftiel.l,edforthmreorulgyhinfixBeudildpiinpgs,#7h5u,t fhoavuer btaeneknspalarceeds till efinltlierdelywietlhostheed. covers open. Ghange promised to provide for fillin g with the covers "Migh7t2W0 owrken" throughout five nights.a week. (Sketeh) GE MUSEUM 00121 Erie Manufactaring Plant COPT October 3, 1923 Ehe report concerning this plant is favorable so far as a r$ serious menace to health is concerned Whatever criticisms are made concern the use of certain possibly harmful substances, the medical supervision and oare, the seat ing provisions for women, the provision of rest rooms for wanen, the distribution of washing facilities, and minor faults of ventilation and lighting All these assume greater importance in viecv of the large number of employees, some 6300 in all with 600 or 700 women She industrial-poison which is used in such a way as to make it a possible danger is benzol* She substance inown as Ell which is used by girls on the first floor for building 6, taping field colls contains, 1 was told, benzol. On ihe second floor eight girls use benzol in mica pasting, and thirty girls use it in wrapping coils with varnished cambric Ho one in charge seems to reoognize the risk Involved in this sort of work, and there is no sign that any particular attention is given to these girls nor that there is axy likelihood that an early case of benzol poisoning would be recognized and properly dealt with Juess serious is the use of wood alcohol in 1fce pattern shop where about five men or boys apply shellac containing wood alcohol with a brush* Ehe room is large enough to provide a good deal of dilution of the aloohol as i t evaporates in drying. Ehere is good natural ventilation and the exhausts which carry off the shavings aijt as air removers also, nevertheless it would be better to substitute denatured aloohol and 1 was told that this would be quite possible* . The naphtha fumes in dipping armature coils are very heavy, but only two men are employed there* Naphtha is also used as a thinner for 459 and 460, and the dipped objects are dried in the workroom* In both these oases i t would be well to provide better removal of the fumes, for naphtha, although not nearly eo poisonous GE MUSEUM 00122 as bertaol# is capable of setting up a condition of chronic ill-health# 5Che protection given fee men against the dust in sandblasting is unusually good# They vaar a Pangbom sandi-last helmet which keeps out much of the dust# I found fine sand inside the helmet but was told that the men wear a respirator with a spongy,as well as the helmet, and that they work only four hours in half hour shifts. She brass foundry also is superior to most, the crucibles being in what is practically a separate room, although fee pouring is done in the large workroom, Probably in winter the ventilation will not be adequate as it depends entirely on natural drafts# About one half of the women must stand at their work* She seats which are provided are for the most part poorly selected, too high, and not provided wi fe proper foot rests# 1 have already referred to fee ventilation i n oonneotion with b^ass pouring and the use of compounds containing naphtha# Shore is a particularly bad place in the center of the second story of Building 6 Where eight girls were putting varnish on mica tape# A strong odor of beasel was recognisable here and because the work Is so placed a good many girls who are not handling this varnish are forced to breath benaol fumes# It is the first time that 1 have visited a plant of the General Electric Company which did not furnish for its women even fee usual provisions for comfort# Without exaggeration, it must be said that a girl who i s tired or ill is not given even the barest comforts. 'fhese are the conditions I found in fee various buildings; Building 6 (this is the building with the pattern shop an the first floor, I may have made a mistake as to its muriber, has only one hard oouoh with no pillow or oover, in a very forlorn room on the fifth floor, which is supposed to suffice for three floor with 75 to 100 girls on each floor# 1-t must be remembered that about half of these girls stand all day# Share is not even one chair in the toilet rooms or rest rooms# One girl who had an attack of abdominal cramps was found lying on some newspapers on the cement floor of the seoond story toilet room because she felt too ill to go out of the building across the street to the medioal department, arm the couch on the fifth story was little GE MUSEUM 00123 --3 - "better than the floor* Hie impression made by all of the rest rooms in Building 6 where 400 women are employed is that the mnagement wishes to discourage th6 girls from using them Ehe walls are hare, the windows dirty, the floors rough, the girls* clothes hang in the open. Even the room on the second floor for office help is very shabby and ugly, but it i s better furnished, with five rooming ohalrs, sir straight Chairs, and one hard cot covered with a thin cotton pad and with a dirty lumpy cushion for a pillow, fhis room serves twenty-five girls. In Building 10 there Is a bare, ugly rest room for fifty girls which has nothing to reeonmend it exoept that there are fourteen rocking ohalrs and three couches, but the latter are hard, have no pillows, one has not even a head rest, and no blankets* Build ing 14, with about 125 girls, has two long, narrow rest rooms, both very crowded, with bare cement floors* Xhe walls are oovered with the girls' street clothes and coats, and the four rooking ohalrs take up practically all the free space. Hext to this room is a little inside room with two rocking chairs and a hard leather couch with no pillow or blanket* She toilet rooms are all excellent and the provision is more than adequate in every case* She wash basins are poorly distributed* For example, I found one basin for five girls; one basin for ten girls; one basin for 12^ girls; one basin for 20 girls* Ihe two last do not comply even with the requirements of the Depart ment of Labor of Pennsylvania, for 100 girls should have 7 basins instead of 5, and 25 girls should have three instead of two. Mr* Delack explained this curious distribution of basins as being caused by the continual changes going on in the plant, with a shifting of the women employees fran one floor to another. She Welfare Department is housed in a small separate building near the gate and seems to be far too small for its purpose, but 1 oamot speak positively for I did not visit the plant at the hours when this department is busy* A still smaller frame building houses the Medioal Department which includes a full-time GE MUSEUM 00124 doctor* a non-medical assistant who mates the physical examinations* a first-aid man who does the dressings and the minor surgery and eye wort, and a trained nurse. She first room i s wary tiny, used for physical examinations which arenade by a man without medical training although he has had seven er eight years experience. He examines about 35 men a day* sometimes 100* oalling in the doctor in oase of doubt. Ee seems to know his job well so far as It is a job requiring coman sense, not medical knowledge. Ee has instructions from Schenectady as t rejections for physical defects* but evidently follows his own judgment. The man who a l l i e s for work comes with a oard telling just which job he is to have* and all transfers to other jobs must take place through this department, a better arrangement than obtains in most of the manu facturing plants. On the other hand, men who are laid off or absent on acoount of sickness need not report here unless the absenoe was more than eight weeks. Shore is a small waiting room for the men who come for examination, and beyond this is a larger room in which practically all the medical and surgical work for more than 5*000 men I s carried on. The patients sit n one side of the room* and behind a screen at the other side the surgical work is done* 1 found a man nurse in full Charge* as the doctor was in Buffalo attending the national Safety (Jouncil. Shis nurse seems a kindly and faithful person* but quite untrained* especially untrained in the first principles of aseptlo surgery. Indeed* it would be impossible to do a6epti.o surgery in that room. There is , Indeed, a sink with hot running water, but the soap machine is f the wrong kind* there 1 b no sorubbing brush for hands* the plumbing is old* the sink is used as a table for dressings, the only sterilizer is old, rickety and rusty, the instruments are half rusty, and the floor made of some rough composition, oould be kept clean only by repeated washings. Even the chairs har'e lost their paint* and the waste oans are dirty. Yet* here oome all the accidents and this first-aid manhandles an average of 100 oases a day. He also takes charge of the eye oases, over 2,000 in six months. Ee averages 17 minor and 3 major cases every day* these being new oases* not retreatments* A major oase GE MUSEUM 00125 5ma-ins one requiring the use of cocaine and more than one treatment* Cocaine and atropine are entrusted to this man nurse* fee room in which the eye woiSs is done has no running water at all, and it seems too much to expect that a nurse as "busy as he should go to the sink in the next room after each case. In the tiny office for fee doctor there is a narrow bed which could he used for a serious accident case, hut such cases must be taken four miles to the city hospital for they could not be kept over ni^ht* Share i s an adequate X-Bay room and a small, clean, properly equipped operating room with a good sterilizer, but only seriouB emergency operations are tsteaa to this room and fee sterilizer is not ordinarily used; they use fee old one in the dressing room in stead* hr* -tittle is apparently a homeopathist, at least the remedies in his office are homeopathic fee women1s department is better, although not nearly up to the standard of the General Electric Company, it is, however, clean; there is new .lir oleum on the floor of the waiting room and ail the vessels and furniture and plumbing are new and cl earn* fee only provision for sick girls are two beds in a stuffy oorner, screened by white curtains. Mrs. Humphries, the trained nurse, says that these are quite sufficient to meet fee demand of the 600 women, and this is probably true for the building is too far removed to be easily reached by & girl in pain, {here is a small waiting room for the girls separate from fee* dressing room, and the latter is fairly well equipped except feat there is nc sterilizer and fee old one in the men's dressing room is the only one that can be used* Mrs. Humphries is in entire charge of more than 600 women and, in addition, is supposed to ocamine applicants for employment* She tests their eyes, looks at the throat, listens to fee heart through the clothing, and accepts them not for any specified job nor does she have anything to do with transfers* fee takes charge cf eye cases as well as other injuries* fee first-aid man relieves her when fee has to go off for any reason, and he helps out in emergencies. GE MUSEUM 00126 -e- : She accounts which were shown me of the expenses of the iiedioal Department include the salaries of k* Little, Mrs* Humphries, John flewbeok, the first-aid man, and hr* Little's assistant who makes thesxaminations of men. 2hey include the supplies, the fees of ou tsid e doctors called in consultation,*;; l the expenses incurred at the city hospital. 2hey Beam to me very low, specially in some departments* 1 have condensed them as followsi Bldg* 10* For 35 weeks $318* or $3708* for year. Locostire and engine dept. 1236 employed, making $3 .0 0 per capita per year Bldg* 6. For year, $2182* per capita per year* 1820 employed. Motor dept* with 600 women, making $1.1 Bldg* 5 . For 35 weeks $190* or #281*84 for year* lurbines 450 deployed, making #0*62 per capita per year* iialleahle Iron Foundry* For 35 weeks #2118 or #3146*50 for year* 450 employed, inking #6*99 per capita per year* Brass foundry. For 3 5 weeks #59*00, or #88*36 for year* 68 employed, making #l*i per capita per year* Oray I r o n foundry* For 55 weeks #3440* or #511Q|56 for year* 500 employed making #10*22 per capita per year* This large spa is explained as due to a severe crush! abdominal accident with almost fatal injuries* She man m s In the hospital many v and is still under treatment* Pattern shop* For 85 weeks #127* or #188* 24 for year* 132 employed, making #1,4 per capita per year* fetal yearly expense in these departments, #14705*50* Itotal employed 4456, making #3*30 per capita per year* 1 should suggest a reorganisation of the Mediaal Department, bringing 11 up ecmewhere nearer the standard found in the National Lamp works, or at least up the standard in the manufacturing plants of Fort Wayne and Baltimore* Ehis could not be done without providing muoh larger quarters and a new, modem equipment, nc could it be done without employing more trained personnel* At present the staff 1 so small that practically nothing can be done except first-aid work and even this not of a high standard* She rest rooms for the wanen should have cots, with springs and mattress GE MUSEUM 00127 and pillows and blankets o.v soft couoliesj and the rooms should be made a litt more cheerful easy chairs* enough to allovi as man? girls to rest during the : hour as may wish to* should be provided* At 1 eat one person, preferably a physician or a trained nurse, should b continually visiting the different departments of the plant so as to become familiar with all of the processes and all possible health hazards* He shouli familiar with the nature of every job and should be able to help In selecting applicant for ary given job* 2h seating arrangements should be intelligently studied and an effort made to provide every woman who can sit at her work wit] comfortable chair and foot rest and to see that women whose work requires thez to stand have an opportunity to sit down for a few minutes now and then* GE MUSEUM 00128 The Cleveland Hire Drawing Horks. The nature of the work In this plant makes it impossible to have conditions es pleasant- es in the lamp works. It is for the most pert clean and dust-free es possible, end the ventilation is good except in the room where graphite cleaning is done at one end and shipping at th other In spite of the supply of air through pipes in the ce ilin g, tkJ room ie ho t. The wire-drawing room is dark, the window panes painted dark gree end the entire dependence is on a rtificia l lig h t . Those provided for the individual machines are good with proper shades but there is some glare from the lights in the ceilin g , I wonder why it is necessary to shut out the deylight from this department. The ventilation of the roo Is very good, and the arrangement for seating the girls on moveble chai seems very good and comfortable. The swaging room is hot and fu ll of g jets but there is ample space and ample window ventilation so that ther is probably no need for any criticism . Of the various chemioals used in this plant, the ammonia and the hydrochloric acid seem to be managed in such a way es to obviate any danger. Tungstic qcid is , so far es I know, harmless, and this leaves only the sodium hydrate and metallic mercury, the handling of which is not as careful as it should be. The former comes to the plant in powde: form in large drums. The workmen must empty this drum through a rather small opening in the head into a tank containing water. It would hard! be possible for him to do th is, especially to get out the last of the powder, without any splashing, and splashing caustic soda solution may give rise to a serious accident. As a metter o f f s e t , they heve had GE MUSEUM 00129 2. one eye injury already. I should suggest emptying the caustic soda fi Into the tank end leter adding the water in such e way as to avoid any splashing* ` The mercury is used in "the graphite cleaning department, and, as I understand, it is possible to so handle it es to prevent any risk of mercurial fumes in the a ir . But the pouring Is evidently carelessly done for globules of quicksilver, small and large, are scattered all over the benches. The benches ere cleaned every night so that whet I sew represented the accumulation of the first hours of the morning, for I visited the room at ten o 'clo ck. There ere 16 persons in this room, the temperature is over 75 degrees, end, as I have said already, the ventilation is not abundant. Quicksilver volatilizes readily at a temperature far below this end these people ere running a very distinct risk of mercurial poisoning. The risk is greater because they are not under any medieal supervision. The rest room, dressing rooms, and toilet rooms for girls are verj good, and the medical department is well equipped, but it is all under the charge of a nurse only. She was not there at the time, and in her absence a young girl typist tekes her place, handling cases of minor surgery or whatever else turns up. There is an unusually large variety of drugs in this o ffice , certainly too many to be entrusted to untrained jpeopie. There Is no physical examination of the I 5 5 men employed, end the nurse simply looks over the 87 women. GE MIJSPIIM nn-ton May X5, H H J?r, Alice Basiltxm School of Public Health B&rr&rd Dnivrsity 'SB Bhattuek Street Bostoh, tt&SEaohuaette De&r Dr , Hamilton* X hare read with interest your letter of May 11th, regarding your iatrestig&tlon of the aethad of handling asbestos at our iorfc, Bridgeport and Seheaeotady plants, and hare forwarded it to Hr* Burro, VloeJPreiiid<mt in charge of anufacturiag fgr his consideration# Very truly youra* \ \ GERARD SWOPE GSlH WRBurrows (with letter) f,j ;\ n c mi iqpi im nn-m Mew York May 15, 1954 ^nm uiiwininim . Mr. W. fi.. Burrows Vice-President Schenectady Dear Mr, Burrows* You will remember I talked with you about engaging Dr. Hamilton to investigate our methods of handling asbestos in our plants. I am enclosing Dr* Hamilton1s repoi't of visits to York, Bridgeport and Schenectady, which I assume you will want to take action upon, and also her bill for services. Very truly years# GStH GERARD SWOPE GE MUSEUM 00132 M i s i it? m m m V 1 ik m * wm w i n b$ io t e a t e t e i mmm%$ 92 violi t e %g m * l a t e t e t or te R ta te S a t t e yt y w # ai I w&8 UgfeUsi te res e f t i $ ** * * t e ^ t e i %# m b i& te tg t e i t e t e i* tefe | V M & t e t e i M t e m & * & * te i t e 2 1 I t e I t e i t e t f %tter:.,,rt1jt.i>l ttttn lo . t e i t e * 1 t e i t e r t t t e t e i r ^ t e U r 1 t e t e t t e t e a te 1 n l i g n i t e * i t e l i ti- t e t t e n t t M t u t e lo U t e ia ig a i e a e t t e *H > t e m m m r e e is g i t i t e te M a M A m m mrmh m e li e t w & 9 t e t e te t e e l e i to r ti# m m e ln *i m m te t e t e i Mitei * itj& tes r Mimr t e * tep*f fete in ir e te ! t* t e l a t e l o j t e m e ffe te $& t e t e s t e p**2* t e t e la e ra a & e la e g f le ie f le r aa a v e iit a t iia i io e * ,# a SjUdhSBe #* te U e to t e a 2 ai e l i t e t e a # j> s*gr*te p t e n U ? te t e fttta&tlaa # f l e a t e f t e r t e t e fa te* w ttmt t e r t e t t e t e * * * * t e t e l e U f f e t e f a x p a rta f a t a t e li? te a * , la a a a tte * t!H t e rn m & M m la t e r g e - f t e i e p t e f t e i t 2 l l f - M I a g ^ t t e t e r C t e J te U m e a la e & ra fe o a e lU 1 a a re g a a t e i a g re M t sa# t e i l i 2 is p t e * m% M t e if a t e I m sur t e t e i a t t e i m t o t e *ve t e fcte H a lte d . t e r la t e a rfU U a m n Wre-ili W m l * ilasrrawB * u n i s t e t e N a t e teeamteg : JKjptt * * \ .&**#*** * * ; .% M ti GE MUSEUM 00133 Harvard School of Public Health Boston, Mass. June 1, 19S5 Gerard Swope, President, General Electric Company, 120 Broadway New York City. My dear Mr. Swope: In accordance with your request I have made a brief summary of the visits I have paid to various of the plants of the General Electric Company during the past year. Most of these were follow up surveys of plants which I had seen the year, before,the ones in E rie, in Lynn and West Lynn, Fort Wayne, Harrison and East Boston and Youngstown. I also visited the Decatur works and the little j foundry in Windsor and made a more general survey of the Schenectady and P itt s fie ld works that at the time of my f-iBst/when I was one of the Harvard group of physicians and confined my attention to industr&d. : poisons only. It was very gratifying to find in every plant which I v is it ed for the second time, that all or almost all of the suggestions I had made on my first visit had been carried out. Decided progress has been made in one very important field , the prevention of s i l i cosis in sandblasting and shaking out castings in foundries. Wherever this work is done an excellent system of medical control has been put in force. The physician selects the men who are to do the work and rejects any who show a dubious X ray picture of the lungs. After acceptance, the man is required to present himself.once a month for a similar examination and he is at once shifted to other work if the doctor .330 advises. 1 GE MUSEUM 0 0 13 4 It is clear that much thoue-ht h * a _______ _ . -2 - dust in sand blasting and shaking out castings and differents plants comparatively have worked out differnet schemes. Fort Wayne, with its/smaller cast ings finds it podsible to sand blast the largest pieces in a chamber with a turn table,tne man standing outside and controlling his work by looking through a window, tne glass of which is protected by a fine copper wire screen. It Pittsfield tne castings are much larger and they find this scheme impracticable, so they are depending on the new Burrel mask and a shortened period of exposure. At the end of six months the sand blaster is Shifted to other w o rk ,.regardless of his condition as determined by the physician. This rule seems to me hard on both employe and employer, and I believe it is not necessary, in view of an excel lent method which has been successfully introduced in Erie and is be ing tried out in Schenectady. This the substitution of shot for sand which eliminates at a stroke a ll danger of silicosis . They believe in Erie that it can be used for all sorts of castings, with perhaps a few exceptions. The second process in foundry work which produces large quantities of silica-containing dust is 'shaking out castings. Tnis is done with the a ir hammer,"core gigger", fallowed by sand blast. It is very dusty and the nature of the work, with castings scattered a ll over the foundry , does not permit of any effective kind of protection fox tne men, less than in sandblasting. To substitute shot for sand in this work will be an improvement, but there w ill s t ill be the dust from the sand in the mold. In Schenectady this work w ill probably be done as well as is possible by the present method. Tne chambers have a slotted floor through which falls the shot and heavy sand, the lighter is carried by a strong draft up through pipes, Which open a little above floor level, and thus, it is hoped, the fine partidles will n= m i iq p i im n m if i be kept down below the level of a man's face. Eut much better than this is the'hydraulic method introduced in Erie, that is , so far as dustlessness and ease of operation are con cerned. The chamber there has four standpipes, one at each corner, and the sand is flushed out with a hose and runs out through a drain. The fact that there are four pipes obviates the use of a turn table. It is not for me to say how generally applicable this method i s , but certainly there can be no doubt as to its advantages,for what is usually a danger ously dusty job requiring many protective devices is turned into a per fectly safe and easy one. Another feature with regard to which there has been a decided im provement, is the use of benzol as a solvent. This has diminished de cidedly during the past year, and in some plants very little indeed is used. The girls in mica pasting, who s t il l are exposed to benzol, are now given periodic medical examination in most plants. Lead paint is still sprayed in many places and always the work is accompanied by the formation of a heavy cloud of fine droplets from which it is d iffic u lt to protect the painter, in the Erie works they a. squirt the paint from tbe hose instead of spraying it and this is a distinctly more brd$iful method of work. The only serious lead hazard is in the lightning arrestor department in Pittsfield and here the danger is recognized, the men are examined monthly by the physicians and are provided with clean underwear and overalls. A new comfort house with showers, washing fa c ilit ie s , dressing rooms and a lunch room is to be built for them. The only suggestion one could make is that an even stricter standard of cleanliness be adopted in the work it s e lf, that b e n c h e s and o t h e r stfr^4ce6 be washed frequently to keep the dust down to a minimum. department which attracted my attention during my first r-tiipci Ilk*nni'JR visit to Schenectady w-as the compounding room in the rubber factory. At that time I thought that there was the usual risk from litharge dust, both in the weighing and mixing of rubber, ^*u t at this second i visit I found a new mechanism installed which does laway almost entirely with this possible danger. \ There is a new source of possible lead poisoning!in lamp works from the base finishing machine with automatic soldering, as I saw it in Youngstown. The lead is at 780 0. in uncovered pots which ar.e slightly agitated all the time. Therefore, it is impossible to,say that lead fiomes do not come off, b ut the exposed surface is small and in Youngstown, the room where the machine has been installed is amply ven tilated. It is probably that the fumes will be diluted to a harmless point, but Dr. Bunn is taking the wise precaution of examining the blood of these girls from time to time to guard against lead anemia. In the matter of l i g h t i n g ^ good deal of attention has been paid to the prevention of glare,by means of frosted globes ox accurately placed shadds, but the whole field of lighting is st ill dealt with in a hit-and-miss way. There are no established standards, wither for natural or a r t ific ia l lighting. In the same plant there may be two rooms with windows along the sides, and in one the benches rim across so that no worker faces the glare from the windows, in the other the benches run lengthwise and half the workers must face the glare. I should suggest that Dr. Kaabe, the eye specialist in the Schenectady plant,be given an opportunity to conaent on the lighting in that plant at least, if not in other places. The choice of seats is in an even^chaotic state, but it is gratifying to see how much interest some work' s managers are taking in this problem. In Fort Wayne and West Lynn and Youngstown a d o s t study of the problems GE MUSEUM of seating has resulted in the production of model chairs for both high. 00137 c hi 1Q bench work bpsciuens of the Fort rne and Test Lynn products S.own to hr. Joel oic.tnwait e oi Eos to; E,t t h j Schenectady confe: e n o e h.ian it eve n 1 f'T" nif..ise C`j d e r Ofc- Cu-Uc. Ui,s work rhioh had "been done. C ci.s ar so ravor s DV impressed with the ch , C^ kl'f T.s, urn. but it vus evident th at, i n his :s , especially those fro-. j o .'iipany h reached the sts; e v.'keri it would be wasteful to do any acre scattered experimentation. A study should be made under expert guidance of the seating problems,including foot rests and t r e a d & s in all the different plants. The provision of rest rooms for women employees is still far from adequate in seme of the large manufacturing plants. These rooms should be fairly easily accessible, clean, comfortable, with easy chairs and cots sufficient to allow tired women to rest if they wish to. It may he necessary to employ matrons to see that these privileges are not taken advantage of by -iris who are not in need of rest and ought not to waste time there, but I believe that this risk is not great, in fiew of the fact that almost all of them are on piece work. The Trie plant has recently provided rest rooms for all its women, an ample supply pleasantly furnished, easy to reach and very well maintained. Then new wakh. rooms are to be installed, it would be wise to select the large sinks instead of the individual basins. Good examples of thes- can be seen in Youngstown and in P i n sfield , to lent ion only thos recently vis ited. The whi te enameled sink has a supply pipe runn a convenient height above th e cent er of the sink, the faucets bsi placed on either side, s 4 - r Jr b... girls may stand on both sides. o. a" nozzles deliver warn water and the girls was]; their hands in runnir can pass along far mor c i ; b-'.'.cli 6:1 b.hey g'faoj) to put the s t o j p e i GE MUSEUM 00138 , 1; I .A CXf - 6 in the basin, turn on the water andwait for the bowl to f i l l . Moreover the saving in labor is enormous, for individual basins can be kept clean only with unceasing care and sinks need practically no care. There has been an improvement also in the medical service. I have already spoken of the periodic examination of men exposed to s ilic a containing dusts, and the same care is providedfor the small number of employes who come in contact with poi-sons.'-^h'e medical personnel has been increased itrsome places, diminished in none, and better quarters have been proved, such assbranch dispensaries, making it easier for the injured operative to get attention quickly, and also larger and more modern central dressing stations. The most outstanding instance of this is inErie, where a beautiful new building now houses the industrial relations service and the dispen sary. The latter is admirably equipped and adequately. every res pect. I t should serve as a model for W other large manufacturing plants, which at present are not a&aifci&eEi up to modern standards. The result of this second yeaIifl survey is very encouraging and leads one to believe that the necessary improvements which still remain to be made, can be put throughas promptly and with as little difficulty as tne others have been. Yours s in c e r e ly , GE MUSEUM 00139 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY MANUFACTURING WORKS This is a summary of the essential features in the re ports I have sent in from time to time to the General Electric Company of investigations made in the manufacturing plants in the following cities*. Fort Wayne Erie Balt imore Philadelphia Bloomfield Lynn River Plant West Lynn Bridgeport Oakland Providence New Kensington Cleveland, Ivanhoe Works Cleveland, Wire Drawing Cleveland, Pitney Glass Central Falls, Rhode Island Niles Bridgevi1le Everett Taunton Glass Investigation of the plants at Schenectady and Pittsfield was made in collaboration with a group of physicians from Harvard Medical School and my part was restricted to only a small field.. Those reports have already been summarized and are not included in this discussion. In this summary I wish only to indicate the things that are essential for the health and comfort of the men and women employed in the manufacturing plants, and those that are desira ble though not essential, and to illustrate what I mean by se lecting the best instances of protective devices and provisions for comfort that are to be found in these manufacturing plants. If all the good features in all the plants could be combined in a single plant it would be a model working place, but as it is the experience gained in one establishment seems to be of bene fit to that one only and does not serve to arouse another to the necessity for improvement nor even to save it from the trouble of doing its own experimenting. Every problem of safety and com fort has been intelligently dealt with in at least one of the manufacturing plants, but s o f a r as I c a n see the advantage of an improvement is confined to the place that has originated it. Nor is there any exchange of knowledge concerning risks to health. If a certain cutting oil used in one plant proves to give less GB MUSEUM 00140 M.W. 2. trouble than any used before, that knowledge does not seem to be passed on to the others. One machine shop has given up the use of white lead as a lubricant in threading castings in the screw department, because the physician in charge found that it gave rise to lead poisoning. Another machine shop, with no p h y sician in charge, is using twenty-five pounds of dry white lead each week for this purpose and has never suspected that there could be any harm in it. There should be some way of pooling the knowledge that has been gained. There are certainly ways of supplying natural light and artificial lighting so that there shall be the least possible fatigue to the eyes, there must be one kind of adjustable seat which provides the most comfort, one kind of hood and exhaust to carry off fumes from spraying which works most efficiently. GENERAL CONSTRUCTION OF PLANT Bridgeport, Bloomfield, Baltimore, Providence, Oakland and Philadelphia would stand at the head of the list for space, clean liness, natural ventilation, light. There are, however, very good features in some other plants. Building Q in West Lynn has on the top floor a room which is a model in all these respects. Building 74 in the Lynn River Plant has a room which, in addition to good natural ventilation, has individual electric fans on the benches. The lighting i-s not so all-important a feature as it is in the lamp works, and yet some plants, notably Bridgeport and Lynn, have many operations which are very similar to those in lamp works and it is important to see that poor lighting does not add to the fatigue of a very exact, monotonous occupation. Poor lighting means not so much insufficient light as glare from unshaded, clearbulb lights which provide the general illumination in many places. It is practically a universal rule to provide the individual light at the bench with a shade, but this shade usually protects only the eyes of the worker sitting in front of the lamp, it does not prevent the glare escaping at the sides to annoy other workers. This can easily be prevented by a proper shade, such as the ones now being introduced in Building Q at West Lynn, or perhaps by light muslin screens such as are used in the Fort Wayne works. The Oakland shop uses only frosted globes for all its artificial lights, which is an excellent thing. SEATING The greatest variety of chairs and stools and foot rests are to be found in these plants and sometimes in the same plant. In most places it seems plain that no real thought has been given to the question, and yet it is one of decided importance, especial ly for the women. The work-day is eight or nine hours and fatigue is it a very important element more than the posture of in production the worker. and nothing If you give ainwfolmuaenncaes GE MUSEUM 00141 M.W. 3. chair that is all wrong she will adjust herself to it somehow, but she will be using for that adjustment muscular energy which ought to go into her work. The first rule about seating is that every woman should be provided with a chair even if her work must be done stand ing. She must be allowed to sit down for a few minutes when she feels like it, and she cannot do this unless she has her own chair. This provision has been made at Lynn, West Lynn, Bridgeport, Philadelphia, and Providence. A movable chair running on rails is provided for women who have to tend more than one machine in Lynn, in West Lynn, and in the Cleveland Wire Works, and although the shape of the seat in the two first, named plants is poor, the plan is a good one and could well be introduced for similar work in other plants. Much the best seating for ordinary work is to be found in the West Lynn plant in Buildings Q and V. These chairs are of wood, with adjusta ble back and adjustable seat, the legs spread so that the seat is firm, and the front edge is slightly low and rounded, pre venting pressure against the thighs. Another great improve ment in building Q is the lowering of the benches so that the woman sits with her feet on the floor and there is no need of the foot rest which, with the ordinary high bench or machine, presents a difficulty almost as great as the seat. Another good feature in the West Lynn plant is in Build ing W where a number of girls must keep watch of a row of machines. A long, narrow seat runs between each two rows of machines, so placed that the girl can lean back against it or perch up on it for a few minutes and still keep watch of her work. The seating of women at punch presses is still an unsolv ed problem. Nowhere are these women comfortably provided for. They must sit on high chairs or stools, and the use of the treadle means that they are always bending down on one side. To a certain extent this is true of the women using treadles on other processes, as in screw assembly and tapping. It is a question that should be taken up from the mechanical side, and perhaps it can be solved only by making the machines low, as are the heavy punch presses used by the men. This would do away with the unsatisfactory foot rests and enable the woman to really sit on her chair instead of perching on the edge of it. In connection with the use of treadles on machines when the foot must be pressed down with force, I should like to mention a device in the Providence Base Works on the machine pressing eyelets. The treadle has been so adjusted as to allow the operator to kick it forward easily i n s t e a d o f pressing down. GE MUSEUM 00142 M.W. 4. DUSTS AND FUMES The real hazards to health from dangerous dust and dangerous fumes are comparatively slight in these plants. They may be briefly summarized as follows: Metal grinding, and metal polishing if an abrasive is used, and sandblasting give rise to dust which is injurious to the lungs. In metal grinding it is the dust from the abrasive that is of im portance, not the metal. According to British authorities the dust from natural emery is more harmful than artifical abrasives, and it is fortunate that carborundum or alundum grinding wheels are in almost universal use in the General Electric Company's plants for everything but brass polishing where, it seems, emery is neces sary. We know nothing about the effect of alundum dust when in haled but recent experiments made with carborundum dust show that it is only slightly injurious to the healthy lung, but if there is even a small focus of tuberculosis in the lung, carborundum dust will decidedly favor its spread. Therefore all metal grind ers and polishers, if the polishing is done with an abrasive, are exposed to some occupational risk and this should be recognized and the men protected, not only by good local exhausts to carry off the dust, but by periodic physical examination. The dust re moval is good in all plants, but it is perfect in none, and the harm done by such dust is so slow in developing that attention is not called to it as a usual thing before the involvement of the lung is quite far advanced. That is why a regular physical examination is the only sure way of preventing harm in such an occupation, but probably once in six months would be quite adequate. The work of the sandblasters carries much more risk. The smooth particles of sand are quickly broken up and reduced to fine powder so that presently it has to be rejected and new coarse sand supplied, The finer the dust the more dangerous it is. This fact has been recognized in all the saod blasting departments and some effort is always made to protect the men using the sandblast, but I doubt whether any protective device, even the helmet supplemented by a sponge respirator, is suffi cient and I should therefore recommend that all the works adopt the system introduced in the Lynn plant and at Everett where the sandblasters present themselves for examination every three months. Another group of men who face a similar, but less pro nounced, danger are the foundry men who use a pneumatic hammer and a stream of compressed air to clean the dry cake sand from molded machines. They should be classed with metal grinders. POISONS Lead is used in molten form very generally but the risk attending its use is slight, although it would be well to pro vide exhausts over all receptacles containing it. A very good GE MUSEUM 00143 M-W. 5. arrangement of this kind can be seen in the soldering department of the Philadelphia plant. Lead paint is not infrequently used, both with brush and spray gun. This work should always be done in a separate room as it is in the Oakland plant, especially if the spray gun be used, Men using the latter are engaged in a specially hazardous work and should be treated accordingly. A strong exhaust should be provided to carry off the spray but it must not be assumed that this will completely protect the man against poisoning unless the objects he is painting are quite Small. In painting larger objects there will always be a flat surface which will send the spray back against the painter because the draft cannot catch it. It is probably useless to try to pro tect him with any kind of respirator or helmet because the paint spray would clog it up very quickly. Here is another class of men who must be examined at regular intervals if they are to be protected from lead poisoning. Litharge is used in making lightning arresters and in the mixing departments of the glass works. In all of these it seems practically impossible to prevent decided contamination of the air with litharge dust. The only thing to do is to make the hours oi exposure as short as possible and to subject the men to peri odic medical examination. MERCURY Metallic mercury is used in Harrison, Cleveland, and West Lynn. In all these places it is spilled more or less over wooden benches and wooden floors where the droplets find their way into cracks and sink in because the metal is heavy and are probably not completely removed even by careful sweeping. Mercury vola tilizes far below ordinary room temperature, and in the departments in which it is used the temperature often is at least 75 degrees. This means that there must be a contamination of the air with m e r cury vapor. In the West Lynn plant the risk is recognized and controlled so far as possible by providing for dilution of the vapors. The work room is very large and high, the space per e m ployee is unusually great and there is a good system of artifi cial ventilation. In the other plants I should advise more scru pulous attention to the handling of the mercury and regular exami nation of the women employed. The work should be done in a sepa rate room, so as not to expose more people than is necessary. PICKLING IN ACID This process should be regarded with suspicion whenever the metal, iron chiefly, is left for more than a few minutes in a solution of hydrochloric or sulphuric or mixed acids. This is because ordinary iron and zinc and commercial sulphuric and hydro chloric acids are very commonly contaminated with arsenic and when metal and acid are brought together, conditions are favorable for the'evolution of arseniurretted hydrogen fumes which do not betray GE MUSEUM 00144 M.W. 6. themselves by any odor and which are extremely poisonous, a l though if they are much diluted they would show their effect only by producing a profound anaemia with a yellowish skin and vague symptoms of ill-health. The longer the metal is left in the pickling tub the greater the risk, of course. If the tubs are large it is much safer to place them in an open shed, smaller ones can be safeguarded by a hood and exhaust. PLATING WITE CYANIDE SOLUTIONS Cyanide baths from which bubbles can be seen rising should always be protected by a hood with an exhaust. Any case of un explained ill-health in a pickling or plating department should be brought to the attention of the plant physician .in order to see whether arsenic or cyanide fumes are at the bottom of the trouble. The plating room in the Philadelphia plant has very excellent arrangements, and the "bright dipping" room in the Providence Base Works is amply large and very well ventilated. BENZOL I have not been able to obtain formulas for all the solvents used in these plants and therefore do not know exactly how many employees are exposed to benzol fumes. Unfortunately my ignorance is shared by a number of foremen and even some department managers It is an important point, for this is the only decidely poisonous solvent used except wood alcohol which has been largely abandoned. The benzolcontaining solvents are not handled by any plant in a way that can be recommended for imitation. The work should always be done in a special room, otherwise people will be exposed quite unnecessarily to fumes which are not produced by their job but by the job of the workers near by. Local exhausts should be provided wherever this is possible, and if it is not possible the fumes should be diluted by abundant ventilation. It would be well also to provide a break in the morning and afternoon as is done in the mica department of Building 50 in the Lynn River Plant. The girls on mica spreading machine are sent out into the fresh air for fifteen minutes twice a day. The risk of benzol poisoning is greater in women than in men and is in proportion to the youth of the victim. Benzol lessens the number of blood elements, producing anaemia, lowering the resistance to infection, and it also weakens the walls of the small blood vessels, encouraging hemorrhage which is usually from the nose or gums but in girls may show itself by an excessive flow at the menstrual period; sometimes the hemorrhage is just under the skin and bruised spots appear over the body. The recovery from benzol anaemia is very slow. It is therefore im portant that employees who are exposed to benzol fumes, es pecially girls and young lads, should be given periodical medical examination. GE MUSEUM 00145 M.W. 7 WOOD ALCOHOL If this is used, the same precautions should be applied as in connection with benzol. It should be remembered that d e natured alcohol may contain 5 per cent, 10 per cent, or even 20 per cent of wood alcohol, and that susceptible individuals will suffer from quantities as low as these. NAPHTHA, GASOLINE, AMYL ACETATE, BUTYL ACETATE These are none of them dangerously toxic although they may set up chronic ill-health in susceptible persons and there fore the fumes should be removed. There are very good devices to provide for this; in dipping at Oakland and Lynn and in spraying at Baltimore, Oakland, and Philadelphia. The baking d e partments in Lynn and Philadelphia deserve specially favorable mention, and so does the ventilation of the wire insulation room in Building 50 in Lynn. Bridgeport has placed individual hoods over the little pitch and resin machines in the wiring department. PROVISIONS FOR CARE OF EMPLOYEES The work done in manufacturing plants is decidely dirtier than that done in lamp works, but there is not nearly so generous a provision for personal cleanliness in the former as there is in the latter. Moreover, if there are any wash rooms completely equipped with hot water, soap and towels, they are likely to be assigned to the office employees who are doing clean work and not to the factory employees whose hands get very dirty. It is, of course, impossible to get one's hands clean with cold water but some of the largest plants employing thousands of men and women provide only cold water. The ideal is hot water, soap, paper towels, and sufficient washing space. Bridgeport, Providence, Oakland, and Bridgeville have long enameled sinks with hot and cold water, which seems to me much better than indivi dual basins, so hard to keep clean in the rush hours. The best of all are the sinks in Bridgeville where the water is controlled by a foot release. Paper towels for both sexes and for factory help are provided by the plants in Erie, Philadelphia, Niles, and Bridgeville. Philadelphia also gives soap. Roller towels are deplorably common in New England plants and should not be allowed because they are very likely to carry infection, es pecially from inflamed eyes. Few plants have the proper kind of bubbling fountain and some still use coolers with a common cup although these are rapidly giving way to the bubbling fountain. In choosing the type of bubbler there are two things to be borne in mind: the stream must curve a little so that the water does not fall back over the nipple, and the nipple must be protected in such a way that the drinker's lips cannot be pressed against the edge. The West Lynn plant has several models, one of which is very good. GE MUSEUM 00146 M.W. 8 The toilet rooms are all excellent and well maintained but not always well placed. Sometimes it is necessary for a worker to go a long distance and up and down several flights of stairs to reach a water closet. This is bad because it almost inevitably encourages constipation by making the worker postpone till the noon hour a call which should be responded to at once. Putting locks on the doors of the water closets seems an unimportant detail but it really is not; people have a right to demand that degree of privacy. Apparently work in the manufacturing plants is not considered as exacting for women as work in the lamp factories, for there is nothing like so ample a provi sioniof >|pestearooms and couches in manufacturing plants employing large numbers of women as there is in lamp works employing a quarter as many or even less. I believe that this is a mistake. Some of the work on small machine parts is quite as meticulous and monot onous as that in the lamp works, and prevention of fatigue must be just as important a factor in good production. In other departments many women, sometimes more than half, must stand all day at their work, and there is also the fatigue of work on the punch presses. Yet it is certainly true that the majority of the manufacturing plants which employ women fail to give them enough opportunity to rest comfortably when they are tired. The objection to providing easy chairs and cots is, I am told, that it encourages loitering when the girls ought to be back on their jobs, In Bridgeport and in Philadelphia there are matrons in charge of the rest rooms whose duty it is to see, both that girls who are not tired go back to their jobs and that girls who are tired may rest comfortably. It is a mistake to lock the rest rooms during the lunch hour, for girls who are not robust and older women and women whose job keeps them standing should be encouraged to lie down or at least rest in an easy chair during this interval. Loss of time may result from a lack of a rest room as well as from loitering. In two different establishments where provision of this kind is poor I asked girls what they would do if they felt ill, had abdominal cramps, or a bad headache, and they said they would go home, for the dispen sary was too far off, there was no other place to lie down, and if they quit at all they might as well go home. It is not, of course, essential to have a rest room at tractive, but it is pleasant and once the necessity for rest ing is admitted there seems no reason why a little effort should not be made to take away the forbidding aspect of most of these rooms, with their cold cement floors, dark walls, clouded or dirty windows, bare cots and straight chairs. It can they beh a vdeonet a kweinth a nliuttnlper o emxipsei nnsge.r o o mInw the hich P hil has a delp only h ia one works outside GE MUSEUM 00147 window, and that looking into a well, a high ceiling, and big windows leading back into the factory, and have made it very attractive by chintz window curtains, soft chintz covered cush ions on the cot and on the easy chairs - plenty of them a chintz table cloth, a pretty lamp, and a few pictures. The Providence Base Works has a large and delightfully furnished room quite up to the standard of the best lamp works. This plant also provides a pleasant smooking room for the men, as do also Niles and Bridgeville. The Lynn plants have rest rooms for men but not so comfortable and attractive. In the Providence Base Works the girls stop work for 20 minutes at nine in the morning and at three in the -afternoon. They leave their benches, walk about, and in t b e m o r n i n g recess most of them eat a second b r e a k f a s t ^ V ^ h j e s e a r e mostly from Italian families and are fo1lowing their -national customs in thus breaking, but at the same time lengthening, the working day which begins at seven and ends at 5:50. It is doubtful whether this system, wholesome as it is, could be introduced in all plants but a shorter break in tbe working hours certainly would not be impossible. The undernourished girls in Bridgeport have five minutes off morning and after noon so that they may go to the matron and get a glass of milk. In the Rhode Island Glass Works the women inspectors relieve each other so that each works only 45 minutes out of the hou r . MEDICAL CARE It would be a mistake to close without pointing out the Tact that many of these recommendations can be followed only if there is a physician in the plant with time enough to do more than attend to cases of accidental injury or to acute illness and to the examination of new employees. Something more than emergency surgical and medical care is necessary. It is not enough to treat an occupational illness after it has developed, for workers should be protected against risks which are known to be connected with their employment, such as the risk of lung disease from inhaling certain dusts and the risk of poisoning from certain vapors. This means that the workers in certain departments must be specially supervised by a physician. The obligation to prevent illness which cannot be directly traced to occupation is less clear, but experience seems to show that it is good policy for the employer to extend some form of preventive medical care to the whole force, at least enough to provide for the recogni tion of acute infections in their early stage when they are likely to spread, of early tuberculosis which can perhaps be arrested, of open tuberculosis which is a danger to others, and of malnutrition and chronic ill-health which impair e f ficiency. Dr. Wright's recommendations will cover the details GE: MUSEUM 00148 M .ff. 30. of what would constitute such a service, and I will confine m y self to a few comments on features which I have noted in certain plants . Most of the plants are equipped only to give first-aid to accidents and perhaps first-aid of a more or less dubious charac ter to acute illness. Yet in his report on the Pittsfield plant Professor E, B. Wilson of\the Department of Vital Statistics of the Harvard School of Public Health estimated that illness was probably responsible for more absenteeism than accidents, and this is in all liklihood true of other plants doing 'similar work. To insure proper care for cases of illness and for xhrsonic illhealth, the medical department must be conveniently 'placed for if the sick person has to go too far for relief, especially if he has to go out-of-doors, he will probably decide to ndure till noon or till quitting time and then go home without a physician or a nurse knowing anything about it. The lamp factories have in several instances provided branch dispensaries to meet this need. In the absence of such provision, the plan followed by Bridgeport is a good one. The rest rooms are in charge of matrons who have orders to report to the doctor every complaint of ill-health ho w ever slight, for repeated complaints mean that the woman needs an examination. If the illness lasts as long as an hour the matron summons the doctor. The examination and placing of applicants for employment is very well carried out in Bridgeport. The physician makes all the examinations and classifies the applicants according to their fit ness for all jobs or for certain jobs only, He keeps the records and all men in the handicapped class must report back to him if they change their job. Every employee who is taken ill while at work must go to the doctor's office before he leaves the plant. As a usual thing the examination of women applicants for work is very superficial, but in the Providence Base Works the same thoroughnes is used with women as with men and the trained nurse a s sured me that even the Italian and Portuguese girls made no o b jection for she was careful to guard them against any exposure. Only three manufacturing nlants give the same attention to chronic underweight and malnutrition as is given in several of the lamp works. In Bridgeport, in the Cleveland Wire Drawing Works and in the Pitney Glass Works the employees who are selected by the doctor or nurse are given milk and biscuits morning and afternoon. The question of first-aid boxes and of entrusting firstaid treatment to employees will be discussed by Dr. Wright. The comparatively hazardous jobs which should require the GE MUSEUM 00149 r M.W. 21. special attention of the physician do not involve more than a small proportion of the workers in any plant, and the medical d e partment should be well enough organized to permit of periodical physical examination of these groups of employees. The depart ments are as follows: sandblasting, dry mold cleaning, metal polishing and grinding, spraying lead paint, use of benzol and of wood alcohol as solvents, and the use of mercury. These are the plants which have an adequately equipped Ji$$hiei -lfeioss medical department: Lynn River Plant, Bridgeport, Fort Wayne, Bloomfield, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Providence, , and the Cleveland Wire Drawing Plant. Those which have t nearly adequate medical service are Providence, FortH#ayne^NBvJ*'idgeport, Philadelphia, Central Falls (Glass), Ni lestl^and Baltracrre. Six plants have a very unsatisfactory medical ser|^|ie%oV;%>ract ical ly none at al 1. * ALICE HAMILTON, M. D. Harvard School of Public Health Boston, Mass. GE MUSEUM 00150 I TThheerbe uiisldaingvseryaregooladrgarer,anhgiegmh,enwt eflolrvceanttcihlaintegd anfrdomrmwointidtoigwsthine afuidmeess ainnd roof. aennyamodelolringofwbireenzwolithataablleniznolt-hcoant teanindinogf mthiextubruei,ldsinogt.haTtheI wcoirueldisnobtadkeedtecint vsmapaolrl otovemnseeetacahsporfawy hoicfhwhaatseraatndthethtiospruanns exdohwanust pipe which carrie11s0 ethffeo rt otogrne,cothveerre ita.r-e Topheenowvienndsowarseininththee large r - . t o p ^ is A nuontuhsuearl gaototednfteioanturtoe idsettahiel ganudardinincgludoef smeavcehriy admirable. ''SSi hs ewrietahl l y Tofhefufumrensa, cbesutfowrerbe oniolitnginenoapmerelatsieoenm. very w ell constructed for the removal Tchhearwaocrtkerwainthd ansebedesstonso mproordeupcersecsaoumteiondsustth,anbuatrethnisowisinnuotseo. f a dangerous Ambigohutt b30e moror3e5 agtitrrlas citnivea lalndarheaveemphlootyewd.ateTrh, ebwuat sthherooemssfeonrtiafalsctoarrye gpirrolvsided, Fsoiarpst-aAnidd pbaopxerantodwMerls. , Oabnedrmvaeireyr gaonoddawmataesrterclomseechtsa.nicThhaevree tiaskeanfuthlelyYe.qMui.ppCe.dA. cpohuyrssicei.anAicscidsuemnmtsonoefd. any severity are sent to the hospital, or a near-by