Health of the War Worker
1942-04 1942 1940s 44 pages 1. FACTORY HYGIENE What are the conditions which affect health in the factories? Very much the same conditions as in houses, namely, ventilation, heating, dampness, lighting, cleanliness, sanitation, and washing facilities. These are the first things to examine, and it i...
| 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/10796/872D5345-63A7-4160-8D1F-C17D89152560 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/BED0C4E8-9C32-407F-B9C4-63D5DAC19766 |
| Summary: | 1942-04
1942
1940s
44 pages
1. FACTORY HYGIENE What are the conditions which affect health in the factories? Very much the same conditions as in houses, namely, ventilation, heating, dampness, lighting, cleanliness, sanitation, and washing facilities. These are the first things to examine, and it is on these ordinary everyday needs that workers can act to best effect. Moreover, they can act on commonsense grounds, without needing to have had years of medical study. Ventilation What does the Factories Act say? Part 1.4 (i): Effective and suitable provision shall be made for securing and maintaining adequate ventilation and for rendering harmless all fumes, dusts, and other impurities that may be injurious to health.* We all need air to breathe, and if it is restricted our activity is restricted automatically. At the same time, it is as well to remember that lack of oxygen or excess of carbon dioxide is rarely the fatiguing factor in the workshop. The oxygen can drop by one or two per cent without workers noticing it. Their feelings of discomfort are more commonly due to rise in temperature and humidity, or accumulation of fumes and dust. Nevertheless, the air needs to be changed periodically and every workshop must have both inlets and outlets to guarantee fresh currents of air: this cannot be done if all entrances and exits are sealed up. The manner in which blackout has been put up in scores of factories with total disregard of the necessity for fresh air is evidence of either incompetence or ignorance by factory managers. The Home Office have themselves pointed out (Factory Ventilation in the Blackout, Form 301, April, 1940, H.M. Stationery Office) that "... in many premises the ventilation has been so restricted as to have a serious effect on the health of the workers." Now while light for all practical purposes travels in a straight line, air will go round comers. Therefore it is quite possible, by a simple design, to cut off light from windows and yet leave openings for air. For various designs see Form 301, mentioned above. To render fumes and dusts harmless may need immense care and expensive equipment. Harmful substances in the atmosphere may be gases or actual solids in dust form, or liquids in the air in the form of vapours. The commonest dangerous gas is carbon *Sec. 47 of the Act also deals with this point. 2
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |