The Penn's Grove record., 1919-08-22
Tho Health of Munition Workers

The Health VI HluhitiVu WoAhcIS
The final report of the British Com
mittee on Health of munition workers,
renrinted in this country by the Blu
rpau of Labor Statistics in Bulletin
90. contains a large amount of data
| accumula led by the committee during
+be four a of its existence. Diff
ferent sections of the 375-page PAM
INLET are devoted to almost every
nnhase of industrial warfare. In the
concluding section of the report the
committee has summarized its findings
in 90 paragraphs which constitute a
concise summary of the industrial ex-
~neriences of the five years of war.
The committee finds that there has
been an increased appreciation of the
whole subject Of industrial hygiene;
that the environment and conditions of
employment of the worker are vastly
better than they were, although there
is still much need for further improve
ment. The development is attributed
TO three cause.-the adoption of the
Recommendations contained in previous
reports of the committee; the estab-
Iishment of a health and welfare sec
ton under the Ministry Munitions,
and increased powers for securing the
welfare Of workers conferred on the
home office. Regarding the relation
of fatigue and i'll health to industrial
efficiency, the report says: without
health there is no energy; without
health there is no output. More i'm
portant than output is the vigor,
strength and vitality of the nation.
The conditions essential to the main
tenance of health are, first, personal
conditions favorable to the body it.
self (e. g., food, fresh air, exercise,
warmth and adequate rest) and, sec
ondly, a satisfactory environment, in
Guiding sanitary factories, suitable
hours of work, good housing accom-.
modations and convenient means of
transit"
Regarding the industrial employ
mcnt Of women, which has greatly in
creased during the war, the committee
find that up to the present there has
been no marked breakdown in the
health of women in the industry. AS
to the hours of labor, the scientific
data collected and the experience
gained during the past two years show
that the length of hours recommended
in January, 1916, namely 13 to ID
hours a day are too long and can be
reduced without loss of output; that
by economizing time the hourly out
put can be increased, and that the
time is now ripe for further substan-
tial reduction in working hours.
Sunday labor is unpopular, uneco-
nomical ard not productive of in
creased output. Night work is I'M
economical, owing to higher wages,
inferior heating and lighting and more
difficult supervision. Lost time is due
to many causes, as sickness, accidents,
bad housing, poor transportation and
bad weather. The proportion of lost
time due to sickness is greatly under
estimated.
Any sound system for dealing with
industrial disease must be aimed at
prevention, and the treatment must
deal with the beginnings of the dis
ease. The. committee finds a large
number of industrial accidents are
p~reventable and that it is to the inter-
est of all parties that they should be
reduced to a minimum. Cleanliness
in factories is essential, not only for
health, out also on account of its
bearing on the s~elf-respect of the
Regarding welfare work in
industry, the committee feels that the
has not yet come when a definite
Judgment can be passed, nor is it pos
sible to prophecy its future lines of
development. The confidence and sup
port of the workers have yet to be OBJ
toinod Tho renOrt contains a large
amount of detail material, charts,
photographs, tables, etc, on all the
problems that have arisen in the NUM-
ton factories during the time OF the
war.