Document zdmVg0bBo7wwbMNRa8nx24dpz

FILE NAME: ALCOA (ALC) DATE: 1952 DOC#: ALC084 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Steering Committee Membership-American Foundrymen's Society HEALTH PROTECTION FOUNDRY PRACTICE SC-ALL-05224 DEDICATION Tb o b jectiv e oI a ll hygiene p ra c tic e in in d u stry is the p re se rv a tio n o f .the health of the w orker through elim ination or reduction of the hazards to health as* soeiated with the operation. All o f the m a te ria l contained in this book w as presented by m a s te rs o f this a r t. T herefore, the School of Public Health, the Institute o fjn d u stria l H ealth, and the D epartm ent of M etal P ro c e ssin g of the U niversity of M ichigan dedicate It to the ad v an cem en t Of the A m erican F o u n d rym en's S o c ie ty 's p ro g ra m oo Safety. H ygiene and A ir Pollution. Since this program is the m ethod the m ethod the foundry industry has adopted to provide w orker protection through effort from within the industry itself, we have full confidence in the concurrence of all of the authors in this dedication. STEERING COMMITTEE Safety. Hygiene and A ir Pollution P ro g ram A m erican F oundrym en's Society 3 . R . A llan, C hairm an. International H arv este r C o .. I t s No. M ichigan Ave. C hicago^ f it. ...... -- ... D r. Dudley A . Irw in, V ice C hairm an, M edical D iracto r. Aluminum C o. of , A m e r ic a , gOl G u ll b l d g ., P itts b u rg h , P a . j t . 3 . H. C hivcra, M ed. D ir ., C rane C o .. 036 So. M ichigan A v e. Chicago, III. C .K . F a u n t. M g r. C h r is te n s e n ! O lse n F d ry . C o ., 210 No. R acine A ve. C h ica g o . 111. H .A . F o rsb crg , Vice P r e s ., Continental F d ry . h M ach. C o ., E ast C hicago, Ind. A .G . G ra o o th . V ice P r e s . ! C h ie f E n g r. N ational E aginee rin g C o ., i l l * . W ash* in gton S t . , C h ica g o , 111. D r . 1*. E . H am lin . M ed. D ir . A m e ric a n B r a k e Shoe C o .. 2501 B lue Isla n d A ve. C h ica g o . I1L John M. Kane, C hief E n g r.. Dost C ontrol D iv ., A m ericas A ir r a t e r C o .. 21S C entral A ve., L ouisville. Ky. F .A . P a tty . D ir. In d u stria l H ygiene, G en eral M otors C o r p .. <85 W. M ilw aukee S t . , D etroit. M ick. 3 - C . R adcliffe. Sopv. Industrial Health Unit, F o rd M otor C o ., D etroit, M ich. K enneth M. S m ith, F d r y . E n g r. C a te r p illa r T r a c to r C o ., P e o r ia . 111. C .C . Sohl, M gr. C asulaty, Safety h G roup la s . Dept. A m erican S teel F oundries, 400 No. M ichigan A v e .. C hicago, 111. x W O. V edder. M gr. D ust C ootrol Dept. Pangboru C orp. H agerstow n. Md. W.N. D av is. Staff D i r ., A m erican F o ao d ry m ca's S ociety, 616 So. M ichigan A ve. C hicago 5. HI. MATURE O F P1SEASE CAUSED BY DUST >>y O. A. Sander, M .D . F o r a lm o tl a Century the p rincipal occupational diaeaec caused by foundry operations has been silico sis, although other d iseases seem to be coining along w hich m ay soon replace it a t the top of the lis t. U nfortunately, how ever, th ere still a r c fa r too m any foundries in this enlightened country of ours which still a re p ro ducing th is e n tire ly p rev en tab le d is e a s e . On the o th e r hand, we a re finding m o re and m ore foundries right along w here the dust control has been developed to such a d eg ree that they have not caused any silico sis in their em ployees for many y ears. T his is the goal tow ard which all of us arc w orking. Before getting into the m edical asp ects of this problem , we ought to d e fine a few of the te rm s applied to dusty lungs, so that a ll of us will understand w hat w e a r e talking about. F irs t, the te rm "silic o s is" is read ily defined a s a "fib ro sis o f the lungs resulting from the inhalation of dust containing free silic a " and offers little opportunity for m isu n d erstan d in g . The te rm "pneum oconiosis, " on the o th er hand, h as cau sed m o re trouble than a ll of the o th ers put together, yet genericM y it ie the sim p le st to define. It ju st m eans "dust in the lungs. " T here is no im plicstion in the term of what the dust is o r w hether o r not it eoused reaction in the lungs- is a shortening of Z e n k e r's o rig in al "pncum onoconiosia" which he proposed in , i l . ) T h ere, th erefo re, should be no im plicstion of fib ro sis in the te rm , because we now know (which Z enker did not) thot there a rc num erous dusts which a re e n tire ly in ert when deposited in the lungs, which do not couse irritatio n o r fib ro sis and w hich do not predispose to tu b ercu lo sis. T hese have been called the "benign p n e u m o c o n io s e s " Co d if fe r e n tia te th em fro m th e fib ro tic p n eu m o co n io ses. B ecause "pocum oconiosis" is a general term and covers all dusts w hether h arm fu l o r not, it should have no place in occupational d isease law s. T here th e term iaology should be specific end only those pneum oconioses which m ay re su lt in im p airm en t of lung (unction should be included-, nam ely, silic o sis and a sb e sto a is. It is unfortunate, it seem s to m e, that an attem pt has been made to redefine pneum o- 1 cen io sis sim ply because of the m edicolegal difficulties which have resu lted from its inclusion in occupational d ise ase law *. My recom m endation is lo take the w ord out of the law s, but keep its b asic m eaning and to use specific le.rms in the law s for those d u sty lu n g s w h ich m ay c a u s e d is a b ility . So much for terminology. Pathologically, the foundrym an's silico sis is a m odified silic o sis. The fibrous nodules seldom a re the classical whorled spheres resulting from pure quartz exposure. The old sa n d b lasters had those before they used positive p re ss u re hel m e ts. T o d ay 's foundrym en a re exposed to far le ss q u artz (or free silica) dust than they are to iron and carbon dust. Typical foundry atm ospheres seldom hove m ore th a n 20 p e r c e n t f r e e s ilic a , w ith iro n dual running fro m 60 lo TO p e r ce n t an d c a rb o n In d u s tria l M edical C onsultant, M ilw aukee, Wia. 7 01363