XVI. ELECTRIC GENERATING WORKS
This article is simply an attempt to apply expert knowledge to the practical purpose of safe-guarding those employed in electrical works. The writer was a member of the Home Office Committee on Dangerous Trades, and of necessity much that now appears is a repetition of what was presented by that Committee in its Second Interim Report in 1897. It is satisfactory to record that many of the suggestions offered by the Committee have been accepted without hesitation and acted upon.
The generation and distribution of electrical energy, so far as it relates to the health and safety of the workers, may be considered under the following heads:--
(a) The risk of shock by accidentally coming in contact with conductors at high pressure, whether in generating or transformer stations.
(b) The fencing of all mill-gearing and machinery used for the conversion of mechanical into electrical energy.
(c) The health of the operatives.
Before dealing with these specific points it may be desirable to state in general terms what is meant by “generating and transformer stations.” A generating station is a place in which, by the aid of steam, gas, water, or other source of power, mechanism is used for driving dynamos, which are machines for converting mechanical into electrical energy, whether for producing light, driving machinery, running railways, tramcars; for depositing metals, plating, welding, heating, etc., etc., or for charging storage batteries.
Transformer stations vary in size from buildings of considerable proportions to mere cellars, or even boxes too small for entry. In such places are found appliances for the conversion of small current at high pressure to large current at low pressure, or vice versâ. Stationary transformers are used for alternating currents, while rotary converters or transformers, requiring more room and attention, are necessary for direct currents.
To appreciate the risks hereafter described, a statement in the most elementary terms now follows, showing how mechanism can produce the foregoing results.
A conductor of electricity, e.g., a piece of copper wire made to traverse a magnetic field (that is, the space between the poles of a magnet), has an electro-motive force, or difference of electric pressure, set up in its ends, which depends upon its length in the field, its velocity, and the strength of the field, being in fact proportionate to the product of these three. As the movement cannot continue in a limited field in one direction indefinitely, it must be reversed, thus causing a reversal in the electrical state of the ends. If the ends slide on stationary conductors, these too will share the electrical state of the ends, and alternating current will pass between these stationary conductors if they are joined by a conducting wire. This current will be greater as the difference of pressure is greater and as the electrical resistance of the conducting circuit is less. In order to increase the effect of a moving conductor, its length may be increased by suitable windings, the arrangement of which, however, cannot be described in these pages. The effectiveness, moreover, is enormously increased by winding over a laminated iron core, which greatly increases the magnetic force. If, instead of connecting the ends to sliding contact rings from which an alternating current is taken off by stationary contact brushes, the ends of a number of coils are joined to a series of insulated commutator bars, it is possible by suitable connections so to arrange that all the coils remain in action and that the points of the commutator rubbed by the fixed conducting brushes do not change in their electrical pressure, so that a direct (i.e., non-alternating) current is the result. This is desirable for arc lighting, and is essential for charging batteries and generally for effecting chemical change.
Dynamos of many forms are made. Sometimes the field magnets revolve, the armature being stationary, but usually the reverse is the case. In some machines there are two poles only, in others, many. The main principle, however, is the same in all.
When the direction of the current is not commutated, it will, in consequence of the rapid revolution of the armature, alternate or change its direction very frequently, 100 alternations in a second being not uncommon. The currents produced may be classed as low pressure, high pressure, and extra high pressure. Currents at low pressure distributed from generating stations are invariably direct. High pressure currents are distributed either as direct or alternating. One, if not more, extra high pressure station in Great Britain supplies alternating current.
Opinions differ as to the pressure at which these currents become dangerous. The recommendation made by the Committee before referred to was to the effect that currents should be considered dangerous at 700 volts direct, and 350 alternating; and that all metal conductors carrying a current equal to or greater than this should be deemed to be at high pressure. It is from currents at high pressure that we may expect special danger to life from shocks caused by parts of the body coming in contact with conductors differing considerably in pressure, not necessarily metal conductors, for one contact may be with earth, especially if the ground is damp. American experts have laid down that the pressure which may be relied upon to cause death is 1500 volts. According to this standard, the Home Office Committee would appear to have erred on the side of extreme caution. Subsequent events, however, have proved that this is hardly the case. Possibilities fore-shadowed in section 19 of its report have almost literally been realised in a large factory at Bradford, where a lad, aged nineteen, engaged in doing repairs, came in contact with a frame of an arc lamp. He was working in a warm cellar, his boots were damp, and, unhappily, he stood upon an earthed metal plate. The frame of the lamp accidentally touched formed part of the circuit. A leakage from the positive brush to the dynamo-frame, which was earthed, created a short circuit between the frame of the dynamo and the frame of the lamp, the man forming a part of the circuit. A direct current, of 250 volts only, passed through his feet, probably through his heart, causing death. It is much to be regretted that artificial respiration, as recommended by eminent authorities and described in the report of the Committee, was not attempted. An article published in Nature of 23rd August 1900, gives in detail a description of experiments carried out by Professor H. F. Weber, of the Zurich Polytechnic, to decide what pressure is dangerous on electric railways with overhead trolley wires. These experiments were undertaken owing to a dissension, between a firm of electrical engineers and the Baden authorities, as to the proper pressure to be used for two electric railways to be worked by the 3-phase alternating current. The details showing the physiological effects on the human body are highly interesting, Professor Weber allowing himself to be the medium of the experiments, and constituting himself the measuring instrument. Two series of experiments were made. In the first, a person seized the two bare leads with both hands simultaneously, or both of the leads fell upon a bare part of the human body. In the second, a bare part of a person standing on the railway, or on a car, came into contact with one of the leads. Professor Weber draws the following conclusions:--
“A simultaneous touching of both of the poles of an alternating current circuit is dangerous as soon as the pressure exceeds 100 volts; and since it is impossible to set one’s self free, the case must be regarded as fatal whenever immediate help is not at hand.”
“These results,” continues the article, “are consistent with several disasters which have happened in practical life.
“In 1896, in Horgen (Switzerland), a man, to prevent himself falling from a ladder, seized with both his hands two non-insulated leads with a P.D. of 240 volts between them, and was immediately killed. In a mine in Silesia, a workman seized in the same manner some non-insulated leads and was killed, on account of his being unable to release them, the P.D. being 300 volts. In the Electric Central Station in Olten, a workman, desirous of proving to his companions that a pressure of 500 volts was quite safe, seized both of the leads and was killed instantly. From this it is obvious that the general opinion of a pressure of 500 volts not being dangerous does not hold good, the limit being much lower. In spite of the great number of disasters which have already happened, the danger does not seem to have been generally appreciated, and workmen and erectors are often seen to deal with leads and apparatus of relatively high pressures in the most careless manner. That disasters have not taken place oftener may be due to the fact that in most cases help has been readily at hand.”
In the second series of experiments the person is supposed to stand on one of the poles itself, namely, the earth, being rather well insulated by means of his shoes. In this case the conclusion arrived at is that--
“To touch one of the poles is not dangerous as long as the pressure does not exceed about 1000 volts; the intense stinging which appears at the first slight touching serves as a protection against the danger, for the hand is instinctively drawn back rapidly.
“The main result of these experiments is, then, that all pressures between 100 and 1000 volts must be regarded as equally dangerous, and consequently there is no reason for not using the higher pressures between 500 and 1000 volts, especially as they lead to greater economy in the working of the electric railway. Further, there is only a very little chance of the passengers or other persons coming into contact with both of the leads. To this danger the employés only are exposed, and being generally people with some electric training, they are acquainted with the danger, and may be supposed to be sufficiently careful.”
It is of interest to note that the authorities, after the investigation, decided upon allowing a working pressure of 750 volts. Both series of experiments relate to alternating currents.
There is perhaps no better method of impressing upon people the dangers of electric shock than by stating briefly, as under, some of the fatal accidents that have happened during the last few years in electrical stations, factories, and other places in the United Kingdom. Fatalities in transformer stations will be separately noticed. The voltages in most cases were from 2000 to 2400; in one case 1000, and in another (a high pressure station) 10,000:--
1. Touching exposed terminals when manipulating a switch at a generating station.
2. Accidentally grasping an insufficiently protected volt meter wire.
3. When up a ladder in a central station, deceased accidentally came in contact with a highly charged metal conductor.
4. When oiling the bearing of an alternating machine, and using a metal can, the can came in contact with a highly charged conductor. Deceased had one hand on a metal rail intended for the protection of the machinery. The current passed through the metal can, through his body, and thence to earth.
5. When doing repairs at the back of a switch at a central station, deceased accidentally touched two metallic connections varying greatly in pressure.
6. When a workman was carrying an iron ladder in a factory the ladder touched a highly charged conductor in an arc lamp circuit, the current passing to earth through the body of deceased.
7. Whilst performing test operations at an electrical station.
8. An operative was putting some capping on a casing in an electric lighting works. Inadvertently he drove a screw through the insulation of a cable then “dead.” The current was turned on. The operative touched the screw head and at the same time an adjacent water-pipe. The current passed from the screw through his body and the water-pipe to earth. (A brother of this man was killed in a transformer chamber.)
9. An operative, when at work in a factory, accidentally stumbled, and seized hold of a wire stay supporting a pole of an arc lamp. There must have been a defect in the insulation, and this stay was highly charged, the man being killed instantaneously.
10. When covering wires leading to a switch, deceased fell across the terminals of one of the machines.
11. By accidentally touching a synchronising switch in a generating station when doing repairs. The current passed through deceased’s body to an iron column that he happened to be touching at the same time.
12. A boy employed in a large steel factory accidentally came in contact with the frame of an arc lamp lowered for the purpose of recarbonising.
13. An operative employed in ironworks accidentally touched a wire used for raising and lowering an electric arc lamp. He was found on his back in a weighing-cabin. Another workman thought that he was in a fit, and went to his assistance. Both men received fatal shocks.
14. At an extra high pressure generating station an operative was found dead on the floor. Medical evidence tended to show the difficulty of stating with certainty whether the man died from shock or from heart disease. The coroner’s jury, however, found that death was due to asphyxia produced by electric shock.
Our attention may now be turned to fatalities in transformer stations, or boxes in which alternating currents at high pressure are converted to large currents at low pressure. A dangerous pressure is found in the main conductors, this being reduced by causing induced current in the consumer’s circuit, the strength depending upon the proportion of the windings in the primary and the secondary circuits, the secondary being in no way metallically connected with the high pressure main. Under these circumstances, and under normal conditions, the safety of the consumer should be secured. That, unhappily, cannot be said so far as relates to the workers, whose duties take them near the transforming apparatus. It is undesirable to give names, places, or dates, but the following brief summary of fatal accidents that have happened during recent years in transformer stations may be relied upon as being generally accurate. Many non-fatal accidents have happened, but these are not noticed.
1. Attempting to assist a servant of an electrical company, who was working in a cellar on the consumer’s premises, and who received a severe but not fatal shock.
2. Killed when pulling back the slack of a main wire in a street surface-box.
3. Accidental contact with undischarged and unfenced omnibus bar in high pressure distributing station.
4. A second accident of the same kind as the last foregoing, and at the same station.
5. Killed when dusting a high pressure fuse in a cellar transformer.
6. Contact with dangerously placed terminals at a transformer chamber in a cellar.
7. Accidentally touching a high pressure terminal when cleaning or repairing in a street transformer chamber.
8. Touching a highly charged transformer frame in a street chamber. Defective insulation in the main conductor led to leakage and to the frame becoming highly charged.
9. When descending by an iron ladder to a street transformer chamber, the operative came in contact with a highly charged frame of a transformer.
10. Two workmen were removing a transformer from a corporation sub-station. They accidentally put on a wrong switch. The exposed ends of the cable, which were in contact with the transformer frame, caused the frame to become highly charged. Two men touching the frame were killed, others were seriously injured.
11. A workman, when making a connection in a corporation sub-station, came in contact with the bared ends of a highly charged cable.
12. Killed by grasping an imperfectly insulated connection in a street transformer pit.
Such accidents are not confined to operatives. The following are known to have been due to electric shock. At Bournemouth, ’bus horses outside a hotel fell down dead. At Norwich, dogs that passed a certain spot uttered an unearthly howl. At Hartlepool an overhead wire broke, killing a horse. Two cabmen who came to the rescue received severe shocks. The Matin of 27th January 1897 describes how two horses were suddenly struck down by the current from a subterranean cable used for running an electrical tram. In Dublin a gentleman was standing close to an electric lamp in the street, which he states paralysed him, causing him to fall “like a lump of lead.” Others going to his assistance received shocks similar to those of the two cabmen at Hartlepool. The Melbourne Argus records a fatality to a young man who climbed a pole supporting a heavily charged wire, which he touched. “This,” says the Argus, “is not the first terrible accident which has happened in connection with the lighting of the city and suburbs. At the Richmond works of the New Australian Electric Light Company, whose wires were concerned in Saturday’s fatality, a workman or overseer was killed instantaneously through touching a “live” wire. Another, who was engaged in the A. U. Alcock works in the city was more fortunate. He seized a wire with one hand to prevent himself from falling, and was so seriously shocked by the current that he could not let go. Another workman, observing his predicament, cut the wire, and he fell to the ground. A third and even more remarkable case than the others occurred some time ago in Russell Street. There had been a violent storm, and a post carrying electric lighting wires had been blown to the ground. In the fall some of the wires broke and trailed across the footway. A pedestrian idly picked up the end of one of the broken wires. In a moment he was kicking and plunging upon the ground, unable to release his hold of the wire. Another pedestrian, who saw the accident, and who recognised that it was a struggle with death, hastened to the rescue, and attempted with all his strength and both his hands to drag the first man into safety. His good heart cost him his life.”
Enough has been said to show that a shock, whether from a direct or an alternating current at high pressure, is highly dangerous to life, many authorities being of opinion that the alternating is the more deadly current of the two.
Where a direct current is transformed, it is done by mechanical appliances. The risks to operatives in such a case include those that are incurred where machinery is left unguarded; but in dealing with alternating currents no mechanism is used, and the risk is confined to the danger from shock. The cases quoted show, better than detailed explanations, the manner in which these shocks are received, and it cannot be out of place to urge the importance of insisting on all known precautionary measures for the protection of those whose duties take them into transformer stations. The number of such places increases year by year, and they are likely to increase to a greater extent in these days, when induction motors, driven by alternating currents, are so rapidly coming in favour for running machinery in factories. Modern science has shown that the alternating current can be used in this manner, and that by substituting the alternating for the direct current, power may be economically conveyed for considerable distances, the advantages of the alternating current being the ready conversion of high to low pressure, and hence the saving of copper in the conducting wires, the further saving of the cost of brushes and commutators, whilst the absence of “sparking” lessens the risk of fire, and the non-handling of brushes, etc., reduces the danger of shock. These advantages were referred to and summarised in the report of Mr Bremner Davis, reproduced in the Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for the year 1898.
Science has not yet explained what is the mystic force known as “electricity.” Its effects, however, are known. How the human system is affected by contact with a conductor charged with electricity at high pressure has been fully considered by eminent scientific men, such as Drs D’Arsonval, Goelet, Hedley, and Lewis Jones, to whom the public are indebted for suggestions on which were based the excellent rules published by the Electrical Review, for dealing with apparent death from electric shock. A copy of these suggestions is appended, and one should be found and understood in all places where electricity is used.
The highly interesting question as to how death from electric shock is caused, is ably dealt with by Professor Thomas Oliver, who in an article published in the British Medical Journal of 15th January 1898, placed the public in possession of knowledge gained by experiments and long and careful study. He believes that electricity kills either by suddenly arresting respiration, or by stopping the heart’s action. A series of experiments carried out by him showed that in most instances the effect of the electric shock was felt principally by the heart. This organ immediately ceased to beat where very high pressure currents were used, whilst breathing might continue a few minutes longer. Within the last few months, Drs Prevost and Battelli, of the Geneva University, have instituted a fresh series of experiments, and they have found that whether the direct or the alternating current is used, death comes, practically speaking, in the manner stated by Dr Oliver, viz., by paralysis of the heart. Dogs were in this way immediately killed, and yet the breathing continued for a few minutes afterwards. When fairly high voltages were employed, e.g. 550 volts, these experimenters found that the heart was suddenly arrested by one shock, and that, while the breathing was at the same time suspended for a few seconds, respiration gradually returned in a feeble and superficial manner, and soon finally ceased.
After all, the main question is, how to avoid death from electricity; and the obvious reply is, avoid shock. This is no simple matter, but to some extent a solution is found in the recommendations made by the Home Office Committee, which were largely based upon the opinions of Professor C. V. Boys (a member of the Committee), and other eminent electricians. These recommendations are here reproduced in appendix form. In the light, however, of fresh experience showing that an artisan working in a factory was killed by direct current at 250 volts, prudence may hereafter suggest that precautions should be taken in places where the voltage is lower than that named by the report.
The operatives engaged in electrical works do not appear to be subject to any exceptional risks so far as health is concerned; but those who work where plates for storage-batteries are manufactured, or who subsequently manipulate the plates, are liable to suffer from plumbism. Special Rules founded upon the recommendations of the Home Office Committee appointed in 1893, and known as the “White Lead Committee,” were issued by the Home Office. These apply to electric accumulator works, and require the provision of bath and lavatory accommodation, hot and cold water, soap, brushes, towels, respirators, and overall suits for persons employed in mixing dry red lead and dry litharge, and gloves and aprons for persons engaged in “rubbing,” that is, rubbing red lead into the interstices of the lead plates.
Rooms in which accumulator batteries are found are always well-ventilated, preventing any undue accumulation of oxygen and hydrogen gas given off during the charging process, but in electric launches or tramcars, where the accumulator cells are shut up in confined spaces, dangerous explosions have taken place.
So far as the fencing of machinery and mill-gearing used in the generation of electricity is concerned, common sense points to precautions being taken, such as are required in all factories. All dangerous mill-gearing, such as cranks and fly-wheels of engines, shafting, wheels, drums, pulleys, etc., for communicating the first moving power to the machines, should be securely fenced. In doing this, however, special care should be observed lest in removing one source of danger another may be created. In ordinary factories fencing-rails are almost universally of metal. These rails in generating stations should be of wood or other insulating material; for should, perchance, an operative make an accidental contact with metal at high pressure in the circuit, at the same time touching any part of a metal rail, the current would pass through his body to earth, always assuming that the rails are not sufficiently insulated from the earth. Such accidents have happened, and are liable to occur again, to men engaged in oiling bearings, adjusting brushes, cleaning commutators, collector-rings, etc., the risk of course being increased should any defect in insulation cause the current to run to frame. Terrible fatalities due to unfenced machinery have occurred in generating stations, as in other works, none more painful perhaps than one that happened to an engine-driver at an Electric Supply Company’s works, who, when examining bearings, fell into some part of the machinery driven by a 7000 horse-power engine, and was torn to pieces.
As time goes on, there appears to be a fuller realisation of the dangers incurred, and it is not too much to expect that those in positions of responsibility will heartily co-operate with public officials in taking precautions suggested by prudence and common sense.
APPENDIX I.
The following recommendations were made by the Dangerous Trades Committee of the Home Office. For the purposes of these regulations a station where the direct current generated is at 700 volts or any higher number, or where the alternating current generated is at 350 volts or any higher number, shall be considered a “high pressure station,” and all metal conductors, whether they be on the dynamos, the switchboard, the mains, or any other part of the station carrying a current at a pressure equal to or greater than that above mentioned, shall be deemed to be at “high pressure.”
The Committee recommend that the following regulations should be applied in all those cases mentioned in paragraph 1 where electricity at high pressure is in use. It is not intended that they should be applied to low pressure systems:--
1. The frames and bed plates of all generating machines shall be efficiently connected to earth.
2. The rails fencing dynamos, or other generating machines, shall be made of wood or other non-conducting material.
3. All terminals, collecting brushes, main connectors, parts of dynamos, motors or other appliances, to which neither Regulation No. (6) nor No. (7) applies, shall be so placed, covered, or fenced with non-conducting materials, that no person can touch accidentally, either with his body, clothing, or any conducting tool, two parts differing from each other by an amount which constitutes a high pressure. This rule is to be read in connection with No. 4.
4. The floors of all places where it would be possible to make connection with metal at high pressure shall be covered with an insulating mat of suitable material and kept in a state of efficient insulation.
5. The material use for wiping or cleaning the commutator strips or collector rings of dynamos, motors, or rotary converters of any form shall be applied by means of an insulating handle.
6. In switchrooms and on the front of switchboards, the main switches, main fuses, main terminals, omnibus bars, and all other metallic parts shall be insulated or arranged in such manner as to render it impossible for any person by accident or inadvertence to touch them.
7. The backs of all switchboards shall be kept closed, except for the purpose of alterations or repairs. When such work has to be carried on either at the back or at the front of switchboards, the following regulations shall apply:--
(a) No person except a skilled electrician, or a workman under his personal and immediate supervision, shall be employed when any part is at high pressure.
(b) No extensive or serious repairs shall be executed upon metal which is at high pressure.
(c) Where the alterations or repairs are not of an extensive or serious character, all metallic parts at high pressure shall be covered with an insulating cap or protected by some form of insulating covering, only one part, or several at the same pressure, to be exposed at any one time.
8. All switchboards erected after the application of these Rules shall have, at the back, a clear space of at least four feet. This space shall not be utilised as a store room or lumber room, or be obstructed in any manner.
9. Any person at work upon a cable or portion of the mains under high pressure shall wear indiarubber gloves on both hands.
10. All aerial high pressure conductors in factories or workshops shall either be insulated over their entire length, and supported at such frequent intervals that, in the event of breakage, they shall not come within reach at places where persons are liable to pass or to be employed, or shall be so placed and arranged as to comply with the requirements relating to such wires in streets enjoined by the Board of Trade.
11. The gloves shall be supplied by the occupier, and it shall be the duty of the manager to see that they are in a proper state of repair, and are worn by the workpeople.
12. No examinations, repairs, or alterations necessitating the handling of mains, wires, machines, or other apparatus, shall be carried on except in cases of urgent necessity while such parts are under high pressure, and all such work shall be done under the personal supervision of an electrical engineer or competent manager or foreman.
13. Where operations are being conducted upon mains from which the current has been cut off, the switch shall be locked and precautions taken that it shall not be unlocked except by the person in charge of the station on his being satisfied that the danger is at an end.
14. Every vessel used for lubricating purposes shall be so constructed that it cannot act as a conductor between the hand and anything touched.
15. Metal transformer boxes shall be efficiently connected to earth, and so constructed that in the event of “running to frame” the earth connection will not be broken by the removal of the fuse box or any other part of the box.
16. Transformer cases, iron ladders, and all permanent metallic parts contained within the transformer chamber, and not forming part of the electric circuit, shall be metallically connected together.
17. All holes in transformer cases, through which high pressure conductors pass, shall be lined or bushed with suitable and effective non-conducting material.
18. All high pressure connections within a transformer chamber shall be so protected with insulating material that it shall be impossible to touch them.
19. Switches which can be conveniently operated from the outside for cutting off both the high and low pressure connections of the transformers shall be fitted in all transformer chambers erected after the application of these Rules, and in all existing chambers, unless it is proved to the satisfaction of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Factories that such an arrangement would be attended by special difficulty.
20. Each post or support where series arc lighting is employed shall be provided with means for completely disconnecting the arc lamps from the mains, without disturbing the action of the other lamps.
21. All persons engaged in electrical works shall be made fully aware of the dangerous parts of the machinery, cables, and their connections, and shall be practically instructed in methods of artificial respiration--that known as Sylvester’s is both simple and efficacious. Rules for artificial respiration, and for the restoration of persons apparently killed or injured, shall at all times be kept affixed in the station. All persons engaged in the works shall thoroughly understand these rules and be capable of putting them into practice. In the event of a person being rendered unconscious by an electric shock, artificial respiration shall, on the careful removal of the body from its electrical contact, be at once resorted to, and a qualified medical man immediately summoned.
22. All accidents occurring in generating stations or transformer chambers shall be notified according to the provision of section 18 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1895.
* * * * *
The Committee feel that any set of special rules framed for the safety of the workpeople in this industry must imperfectly realise their object if a specially qualified person be not retained to advise the Secretary of State or Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Factories on matters requiring technical knowledge of electricity.
H. J. TENNANT. MAY TENNANT. THOMAS OLIVER, M.D. C. V. BOYS. H. P. SMITH.
APPENDIX II.
_The “Electrical Review’s” Suggestions for dealing with Apparent Death from Electric Shock._
The following suggestions are based on the recommendations of Drs D’Arsonval, Goelet, Hedley, and Lewis Jones, for the treatment of persons apparently killed by electricity:--
Apparent Death.--In many cases where persons receive electric shocks, death is only apparent, and animation may be restored if efforts at resuscitation are not too long delayed.
Method of Resuscitation.--The method of resuscitation resorted to should be that known as artificial respiration.
Efforts to induce respiration should not be relaxed until breathing is fully and normally restored, or until it is absolutely certain that life is extinct.
Danger of Seizing the Victim’s Body.--If the accident has been due to contact with a “live” or faulty cable, the injured person may retain a grasp of it. When the injured person retains his hold of the cable it is dangerous to seize any part of him, even the parts of the body covered by clothes.[49]
Perspiration may make the clothes damp and render them good conductors, especially under the armpits, which would be the part most likely to be seized.
In such a case the person who goes to the assistance of the victim should protect his hands, whenever possible, with indiarubber gloves.
Where gloves are not available, a thick layer of dry rags might be used to cover the hands, or a coat or any other garment, if made into a thick pad, might be used when pulling the victim away from the cable or machinery.
Send for a Medical Man at once.--No time should be lost in sending for a qualified medical man, but in the meantime the following efforts should be made to restore animation.
How to Place the Body.--The body should be at once placed upon the back and the clothes loosened. A roll made of a coat or anything else convenient should then be placed under the shoulders. It should be sufficiently large to prop up the spine so that the head drops backward (see Fig. 30).
Position of the Operator.--The operator should kneel behind the subject’s head, in the manner shown in the illustrations. He should then grasp the elbows and draw them well over the head, so as to bring them almost together above it, and hold them there for two or three seconds. Then he should carry them down to the sides and front of the chest, firmly compressing the chest by throwing his weight upon the arms.
After two or three seconds the arms should be again carried above the head, and the operation repeated at the rate of about 16 times per minute.
Additional Means of Resuscitation.--In addition to the foregoing, if there be an assistant at hand, the tongue should be seized by a cloth or handkerchief and drawn forcibly out during the act of inspiration, i.e., when the arms are extended above the head; when the arms are brought down, the tongue should be allowed to recede. This operation should be repeated with the same regularity as the movement of the arms.
Stimulants to be Avoided.--According to Dr Hedley the efforts of the bystanders to pour stimulants down the throat of the victim should be resisted until a medical man arrives.
Necessity of Deliberation.--It should be borne in mind that to be successful the foregoing operations should be carried out deliberately and methodically. There should be no haste, but the operations should be executed vigorously.
In many respects the treatment suggested above is similar to the method of treating apparent death by drowning.
HAMILTON P. SMITH.
XVII. DUST AS A CAUSE OF OCCUPATION DISEASE
General View of the Subject.
Were it not for dust, fume, or gas, there would be little or no disease due to occupation except such as might be caused by infection, the breathing of air poisoned by the emanations of fellow-workmen and exposure to cold after working in overheated rooms. Dust plays such a prominent part in the causation of occupation disease that I have thought it advisable to discuss the subject in a general way apart from the various industries detailed by separate writers. The harmful effects of dusty trades have long been known. As far back as the end of the seventeenth century, Ramazini, who was the Professor of Medicine in Modena, and subsequently at Padua, had drawn attention to this subject. He showed in his treatise, the Diseases of Artificers, how ill-health was caused by the inhalation of subtle particles that were offensive to human nature, and its aggravation by the unnatural postures of the body assumed in certain occupations. He also pleaded for the introduction of such contrivances as would lead to the safety of the workmen and the necessity for their being medically inspected. In these senses, therefore, he was the pioneer of the State Medicine of our time.
Apart from anything inherently poisonous in the dust that is given off in a particular trade, dust itself, mechanically speaking, is prejudicial to health. A considerable length of our respiratory passages is lined with a layer of ciliated epithelial cells, i.e., cells from the free end of which project numerous hair-like processes that execute a rhythmic bending movement, like a field of wheat when a current of wind passes over it, and whose function it is, owing to the cilia actively bending in an outward direction, to prevent dust getting into the lungs, and to favour its expulsion should it have gained access to the smaller bronchial tubes. Nature, anticipating that dust would be drawn into the lungs in inspiration, has therefore provided this means for making its access as difficult as possible, and of effecting its removal when the breathing of the dust is intermittent. When animals are exposed for a period to a sooty atmosphere and are subsequently killed, their lungs are found to be perfectly black, but if other animals, after similar exposure, are allowed freedom in the open air, the lungs after death exhibit few dark patches. One of the effects of recurrent inflammation of the bronchial tubes is to bring about detachment and removal of this ciliated epithelium, and with its disappearance an important safeguard to the lungs is lost.
Dust affects the body by being deposited upon the skin, hair, eyelids, and the oro-nasal passages. Through the mouth and nose it is aspirated into the lungs during respiration, or it reaches the alimentary canal through the saliva or with the food.
When the skin becomes affected through an individual working at a dusty trade, the lesions thus caused are called dermatoconioses, similar affections of the lungs constitute pneumoconioses, while those of the gastro-intestinal tract are known as enteroconioses. Although the intestine, as in plumbism, is one of the most important and frequent channels by which industrial poisoning occurs, yet, pathologically speaking, the lesions of this canal are the least definite.
So far as dermatoconioses or inflammatory affections of the skin are concerned, it is mostly in industries in which dry dust is given off that these are met with, as, for example, in dry bronzing, but certain fumes also cause them, as is seen in the smelting of antimony. No portion of the skin is free from the possible contamination by dust, but it is upon the hair, beard, eyelids, under the nails, upon the lips, and inside the nostrils, upon any uncovered part of the body when the individual is at work, or where the clothing loosely meets the skin, also in such flexures of the body as the armpits and the groins, and where the garters fix the stockings, that the effects of dust are mostly observed upon the skin. When the factory is warm, or the work heavy, and the individual perspires freely, the dust mingling with the products given off by the humid skin either falls off in muddy drops of sweat, or it cakes and forms crusts. As a consequence, there is a variety of lesions, e.g., simple irritation or itchiness, known as pruritus; inflammation or erythema proceeding to eczema; or, as in the case of antimony smelters, vesicles that become pustular, and in arsenic grinders, ulceration. Since dust that of itself is harmless can induce disorders by mechanically blocking the pores of the skin and the excretory ducts of glands, so, too, can harmful dusts act, but they produce in addition certain irritating and poisonous effects proper to the peculiar character of the dust. Some dusts are crystalline or sharp-pointed, and penetrate readily and deeply, while others have a distinct caustic action, and erode or eat away the tissues, as is the case with the bichromate compounds. Some forms of dust again are composed of soft particles that of themselves inflict little local damage, and only become harmful like flour in forming plugs; while attached to some forms of animal products, such as horsehair used in brushmaking, are micro-organisms that become a source of danger. It is unnecessary to mention the various skin affections or dermatoconioses produced by dust. They are all more or less the result of inflammation. In many of the erythematous forms of skin eruption the redness of the skin may simply be the result of the mechanical action of the dust, or the dust may be absorbed. One consequence of local irritation may be the formation of vesicles. Sometimes the itchiness becomes so great that scratching is resorted to and there follows eczema. Where the vesicles become pustular, this is generally due to the action of metallic poisons of an acrid character, or to poisons of an animal nature, as in anthrax. Ulceration of the skin, on the other hand, is the result of such caustic action as that induced by arsenic and the chrome compounds. The accompanying Photographs show various forms of dermatitis that occur in flax spinners, also of diseases of the finger nails in hide dressers. They are introduced here not as illustrating the harmful effects of dust, for they occur in the wet processes of an industry, but as indicating what is meant by the term dermatoconioses.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Mild form of Dermatitis in Flax spinner (moist method); girl aged 16. Three years’ service in Factory. (Dr Glibert).
FIG. 33.--Medium degree of Dermatitis in Flax spinner (moist method); woman aged 33. Eighteen years’ service in Factory. (Dr Glibert).
SKIN DISEASES OF FLAX SPINNERS.
Skin Diseases of Flax Workers.
It is through the kindness of Dr Glibert, Medical Inspector, Labour Office, Belgium, that I am able to show in the accompanying Photographs these particular lesions of the skin. The four Photographs in which the palmar surface of the hand is shown, are taken from flax workers. They indicate varying degrees of erosion, due to the frequent contact of the hands of the female worker with the irritating materials contained in the liquid used for spinning. At the commencement of the malady, as is well shown in the Photographs, the lesion is limited to an exfoliation of the epidermis, and this is not accompanied either by pain, pruritus, or functional trouble of any kind. Later on the dermis itself, or true skin, becomes involved at certain places, usually very few, and at these spots there exists considerable irritation, also a sensation of painful pricking, especially pronounced after working, and when the wounds are brought into contact with the air. As a rule, the malady does not proceed beyond this stage, but in some rather rare cases, met with mostly during severe weather, the ulceration tends to pass into the deeper tissues of the skin, and to assume an appearance which, to an unskilled observer, recalls the lesions met with in syphilis. There is nothing, however, in the flax workers’ dermatitis to confirm this suspicion. It is necessary to remark that there is never produced erythema, the formation of vesicles or a vesico-pustular eruption, and still less the glossy and bright appearance of the skin of the hand observed in eczema of a lichenoid character. Dr Glibert has frequently met with this form of eczema, to which Dr Leloir and his pupil Lefèbvre have drawn attention, but the ulcerative type of dermatitis indicated in the accompanying Photographs is absolutely distinct from these, and must not be confounded with them. It is only right to mention that although dermatitis has been observed in Belgian flax spinners, Belfast operatives similarly employed do not, according to Dr Purdon, suffer.
Diseases of Nails in Furriers.
The two Photographs showing the back of the hands of workmen who scrape rabbit and hares’ skins used in the manufacture of artificial furs exhibit an affection of the nails, to which Dr Glibert of the Belgian Labour Office drew attention in the Annual Report of the Inspection of Labour, 1896. The work of separating the layer of aponeurosis, which occurs on the under surface of the hide, causes in the dresser a special disease of the nails of the fingers. The groove under the nail becomes deeper, the nail is subsequently detached from the finger and falls off, either by some peculiar pathological process unaccompanied by ulceration, or by one of an inflammatory nature akin to what occurs in whitlow. The malady may attack all the fingers of the two hands, but it seizes by preference the thumb, the middle and ring fingers of the right hand. It is a common affection in fur-pullers in Belgium. Dr Glibert is the only writer I know who has described it. Of 22 workmen whom he examined, it was present in 18. He regards the lesion as distinctly microbic.
Lung Diseases due to Dust.
In pneumoconiosis the lung is altered in structure as the result of irritation caused by inhaled dust. A healthy lung is composed of loose spongy tissue, through which run in all directions the bronchial tubes and their fine ramifications (see Fig. 38). The essential part of the lung is made up of alveoli or air-cells, like the meshes of a net. Just as an ordinary net is made of strands of cord, so are the walls of the pulmonary alveoli formed of delicate lines of connective and elastic tissue, in which run capillary blood-vessels. The partitions thus formed are coated on both sides by a layer of flattened epithelial cells. It is this loose and almost uncovered condition of the pulmonary capillaries that allows of the rapid interchange of gases between the blood circulating in the alveolar walls and the air in the lung during respiration. Nature has placed certain obstacles in the way of particles of dust gaining easy access to the lungs, to wit, the narrow openings of the nostrils, the mucus secreted by the lining membrane of the nose, and of the trachea and bronchi; the narrow chink between the larynx and trachea known as the vocal chords, the ciliated epithelium already described, and a mechanical difficulty generally; so that while even with forced inspiration it is not easy for dust to be carried into the lungs, yet the fact remains that where an individual is working in the dusty atmosphere of a factory for several hours a day, week after week, particles of dust ultimately find their way into the finer bronchi, and subsequently into the pulmonary tissue itself. It is the repeated working in a dusty atmosphere that causes the trouble. A good deal depends, too, upon the character of the dust. Certain fine dusts, such, for example, as flour, may for a time be arrested in the mucus secreted by the respiratory passages, and be expectorated; while others, such as white lead, become dissolved in the alkaline mucus, are absorbed into the system, and thus induce constitutional poisoning. Fine fluffy material, like that given off from cotton and flax, can reach the lung, while sharp-pointed particles of metallic dust wound the epithelial lining of the smaller bronchi and penetrate into their walls, or they destroy the protecting layer of epithelium, and reach the alveoli either directly or indirectly through the lymphatics. These particles set up irritation in the lung, followed by a very marked increase of its fibro-connective tissue, which encroaches upon the spongy structure of the lung and destroys its aerating function. In the coal-miner’s lung, for example, there can be observed small masses of cells deeply laden with carbon particles surrounded by a hardened zone of altered lung, numerous black streaks underneath the pleura or covering of the lungs, ink-like dots in the walls of the small bronchi, and enlargement with pigmentation of the bronchial glands. The special pathological changes in the lungs in the various pneumoconioses are peribronchitis, and a great increase of the fibro-connective tissue, whereby the lung becomes converted into a hard and almost solid organ, incapable of carrying on the work of respiration. Hence are explained the difficulty and shortness of breath in people thus affected with what is called fibrosis of the lung. On examining microscopically a portion of lung that has undergone this change, there can be seen imbedded in the thickened fibrous tissue, particles of grit which exactly correspond in shape and size with those found on examining the dust removed from the mine in which the person works, or from the factory, in the case of steel-grinders’ lung. The identity of the particles of grit in the lung and those in the dust of the factory can be additionally confirmed by chemical examination. Such, in a few words, is the effect upon the lung caused by inhalation of the dust generated in a dusty occupation. The newly formed fibro-connective tissue is of low vitality, and is badly supplied with blood-vessels, and yet it goes on increasing and encroaching more and more upon the lung tissue, which it replaces. Although it seldom tends to break down, the consolidated tissue notwithstanding shrinks, the chest becomes smaller, cough more harassing, and emaciation progressive. The affected workman is regarded as the victim of consumption, but the disease is not necessarily tuberculous. Under these circumstances, where a lung has become altered in structure and its vital resistance diminished, it becomes an easy matter for true tuberculosis, as the result of its specific bacillus, to be grafted on to a pneumoconiosis, or dust lung disease. In people who have worked in a thick atmosphere there is therefore found a form of consumption due to the inhalation of dust, and another the result of the tubercle bacillus, but in old-standing cases the two are generally found combined. The tendency of modern pathology is to look upon all pulmonary phthisis or consumption as tuberculous, but the fact remains that phthisis can be caused by dust. Pneumoconiosis differs from the tuberculous type of lung disease in being more amenable to treatment in the early stage, also in the fact that while both lungs are affected, it is the bases rather than the apices that suffer. If the workman, for example, leaves his dusty employment, especially in the early stages of his illness, the malady may be arrested. Usually the march of the disease in this form is slower than the tubercular. It is an old idea, yet one that many seek to palm off as modern, that pulmonary consumption is an infective disease. In factories where many persons are at work, there are almost sure to be some who are tuberculous, and who cough and expectorate upon the floor. The expectoration dries, is trodden under foot, and, mingling with the dust, it rises into the atmosphere and is inhaled. Infection from consumptive fellow-workers must therefore play a part in the propagation of industrial phthisis, but the bulk of such cases do not assume the character of the occupation form of fibrotic phthisis to which we have just alluded, and which is known to occur frequently in men employed in dusty trades conducted in the open air, e.g., in masons and French millstone builders, in whom infection is less likely to prevail, and where the breathing of close and impure air can play no part.
There are four recognised types of pneumoconioses or industrial lung disease: (1) Chalicosis or silicosis, due to stone dust and siliceous material, as in masons’ phthisis; (2) siderosis, due to metallic dust; (3) anthracosis or coal-miners’ phthisis; and (4) byssinosis, caused by inhalation of cotton particles.
Gastro-intestinal Lesions.
The enteroconioses or gastro-intestinal lesions induced by dust are less well-defined pathological entities than the affections of the skin and lungs, and yet they play an important part in poisoning by such metallic dusts as lead, arsenic, and mercury. Apart from such symptoms as vomiting, diarrhœa, and colic; which these cause, there are the well-marked physical signs of poisoning present in the gums, as, for example, the “blue line” in plumbism, and the loose teeth and ulcerated gums in mercurial poisoning.
* * * * *
The attention of the reader is directed to the accompanying series of Microphotographs as illustrations of some of the forms of dust seen through the microscope, to which workpeople in various trades are exposed. Apart from the poisonous character of any particular kind of dust, e.g., that of lead and arsenic, the presence of chemical irritants inherent in the dust itself as in bichromate compounds, and the clinging of micro-organisms to such animal products as horsehair and wool, there is an opinion entertained by pathologists that the actual form of the particle of dust and its hardness are responsible for much of the damage inflicted upon the lungs of workmen engaged in dusty trades. Mineral and metallic particles of dust are hard and often sharp-pointed. Theoretically, therefore, it is expected of them that when they reach the lining membrane of the respiratory passages they will inflict greater damage than particles of dust that are softer and rounder. How far pathological experience supports this expectation I am not prepared to say. The dust that is given off in various occupations may be mineral, metallic, vegetable, or animal. I have reproduced some Microphotographs taken from Dr Migerka’s monograph, Staubarten in Wort und Bild, Vienna, 1895, and have added a few taken by Dr R. A. Bolam and myself, of dust from various industries, supplied by H.M. Inspectors of Factories. Some of these Microphotographs may be briefly described:--
Fig. 42, cement dust. Under the microscope are seen a few sharp-edged little plates and amorphous masses like small clumps. The particles are not of themselves so dangerous as might at first sight appear. Although cement workers suffer from pulmonary disease, they do not do so to the great extent that might be expected. Probably the harmful effects are largely due to the hygroscopic character of the particles and their alkaline reaction. Hirt gives the following percentage statistics of diseases for comparison:--
-----------------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+ | Phthisis. | Bronchial | Emphysema. | Pneumonia.| | | Catarrh. | | | -----------------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+ Porcelain Makers | 16 | 15 | 4 | 5 | Masons | 12.9 | 10.4 | 6.5 | 4.4 | Cement Makers | 8 to 10 | 15 to 17 | ... | 4 | -----------------+-----------+-----------+------------+-----------+
Comparing Figs. 43 and 44, sandstone and granite, it will be observed that the granite dust is lightish-grey in colour, with black specks, and contains numerous flat, transparent splinters of quartz. Sandstone dust, on the other hand, is a finer powder, it is yellowish, and equal in colour throughout; it is rather an amorphous powder; in some samples a few sharp-edged plates of quartz can be seen. From microscopical appearances it might be assumed that granite dust would be very much more hurtful to the workmen than sandstone, and yet, according to Arlidge, Diseases of Occupations, p. 303, who made special inquiries into this subject, the workmen employed around Aberdeen in the cutting, dressing, and polishing of granite, are seldom the victims of pulmonary disease attributable to their occupation. This circumstance may be due to the igneous character of the rock, and the small quantity of dust that is thrown off, especially in the act of chiselling. Besides, as the particles of dust are of considerable size, they would, if inhaled, be caught in the upper part of the respiratory passages, and therefore not have the opportunity of inflicting damage upon the lung. The fact remains that while Aberdeen granite workers suffer from chronic bronchitis, they are remarkably free from the pulmonary fibrosis to which stone masons and French millstone builders are liable.
In Fig. 45, lead dust, as obtained from a printer’s shop, the particles are seen to vary in size and form. The particles are for the most part round, and not unusually sharp. This dust is not harmful on account of its form so much as dangerous through being absorbed into the blood. The dust that is given off in file-making contains particles of iron as well as lead and charcoal (see p. 342), and this is productive of a large amount of pulmonary disease in men and women engaged in this trade. But with file-cutters as with printers and typographers generally, the unhealthy and close workrooms in which they follow their avocation are to some extent also responsible for the lung diseases. As bearing upon this subject, the annual reports of Benefit Societies are not without interest. The reports of the Benefit Societies of the printers and type-casters of Vienna, from 1889–1892, give the following percentage of illnesses:--
--------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------+ | Typists. | Printers. | Casters. | | | | | --------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------+ Tuberculosis | 2.8 | 1.7 | 1.6 | Diseases of Respiratory Organs | 11.4 | 7.5 | 10.8 | Disorders, etc., of Digestive „ | 7.5 | 5.1 | 7.1 | --------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------+
2. of Table
--------------------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+ | Assistant | Female | Female | | Workers. | Printers. | Casters. | --------------------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+ Tuberculosis | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.8 | Diseases of Respiratory Organs | 7.5 | 9.0 | 11.1 | Disorders, etc., of Digestive „ | 4.0 | 8.5 | 18.0 | --------------------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+
It is the typist and caster who suffer most from diseases of the respiratory organs, while among the printers and their assistants, the average is just above the normal. So far as diseases of the digestive organs are concerned, the printers suffer less than the others, but there is a preponderating amount of sickness among the females in nearly all branches of the industry. When the amount of general sickness in these trades is examined, it is found that the averages of total sickness are as follows: typists, 44.7; male casters, 41.2; female casters, 91.2; while printers are only 27.9, and assistants 28.5. These remarks are introduced here to emphasise the fact that in the printing trades it is not alone the dust that is injurious, but the lead poisoning which it causes, and they also strengthen an opinion expressed in other parts of this book, viz., that females are more liable to plumbism than males, as the following figures also show. The percentage of plumbism in male casters in Vienna is 8 per cent.; in female casters it is 22.7 per cent.
In Fig. 47, dust developed during needle-grinding, the particles of dust are frequently hook-like in appearance and sharp-edged. Lying among these are also observed particles of quartz with edges that are more or less sharp.
Fig. 48 represents dust from mother-of-pearl grinding. Hirt regarded this trade as extremely dangerous. He found that 15 to 16 per cent. of the men engaged in this trade died from phthisis. According to Guggenbauer, turners of mother-of-pearl are said to suffer from a peculiar affection of the bones (osteomyelitis) owing to absorption of carbonate of lime from particles of the shell that have been inhaled. It is said that obscure rheumatic-like pains subsequently occur, and that the bones ulcerate. I have visited mother-of-pearl grinding shops in Sheffield and interrogated the workers there, but have been unable to find any evidence to support Guggenbauer’s contention. The grinding in Sheffield is done by the wet process, and none of the men seem to suffer in the manner alluded to.
Flax dust, Fig. 50, is injurious to the worker. It contains mineral particles, vegetable cells, and broken stalks--so too does hemp, Fig. 51. In the teasing and spinning of cotton, Fig. 53, there is a considerable amount of dust raised in which fine fibres of cotton are found, Jute, Fig. 52, shows vegetable fibres which are often torn and ragged, and therefore with difficulty detached from the bronchial mucous membrane. In the figures representing dust obtained from felt-making, fur-brushing, and rag-cleaning, may be observed various forms of hairs and vegetable structures, with numerous foreign particles adherent to and encircling them. Some of these particles are of animal origin and may carry micro-organisms. The dust obtained during wheat-cleaning, Fig. 61, contains pointed vegetable hairs and numerous particles of organic and inorganic material, and would, if inhaled, be particularly irritating to the bronchial mucous membrane.
It is a well-known fact that some forms of basic slag are more injurious than others. From a microscopical examination of the various dusts sent to me by Commander Hamilton Smith and Mr H. J. Wilson, H.M. Inspectors of Factories, and others (see Microphotographs, Figs. 62–67, by Dr Bolam and myself), I do not find sufficient evidence, judging by its appearance alone, to explain why one kind of basic slag manure is so very much more harmful than another. There may be chemical as well as physical causes at work in the production of pathological changes in the bronchial mucous membrane of those who work in basic slag. Some slags, for example, contain larger quantities of lime than others.
THOMAS OLIVER.
XVIII. DUST WOMEN
Many readers are probably not aware that there is such a recognised employment for women as the sifting and sorting of the refuse of our houses. Any one wishing to observe how this work is carried on can see it daily in the dust-yards and wharves of London. In these places there are women who are actually spending their lives handling all the obnoxious waste that a great city produces. Dust-carts bring load after load of refuse to the yards. The drivers tip the contents of the carts before the women, who are drawn up in line and whose duty it is to sieve and sift this refuse, and then to sort into the different baskets that are standing close by, such things as rags, bones, string, cork, boots, paper, coal, broken glass, etc. It is a dirty and dusty occupation, and as a rule the women have their clothing covered and permeated by the dust, and their hair laden with it too, notwithstanding the handkerchief or shawl that covers their head. Wrapped with a piece of old sacking round their skirts and cloth bands round their legs, they lean over their work and inhale the unsavoury dust that has gone forth from the houses and the shops of the city. In one sense it is fortunate that this unpleasant operation is conducted in the open air, for therein to a large extent lies the comparative harmlessness of the employment. From time to time the hands of the women get cut by broken glass, and there is incurred the risk of festering wounds and the danger of blood poisoning.
The story of dust women is told by Miss Emily Hobhouse in the Economic Journal, September 1900, p. 411, from whose interesting report I have drawn largely for the information supplied in this article. Miss Hobhouse naturally raises the question as to how far the sifting and sorting of refuse is a fitting and sanitary employment for women. Theoretically it cannot be a pleasant one, considering what the refuse may and does contain, and yet from the organic and inorganic materials, the dead and dying organised heaps that leave our houses as refuse, these women pick out certain things that are sent to manufacturers and reappear for sale in the form of glue, soap, bottles, and paper, while even such a thing as broken glass is rescued, transported to Sweden, and comes back to this country in the form of emery paper for polishing steel.
The employment of dust women is dwindling, and must perforce disappear owing to the multiplication of destructors, the expense of dealing with the ever-increasing refuse by means of sifters and sorters, and the growth of public opinion, which is certainly opposed to regarding this work as a proper employment for women. It is a well-known fact that if a woman takes to refuse picking early in life she becomes almost utterly unfit for any other employment. At the present time the destructors do much of the work that has hitherto been done by men and women, but these furnaces can only destroy certain things in the refuse, and consequently leave a residue that has still to be got rid of. The question of removing the increasing amount of refuse from London and our large towns is a difficult one to solve. It has an economic side which cannot be ignored. In some of the vestries of London the clinker and fine ash that are removed from the destructor are converted into mortar, and the steam that is generated by the destructor is used for driving the machinery for grinding the mortar and clinker. It has been ascertained by sanitary engineers that town refuse has about ⅑ the heating power of coal, and that in a large city like London it can be destroyed for 2s. 5d. per ton, a less sum than it costs to barge it away. Some of the Boards of Works dispose entirely of their refuse by destructors, while others only do so partially; some again have their own yards or wharves, but not in all of them are women employed. Twenty-six of the vestries let out the work to contractors, many of whom, on account of the cheaper labour, employ women. In London alone there are at least 300 women employed as dust sorters. The wages given by the vestries, and the conditions of labour found under them, are much superior to those under contractors. The vestries pay the women 15s. a week, each day’s work, except Saturday, extending from 5 o’clock A.M. to 5 P.M., but 7s. to 8s. a week is all that can be obtained from the contractors. The broken-down appearance of the women who work for contractors, and who are sweated beyond all bounds, causes them to compare most unfavourably with the dust sorters for the vestries.
The evidence obtained from officials, contractors, and the women themselves rather went to show that the general health of the men and women working in the dust-yards was good. Owing to being so much in the open air the women seemed hale and well-coloured, and they contrasted most favourably with those who were working in the factories or at home. Occasionally such troubles occur among them as sore throat, ophthalmia or “blight,” poisoned wounds, and among the elderly women recurrent attacks of cold on the chest, due to exposure to severe weather and the wet. On the whole, however, it would seem as if the open air life agreed with the women. In some of the yards the sifting is done by machinery, and the women only do the sorting. In these yards the women complain of finding it hard to keep pace with the machinery and of having to lift too heavy loads.
Under all circumstances dust-sorting is dirty and disagreeable work. It is generally undertaken by women of the lowest class. The only zest that is given to the occupation is the prospect of finding money. Occasionally a copper, silver, or gold coin is found, and in most of the yards the money belongs to the finder. Such a piece of good luck, however, seldom benefits the individual, for it is made the excuse for a drunken spree that often lasts for days. The work is hard and exposed. It not only unfits women for other employment, but even for the ordinary duties of housewife and motherhood. It destroys the best instincts of maternity. The work takes the mother away from her children, who are consequently ill-tended and often die from neglect. Although several children may be born of these women, in many instances none of them live beyond a few months, not by the employment affecting the children through the mother, but because maternal duties are totally disregarded. For these reasons, therefore, it is scarcely desirable work for women under thirty years of age. It is with dust women as with many of the laundry women in London; they form a class by themselves, and so the work becomes more or less hereditary.
As to the occupation being unsanitary, medical opinion is divided. Dr Thomas of Limehouse does not think it increases the death-rate, and Dr Dudfield reports that he has not observed any bad effects upon the health of the women. On the other hand, Dr Priestley states that while he has not observed any actual injury to health from the sorting of refuse, he thinks there cannot be any doubt that the trade is dangerous to health, and on this ground he recommends its discontinuance. The occupation is one which theoretically might be expected to be prejudicial to health, and yet experience indicates that the women become hardened to the work and immune to its possible evil effects. It is an undesirable employment for women all the same. If it is to continue, it ought to be brought under the supervision of the Factory Department of the Home Office, and as the conditions of labour under a private contract system are in this instance worse than when conducted and controlled by municipal authorities, Vestries or Boards of Health should retain the management of dust-yards in their own hands.
THOMAS OLIVER.