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PRINCIPLES FOR THE REGULATION OF HYGIENIC CONDITIONS IN PRINTING WORKS AND TYPE FOUNDRIES.

1. All places in which employees come into contact with lead or its alloys or compounds shall be well lighted and easily heated and ventilated. There must be an allowance of at least 15 cubic meters [530 cubic feet] of air space and 3 square meters [32.3 square feet] of floor space for each person employed. Workrooms in new premises shall be at least 3 meters [9.8 feet] in height.

2. Work contemplated in section 1 which causes any considerable amount of dust or an appreciable rise of temperature (such as the melting of lead or type metal, the use of monotype or linotype machines, stereotyping, finishing and dressing type, and bronzing with powdered bronze) shall be carried out in separate workrooms which must not be in a basement; except where the work is carried on only in exceptional circumstances in large establishments the composing rooms must be separate from other workrooms.

3. Rooms must be well lighted with both natural and artificial light, so as to protect adequately the eyesight of the persons employed, consideration being paid to the nature of the work.

4. The floors of all places mentioned in section 1 shall be without cracks and washable or covered with a substance for preventing dust. The walls must be covered to a height of 2 meters [6.6 feet] with a smooth washable coating or paint of light color. No shelves or other appliances where dust can accumulate shall be fitted up, except such as are necessary for the work.

5. In larger establishments suitable lavatories and cloakrooms separated from the workrooms shall be provided. In small establishments arrangements shall be made for employees to keep their outdoor and working clothes in separate cupboards, and lavatory accommodation with sufficient water laid on, together with a plentiful supply of drinking water shall be provided. In type foundries, all large printing works, and works where night work is the rule, mess rooms shall be provided.

6. Women shall not be employed in the occupations contemplated in section 1, except in composing and operating typesetting machines. Young persons under 18 years of age shall not be employed in the occupations contemplated in section 1, provided that apprentices may be employed in any occupations for the purposes of learning the trade, but shall in no circumstances clean the workrooms or cases.

7. The floors of all workplaces, cloakrooms, and lavatories, shall be cleaned every day. Once a week all rooms shall be thoroughly cleaned, and after working hours as far as workrooms are concerned. A sufficient number of spittoons shall be provided. The workrooms shall be thoroughly aired several times a day.

8. Compositors' tables and shelves must be fixed close to the floor, or else arranged in such a way that there is a distance of at least 25 centimeters [9.8 inches] between the floor and the lowest shelf. Cases in regular use must be cleaned when necessary and not less often than once in three months; other cases must be cleaned before use. The cleaning of the cases shall be effected by suction, or where necessary, in the open air, provided that suitable precautions are taken to protect the workers from dust. 9. Melting pots and crucibles shall be fitted with sufficiently large pipes for drawing off their contents, and the crucibles and pipes shall be covered so as to be heat proof. The temperature of workplaces where founding, stereotyping, or composing by machinery is carried on shall not exceed 25° centigrade [77° F.], unless the outdoor temperature exceeds 18° C. [64.4° F.], in which case the difference shall not exceed 7° C. [12.6° F.].

10. Coloring matter shall be prepared by mechanical means only.

11. Bronzing with bronze powder shall be effected only by machines allowing no dust to escape and provided with exhaust ventilation. Bronzing with bronze powder shall not be effected by hand, except where the work is undertaken only in exceptional circumstances and rarely, in which case respirators covering mouth and nose shall be

worn.

12. All workmen employed in occupations contemplated in section 1 shall wear washable working clothes.

13. No unpurified and injurious substances shall be used to clean rollers or type, etc. 14. No person shall eat, drink, or smoke in the workplaces, or bring any food, drink, or tobacco into them.

Workmen shall wash their faces, mouths, and hands before every break in work, and before leaving work. The employer shall provide without charge towels and soap, and for each workman a separate glass for rinsing the mouth.

15. Workmen employed in composing, in melting and casting type, in linotyping, in stereotyping, and in finishing and dressing type shall be medically examined every three months by a medical practitioner, approved by the State authorities for the purpose.

s whom the medical practitioner shall declare unfit shall not be employed ccupation contemplated in section 1 during such period as may be prescribed Apprentices shall be medically examined before beginning their apprenticeship. In view of the inadequate and inexact nature of the documentary information available on the danger of poisoning to which compositors and the operators of typesetting machines are exposed, a fresh investigation shall be undertaken, the results of which shall be laid before the delegates' meeting in 1912.

C. PROTECTION OF HOME WORKERS FROM INDUSTRIAL POISONS.

This subject shall be placed upon the agenda of the next delegates' meeting.

D. LIST OF INDUSTRIAL POISONS.

The delegates' meeting takes note of the admirable list of industrial poisons drafted by Prof. Sommerfeld and amended by Dr. Fischer and the commission in the light of practical experience, and expresses its sincere thanks to these two authors.

At the same time the meeting recognizes the absolute impossibility of drawing up a complete list corresponding to industrial conditions in all countries, without the cooperation of the national sections. The bureau is requested to transmit the list to the sections and to the permanent council of hygiene. The sections shall thereupon, with the assistance of their respective Governments, revise and supplement the list by April 1, 1911. The bureau shall then arrange, in agreement with the permanent council of hygiene, for the publication of the list.

X. WORK IN COMPRESSED AIR.

A. WORK IN CAISSONS.

Since the protection of workers in caissons can not be regarded as directly affected by international competition, it is not a subject for international agreement. But at the same time it is expedient for the International Association for Labor Legislation to urge the various Governments to introduce legislation for the protection of caisson workers as has been done in France and Holland. The principles here following should form the basis of such regulations:

PRINCIPLES FOR THE REGULATION OF WORK IN CAISSONS.

1. The danger to life and health to which persons working in caissons under a high air pressure (from about 1.5 atmospheres) are in general exposed must be regarded as appallingly great.

2. The danger can be reduced to a very considerable extent by the adoption of suitable prophylactic and therapeutic measures. The introduction of such measures consequently forms an important branch of labor legislation.

3. Protective measures can not be expected to succeed unless they are designed on the right lines and strictly carried out. Consequently it is necessary for such regulations to be introduced by State legislation, and enforced by administrative authorities, and for contraventions to be punishable.

4. Regulations for the protection of caisson workers should contain provisions(a) Requiring the admission of persons to work in caissons to be dependent upon the result of a strict medical examination.

(b) Requiring the organization of a regular system of medical supervision on the works and wherever possible a permanent staff of medical officers.

(c) Fixing exactly the periods of employment and the manner of locking in and unlocking, according to the depth of the works and the pressure.

(d) Prescribing suitable hygienic regulations respecting the air supply in the caisson and air locks, variations of temperature, accommodation for workmen on the works, the conduct of workmen, etc.

(e) Prescribing all necessary arrangements for the protection of life and health. (f) Insuring that suitable appliances for treating persons taken ill-especially a properly fitted up recompression lock-and the necessary staff for attending them shall be available.

(g) Requiring a register to be kept on the works, containing the name and forename of every person subject to medical examination, particulars of the result of each examination, and particulars of all cases where medical treatment was given on the works and the results of the same.

B. DIVERS.

Since divers, especially those employed in salvage operations, are liable to be called upon to work in foreign waters or on ships of a different nationality, it seems advisable that their occupation should be regulated by international agreement.

The members of the permanent council of hygiene shall collect from every country the regulations and official and private instructions respecting diving operations.

The international labor office shall thereupon transmit copies of these regulations, etc., to the members of the special commission, which shall prepare a report on the subject for the next delegates' meeting.

XI. THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS.

AUTOMATIC COUPLING.

The bureau is instructed to make a further report to the next delegates' meeting regarding the international prevention of accidents and the protection of those employed on railroads and in the carrying trade. The sections are requested to petition their Governments for the introduction of automatic couplers.

XII. WORKMEN'S INSURANCE.

EQUAL TREATMENT OF FOREIGN WORKMEN.

1. The association requests the American section to continue its efforts to secure the passage in the several States of the Union of suitable laws for insurance against sickness and accident, which shall not discriminate against alien workers and thus carry out Resolution IX adopted at Geneva, and Resolution X adopted at Lucerne, and it thanks this section for the initiative which it has taken in this question of the protection of immigrants.

2. A special commission is appointed with instructions to seek ways and means by which the equal treatment of native and foreign workmen may be guaranteed, not only in respect to insurance against industrial accidents but also in other departments of social insurance, and to report to the next delegates' meeting.

REPORT OF ILLINOIS COMMISSION ON OCCUPATIONAL

DISEASES.

In March, 1907, the Illinois Legislature authorized the appointment by the governor of a commission consisting of four State officials, two reputable physicians, and three other representative citizens of the State to thoroughly investigate causes and conditions relating to diseases of occupation and to report on desirable legislation respecting this subject. The time limit at first set was too short for anything to be attempted, and it was not until 1909 that the commission was able to begin its work effectively. The commissioners served without compensation, and practically the whole amount appropriated for its use-$15,000-was used for direct expenses of investigation. The volume issued in January, 1911,' contains the report of the commissioners and a series of monographs embodying the findings of the various investigators.

The commissioners give an outline of the extensive field of industrial hygiene, and point out the impossibility, with the limited time. and means at their disposal, of making any attempt at a comprehensive study. In the main their investigations were confined to the industrial use of poisons and the resulting effects upon the health of the workers.

The most elaborate study in the report is that by Dr. Alice Hamilton on industrial lead poisoning. Eighteen different industries or trades involving this danger, she finds, are carried on in Illinois. The degree of danger involved varies widely. Smelting and refining lead, the manufacture of white lead, the painting trades, and the manufacture of storage batteries are the most widely harmful. The danger is present in two forms-that of inhaling particles of the metal in the shape of metallic dust or fumes and that of swallowing them with food or drink. The road to comparative safety lies along the lines of prevention or diminution of dust and fumes in the worker's atmosphere by the use of hoods, exhausts, and similar devices, the provision of clean, well-ventilated workplaces, the substitution of wet for dry processes wherever practicable,2 with a free use of water to keep down

1 Report of commission on occupational diseases to his excellency Charles S. Deneen, January, 1911, 219 pages.

* That this can be done to a considerable extent is shown by the situation in England, where many of the most dangerous processes in the manufacture of white lead as carried on-in America have been wholly abolished, with markedly beneficial effects to the workers.

dust, and the enforcement of strict rules concerning personal hygiene upon all workers handling lead or engaged in any of the dangerous processes. Two extremely simple precautions are the provision of respirators to be worn in all necessarily dusty work and the provision of ample facilities for washing-in some cases for bathing—and insistence upon their use. If the further precaution were taken of testing the employees and putting those who show special susceptibility to the effect of lead at the least exposed operations, the dangers of the work would be immensely diminished.

Along the first line conditions have improved considerably of late years. Machinery is steadily displacing hand workmen, and the growing demand for the metal is leading manufacturers to avoid the waste involved in the escape of dust and fumes. In regard to the personal care and instruction of the workers little or nothing is being done. Some of the industries, like smelting and the manufacture of white lead, have gained such a bad name among workmen that the better class will scarcely enter them. As a consequence, those employed in such work are, according to the report, mainly the poorest and most ignorant foreigners or Negroes. They either have no knowledge that danger exists or else have only a vague fear, with no idea where the risk lies or how it can be met. They are a notoriously unsteady, shifting class, continually moving in and out of the lead trades, thus greatly increasing the difficulty of giving instructions and taking precautions which would diminish their risks. This migratory character greatly increases, also, the difficulty of tracing cases of lead poisoning and finding how harmful the work really is.

As the investigation was undertaken to afford a basis for legal action, the economic and legal aspects of the dangers incurred by lead workers naturally took a prominent place. In the brief time available it was impossible to discover how extensively lead poisoning prevailed and how far it was responsible for economic loss and suffering, primarily to the workers and through them to the community as a whole. Five hundred and seventy-eight cases of lead poisoning, occurring during the years 1908, 1909, and 1910, were found, 12 of which resulted in permanent disability, 8 involved temporary or partial paralysis, and 18 resulted in death. One hundred and sixteen men reporting on the point showed a loss of working time from lead poisoning amounting to 65 years, and 102 men reporting on wages lost showed an aggregate loss of $63,940. Where the burden of this loss fell is more than indicated, it is emphasized, by the fact that of the 578 workmen affected only 3 had received any compensation from their employers. One employee in smelters and metal shops was paid full wages while disabled, one paint factory worker was paid part of his wages, and another's medical expenses were paid; beyond this the workmen and their families alone bore

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