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FILE NAME: Newspaper & Magazine Articles (NMA) DATE: 1940 Mar 21 DOC#: NMA108 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: NYT - State Study Aids Health of 300,000 STATE STUDY AIDS HEALTH OF 300,000 New York Times {1857-Current /ite); Mar 2 I. 1940; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1X51 - 2003) STATE STUDY AIDS 1 HEALTH OF 300,000 Miss Miller Reports on 31/ 2 Years of Fighting Silicosis and Other Dust Diseases SHE URGES LARGER STAFF While Progress Has Been Made, Many Other Industrial Hazards Exist, She Says T h e h e a lth o f n e a rly 300,000 w o rk er* In dangerous trad es in N ew York State is better safeguarded than it was three and a half years ago as a result of the industrial hygiene program instituted by the S ta te L a b o r D e p a rtm e n t o n J u ly 1, 1936, M iss F rie d a S. M iller, S ta te Industrial Commissioner, reported yesterday to th e Legislature, which a p p ro p ria te d $50,000 a y e a r fo r fiv e years to th e Labor D epartm ent to fight silicosis and other dust dis eases and com bat industrial poisons. Three and a half years of experi ence, especially on th e D elaw are aqueduct project, have taught m eth ods of preventing, though not of curing, silicosis in rock drilling, Miss M iller reported. P rogress also w as m ade in controlling other dust diseases. " B ut we have only scratched the surface in detecting and controlling other occupational hazards," she w arned, "hazards generated w ith the speed of invention, w ith the sam e m ass m ark et as technological change itself. The developm ent of new industries, new chemicals, new processes brings in their wake a daily train of new poisons and new uses for old ones." Miss M iller concluded w tih the hope th a t the legislators would "weigh the need for continuing and increasing the technical personnel w hich alone can guarantee indus trial health in the world of tom or row ." Physicians of the Division of In dustrial H ygiene of the Labor De partm ent, the report said, have con d u cted 37,850 m edical exam inatio n s of w o rk ers, a n d m ad e 17,229 chem ical analyses of air, rock and hum an tissues. Engineers of the division have exam ined 4,808 p la n s for ventilating system s, involving 23,446 m ach in es a n d 39,317 w o rk ers. An industrial code to protect w orkers engaged in rock drilling already is in effect, while those for foundries, stone-cutting and stone crushing are prepared and will be announced soon. A w idespread edu cational cam paign also has been carried on am ong employers, w ork ers, physicians and industrial engi neers. The rock drilling code has " stood up" under a " searing test" in the d riv in g of th e 85-mile D elaw are aqueduct through the heaviest sil ica-bearing rock th ere is. Six thou sand w orkers there had to be pro tected not only against silicosis and falling rock but against fog and poisonous gases. The biggest job of industrial hygiene testing ever undertaken in the United States was done by the Labor D epartm ent on the D elaware w ater tunnel, the report declared. A continuous stream of w ater lays silica dust as th e drilling pro ceeds. ventilating fans suck out the dust-laden air, other fans expel poisonous gases after a dynam it ing, and w ater stream s over th blasted rock. W orkers are kept out of the dynam ited heading for fif teen m inutes to three hours. Proper measures can "unques tionably prevent silicosis," the re port asserted, adding th a t w hether funds and personnel should be con tinued for the w ork "becomes a question of public policy." Thousands of w orkers in foundries and other plants exposed to grain dust, wood dust, asbestos, brick, feldspar, fu r, wool, pumice, rock wool, slate, clay, w hiting, hem atite, salt, garnet and em ery have been X -rayed. I n ad d itio n , 1,452 w o rk e rs ex posed to dust containing m ercury, aniline and wood dyes, m oth repel lents, scouring powder, grain, fer tilizers and plastics have been ex am ined an d m ore th a n 3,000 special tests made. Proper ventilation has p ro te c ted 23,000 w o rk e rs sin ce Ju ly 1, 1936. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.