Health of the War Worker
1942-04 1942 1940s 44 pages on Transport services to the Regional Production Board and insist that a meeting of the interested parties — employers, trade unionists in the factory, local authorities, and trade union representatives from the bus garages and rail depots — be called...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Labour Research Department
April 1942
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/2C1D82E8-1789-449B-B2D7-4732C0A33323 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/8EBCF9A1-6A91-49C8-B306-6A193DEF37ED |
| Summary: | 1942-04
1942
1940s
44 pages
on Transport services to the Regional Production Board and insist that a meeting of the interested parties — employers, trade unionists in the factory, local authorities, and trade union representatives from the bus garages and rail depots — be called to draw up a scheme for better transport. Priority passes on buses for munition workers in rush hours, staggering of hours, and diversion of buses from "shopping" routes are possible methods; others can be worked out by the workers directly concerned. Otherwise bad transport facilities may undo the good effects of any improvements in working conditions. 3. ACCIDENTS Many thousands of workers are injured at work every week, and since the war there has been an alarming increase in the number of serious accidents. According to the Chief Inspector of Factories Annual Report, there were 230,000 non-fatal accidents in factories in 1940; this was 28 per cent more than in 1938, the last pre-war year — an increase of 50,000 accidents a year. The rise in fatal accidents was even sharper, no less than 43 per cent. About one worker in 30 was injured during 1940 alone. The causes of this increase are not far to seek. First, longer hours are being worked to-day, and accidents are known to occur more frequently when workers are tired and therefore liable to make mistakes. A high accident rate in a department, or a high proportion of work being scrapped, often means that the hours being worked are too long for efficient production. Bad lighting and ventilation also lead to an increased accident rate. The other main reason for the increase is that so many of the workers in industry to-day are new to their jobs, and therefore less experienced in avoiding danger. The Factory Inspector's Report points out that the biggest increases in accidents have been on the type of machinery on which this new "green" labour (mainly women and young people) is employed — for example "the effect of the new and untrained labour can be seen in the increase of accidents on milling machines by 56 per cent and on power presses by 48 per cent. Inspectors have also noted a decided increase in accidents on automatic lathes and drilling machines." Accidents to young people increased very heavily — among boys by 18 per cent and among girls by 11 per cent — in 1940 compared with 1939. Training in Safety Methods The first step to prevent accidents is proper training of the new 14
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |