The People's Health
1943-10 1943 1940s 36 pages must use the experience of workers not so well qualified in health matters as doctors and nurses. There are large numbers of men and women in Civil Defence, etc., with a slight medical training who will be available as dilutees to help the highly qualified workers. It is...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
|---|---|
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Newcastle-on-Tyne : North-East District Committee, Communist Party
1943
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/EBCD1181-9373-48DA-A51A-D0155D1F4D6D http://hdl.handle.net/10796/55DA0CC7-3708-464B-AE50-B647553AD8B1 |
| Summary: | 1943-10
1943
1940s
36 pages
must use the experience of workers not so well qualified in health matters as doctors and nurses. There are large numbers of men and women in Civil Defence, etc., with a slight medical training who will be available as dilutees to help the highly qualified workers. It is in this connection that I want to pay a tribute to the new committees springing up on Safety matters, and to the joint Production Committees where they have set up sub-committees to deal with health and safety questions. That is the way to deal with such questions. It is not important that exactly the correct procedure should be followed in dealing with these questions, but that the workers themselves should be brought into consultation and activity on such matters affecting their health and well-being. Every time I attend a meeting of a Joint Production Committee or a sub-committee on Health or Safety I learn something new of the work on the benches. It is the combination of the theoretical training and knowledge of the doctor or nurse, with the practical every-day experience of the factory or shipyard worker which will achieve the best results. It is for that reason I urge upon all workers the importance of bringing technically qualified people on to Health and Safety Committees. Do not be afraid to invite doctors and other qualified people to serve upon them. I know that workers sometimes distrust the doctors and are not too anxious to have them serving on their Committees. They feel the doctor is a representative of the management. To-day, I think, that is a wrong policy. We need to make use of every piece of technical knowledge and ability. Workers will always strengthen their case with the management when they have technical knowledge and information at their disposal and make use of it. Remember, it is not easy for the doctor, I myself, have been for three years a factory doctor and one of the chief hazards in our place of work is dermatitis. This always centres round the key question of contact — contact between the irritant and the skin which gets inflamed. In our factory, girls were stripping leaves in their hands and I wanted to see how they rubbed the stuff in their hands. This meant walking up and down the factory, staring at the girls, trying to discover how some worked differently from others. I cannot tell you how painful an ordeal it was for me. It took all my inner conviction to keep at it. I felt absolutely skinned naked. They were all girls and they gave me no mercy. CO-OPERATION. If you want doctors and nurses coming in on this you must beware of that attitude. When you slam doctors for never coming into the factory ask yourself if you have invited him civilly to come in. Let him feel it is a responsible invitation and that you really want him to come into the factory and to see how you work. In what other way can we hope to get to know about the health of the people at the benches. When the Society of Medical Officers of Health was trying to plan the training of Medical Officers, I asked some Birmingham medical students for suggestions, and they said that for the first few months he should work on the bench. It is hard for a doctor to put himself in the position of a worker and realise what is wrong with the health of workers. Practical experience then must go side by side with scientific knowledge. Medical and scientific theory must be counterposed by the experience of the men at the benches. 9
15X/2/103/295 |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | TEXT |