Britain's Health Services
1942-10 1942 1940s 40 pages Scottish filling factory at Georgetown, where in 1918 T.N.T. poisoning, from which many workers died during the last world war, was reduced to nil when measures were adopted to prevent the absorption of the powder, together with steps to secure the adequate nourishment of...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Communist Party of Great Britain
October 1942
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/30967535-F32E-4AAF-BB2D-3006E909282E http://hdl.handle.net/10796/765E528A-575F-49A2-83AE-C6ED360E919D |
| Summary: | 1942-10
1942
1940s
40 pages
Scottish filling factory at Georgetown, where in 1918 T.N.T. poisoning, from which many workers died during the last world war, was reduced to nil when measures were adopted to prevent the absorption of the powder, together with steps to secure the adequate nourishment of the workers ("Health of the War Worker," page 27). This bears out from another angle the importance of proper attention to food questions, for whereas the statistics mentioned earlier show the relation of adequate feeding to productive capacity, the Georgetown conditions demonstrate how correct nutrition maintains health even in the face of industrial hazard. A further illustration of what proper attention to health questions can do from the point of view of prevention is provided by experience at the Willow Works (I.C.I. Metals, Ltd.), where the number of persons losing time through sepsis was reduced by 93% between 1931 and 1935 as a result of the establishment of a factory medical service (P.E.P. Report on British Health Services, page 84). It is necessary that workers should understand the importance of using safety devices to prevent industrial accidents and disease. They should be encouraged to improve these, or design their own methods, which they undoubtedly will do once they fully appreciate the risks otherwise involved and the degree to which output may be diminished by their failure to take proper precautions against disease and injury. The cause of every accident in the works should be investigated with a view to discovering how repetition may be avoided. The magnitude of this particular question should be noted. It is reported by the Birmingham Accident Hospital that they have observed an increase of 40% in the accident rate since 1939 (Nursing Times, 30.5.42, page 357). The number of cases now requiring treatment at that Hospital alone is approximately 100,000 a year, and as 94% of these patients are disabled to a greater or less extent (in some instances for several months), production must obviously be considerably affected. WHAT THE WORKERS CAN DO Every opportunity must be taken of raising health questions in Production Committees, Trades Councils, Trade Union branches and all sections of the organised Labour movement. 9
15X/2/103/252 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |