Industrial dermatitis (1950)

[Music] production's keeping up all right but it isn't getting any better it won't either at the rate the men are going sick at the of course it won't and that's the point of this meeting oh good here comes n now I've asked you all here to tell you what the management have decided to do about the factory doctor they have discussed your joint production recommendation very thoroughly and agreed to go ahead we have a doctor starting on Monday good news for new nurse he's had considerable experience as a Works doctor and his name is Alec burn I know Dr Burns good have you got the sick report n yes here Mr SRE ah thank you now this ties up with our overall absentee figures accidents are down you'll be glad to hear Rogers and I wish I could say the same about dermatitis oh I know that a certain amount of it is due to the work the men do but how much of it isn't well no Mr sa all right all right we'll leave that to the doctor and I'll be very interested to know what he can do about it the first hint of what was in store for me came when I was trying to find the turning to the factory I stopped to ask the way and it turned out that the man was going to the surgery himself at first glance he looked like a case of dermatitis fedmart was his name he'd been at the works for 3 years and everything had been all right until they shifted him to the Machine Shop a few months ago the trouble with his skin had seemed to date from this he'd been off work for the past 10 weeks having treatment but the thing wasn't getting any better it was getting worse I felt sorry for Fred this kind of skin trouble is stubborn of curing and may indeed become chronic for a thoroughly miserable and demoralizing complaint dermatitis takes some beating but the thing about the whole business which I found most disturbing was that there were a number of people in p precisely the same boat after surgery I did a bit of investigation with nurse yes well without exception the skin cases are coming from certain departments in the factory the Machine Shop the plating shop and the paint shop definitely something wrong here first I'll have a quick look around the factory [Music] Mr srey was one of the old school of Works managers he was prepared to accept new ideas up to a point but his main concern was with his production figures I had to convince him what a problem dermatitis can be I told him look it can be prevented if you will help first we'll have to make sure that we've cut down all the risks in the factory and we'll need a great deal of help from the men in the end he became interested and agreed to come along to the surgery one morning and see for himself well he came next day after morning dressings I kept back a few cases for him to see I showed him the arm of a lad who had just come in and told him how industrial dermatitis was caused so damage to the skin by irritating substances such as dusts fumes and liquids this lad's skin was red and he complained of irritation after this first stage you get weeping and scaling dermatitis is not infectious it is quite impossible to pass it on to anyone else though it can become a breeding ground for germs and unfortunately it can break out on other parts of the body I showed him a case of oil acne as well oil had blocked up the pores and produced blackheads and pimples Mr srey was no fool he believed the evidence of his own eyes and he called up the safety engineer to ask him to come around immediately he told Bill Rogers to go around the works with me and try to get rid of the risks or take preventive action first we went to the Machine Shop here I found several lathes SPL ing The Cutting fluids about rather badly Bill suggested a shield to protect the operator's legs and thighs he lost no time and had the laths fitted with the temporary Shields until the permanent ones were ready cutting down the flow of the liquid helps to reduce the throw off but still some protection is needed for the hands a barrier cream might be useful here the men already knew that putting on the cream before B work helps to bring off the dirt more easily when they're washing some of them asked me how it would protect their hands well I said it acts like an invisible glove and does in fact make some sort of barrier between your skin and the irritating substances you touch but your hands must be clean before you put it on there is a right cream for different jobs and I'll see that you get it in the paint shop I found they were using a synthetic paint which I knew might be a likely skin Hazard unless it is handled with respect one of the girls was wiping the Surplus paint off with her finger onto her hand another was putting on a synthetic varnish with a piece of rag which meant that her hand got smeared as well a brush was the remedy here I had a talk with these girls and told them they must keep their hands free from paint I asked the foreman to keep an eye on them and to make sure they went on doing these jobs the safe way even if it was a little slower in one of the spraying booths I watched a man with a paint gun it was synthetic paint again and he sprayed without bothering to put on his gloves one of the most important jobs this to explain the risk and get the men to take action themselves in the chating shop we had a different problem here The Operators wore gloves all right and some protective clothing but the fumes rising up into their faces can cause a rash and sores inside the knows this was another job for Bill the installation of a cowl over the tank with exhaust ventilation to draw off the gases he had something installed quickly and the fumes were kept under better control in the plating shop the splash danger was pretty bad this was because the tanks were set too close together I made sure that the men had enough protective clothing more important still I went over plans for the new shop with Bill here the layout will cut down skin contact he told me that the shop would be ready in a fortnite finally my campaign included a talk to all the workers on the most important point of all cleanliness that started it one man claimed that the water in his plant had been turned off for 6 weeks some shops had no towels and not enough soap I got them their towels the management arranged a regular supply of soap and saw to it that the water was turned on again and on top of this I organized weekly inspections it wasn't long before the men were helping all along the line and my dermatitis figures dropped down by about 50% so far so good but as a matter of fact I knew that I had only tackled one half of the problem probably the easier half at that it was the other the medical side that was worrying me now that was partly my Affair and partly the affair of the men's own doctors the numbers falling sick with dermatitis had been checked but they remained the job of curing those who had got it this is simple enough in theory but again the patient needs to be ready to help and it isn't easy to get cooperation from a man who is depressed and bored he must have something to do for that is part of the Cure at home his conscience nags him he sees himself bone idle while his wife has to work just as hard with less money coming in it isn't long before he is lending a hand with the household chores and that is the worst thing he can do a large part of the Cure depend on his avoiding anything that will keep up the irritation soap and water for instance so s his skin gets worse on top of this he tends to avoid his friends for his skin is a nasty sight he feels he will never get better he throws his doctor's advice to the wind and does more and more in the way of odd jobs about the place Y when you got it you got it for Keeps Chum yeah Fred's right I've been off 13 weeks it's worse now when it's started well what about me 15 bluming weeks I'll tell you straight you can do all the doc tells you they make the slightest Rudy odds there woods they stopped as soon as I put my nose around the door but I knew who the culprits were Fred smart and his pal Joe Daly the two who had been on the sick list the longest well I couldn't really blame them for letting off steam like that but the trouble was they were spreading alarm and despondency among the men who went in anything like such bad shape if that Spirit had a chance to Prevail my task was going to to be 10 times as hard but of course that's it get Two Fellas like that talking for you instead of against you half your troubles would be over but the only way to do that is to put them on their feet again I've discussed the problem with their own doctors they've given me a free hand we need allies I wonder now I saw Joe's wife and had a talk with Freds by the time I was through I knew I had two allies who understood what I wanted to do and were ready to help me do it [Music] [Music] [Music] I don't know what you're scared of boy just do what a dog says you'll be as right as rain in no time all right frit smart good good morning morning doctor now let's have a look at this yes I don't see why you shouldn't go back to your job on Monday oh that's good same job why not we'll keep a watch on you now that we have the new Arrangements at the factory it's very unlikely that you get dermatitis again good good morning Mr s morning I must hand it to you Doctor I've never seen such a transformation in any place oh it's all in a day's work besides I couldn't have done it without your help oh no I'm afraid I did very little by the way we shall have to keep an eye on these chaps whove had dermatitis if they show any signs of getting it again we may have to think of switching them to other work well we'll deal with that problem when we come to it eh toio do goodbye and then when everything seemed plain sailing I had the case I knew would turn up it was young Alan Ross he had been shifted a week or two earlier to the plating shop and there he was a classical example of industrial dermatitis in its earlier stages I've carried out all the drill I use your precious Barrier cream and I keep myself clean and still I've got it for the last few weeks doctor I've listened to a lot of clap trap about preventive measures if you want my Frank opinion I think there're a lot of hooy I had to decide how best I could help him you see there are certain types who are more prone than others to the complaint and there's always the odd man out the chap like Allan who will get dermatitis despite all precautions and for no apparent reason it's difficult to explain this yet I knew that I couldn't let him leave here with a grievance as a matter of fact you know these preventions are not a lot of Hy here look at these figures and see for yourself we've cut down dermatitis cases by more than 2/3 then how do you explain me I can't I'm just asking you to accept the fact that from time to time there are people who get dermatitis no matter how careful they are and let's admit it we don't know everything in medicine yet but we're learning all the time we hope it won't be long before we can explain that doesn't weaken the case for preventive measures but I don't see how do as I say and we'll have you fit in 10 days time with ordinary good luck then we'll see what we can do about getting you transferred to another department the point is there are exceptions to every Rule and you're one of them [Music]