Denver labor bulletin., 1917-09-01
NIGHT WORK IN
BRITISH PLANTS
LESS EFFICIENT
MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS
ISSUES REPORT.
Factories Are Run Continuously
causing an Increased Amount of
Sickness With 20 Per Cent Loss
of Time by Accidents.

Ds ACClQentS-
An interim report on Industrial
hihclency and Fatigue" recently is
ued oy the health of munition workers
committee of the British ministry of
munitions, has just been reprod1ced
in bulletin 230 of the bureau of labor
statistics of the United States depart-
ment of labor, with the exception of a
portion OF the report consisting of
TWO memoranda (Nos. and 125 al
ready reprinted in bulletin 221 This
Is the fouorth of a series of bulletins
published by this bureau at the re-
guest OF the council of national de-
tense, IN an effort to make available
reports of the British health of uuni-
uon workers committee insofar as thew
may be applicable TO conditions in the
United States.
Bulletin 23O also contains ranrints
OF memorandum No. l6. Medical Ger
tlhcates for Munition Workers" and
memorandum No. II, Health and We'll
1are Of Munition Workers Outside the
Factory," prepared by this committee-
Inc interim report considers the
comparative efficiencies of day work
and night work, the causes and condi-
tons OF lost time, and incentives to
work with special reference to wages
presenting detailed medical studies on
the health and physical conditions of
both men and women in munitions fac
tories.
On the whole, night work is re-
garded as undesirable, altho there is
no significant difference between the
rate OF output in night and day shifts
managed on the discontinuous system
which is preferred to continuous night
work, the latter being productive of
definitely less output -,
grouping the causes of lost time as
contro!lable and uncomfortable, the re-
port discusses the question of the ex-
tent to which lost time NAV be at
tributed to sickness, considers the re-
alton of lost time to overtime. showing
that hours gained by overtime may be
counterbalanced by lost time. and sug-
gests the uneconomical and unprofit-
able result following the employment
OF workers before breakfast. As il
lustratlng how considerable a propor-
ton of the time gained by extraorii-
nary hours may be lost in normal
hours, even in a well-managed fac
tory, the engineering department of
a hrm engaged on heavy work are
CITED, IN which, with normal day
shift week of fifty-three hours and n
night shift week of sixty hours, So
per cent of the time gained by over
time work IN given four weeks in
May, 1916, was lost by bad timekeep-
ing and sickness, while 56.6 per cent
was lost in given two weeks in June.
1916.
In its report on incentives to work
with special reference to wages, it is
stated that health. e, absence of
sickness, physical and mental-and
efficiency of workers are influenced by
the earnings, and that output, which
has been closely investigated as an
indication of fatigue, may be infiu-
enced by the wage system in force.
Generally speaking, payment by time
alone has no direct influence in stim-
ulating the inclination to work, while
payment by the piece does have such
influence. Thus, in one factory sew
enteen girls drilling fuses and working
on the piece rate basis, in one week in
creased their output by "a per cent on
the day shift and by 40 per cent on
the night shift over their output when
working on time wage basis.
The medical examination of 1,543
men, 1909 boys, and 1926 women and
girls, while revealing evidence of
strain and fatigue, showed less i'll
health than was anticipated. Among
the men sleepiness on the night shift,
headache, footache, and muscular
pains, together with nervous symp-
toms, are probably the most common
signs of overwork. Eighty per cent of
the lost time among the 1,54S men was
due to sickness and 20 per cent to
accident.
Consideration Of the health and well
fare of munition workers outside the
factories, as shown in memorandum
No. II. may be summed up in the fol-
lowing statement by the health of
munition workers committee: by the
agency of the state women and girls
are being exported from their homes
and imported into munition areas. By
the agency of the state the liberty of
the individual to throw up her work
and to take her labor elsewhere is
restricted. On the state, therefore,
the responsibility lies not only for
suitably housing these transplanted
workers, but also for securing the
safeguards needful for their health
and morals, the maintenance of which
is essential to the nation"