Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the dangers attendant on the use of lead and the danger or injury to health arising from dust and other causes in the manufacture of earthenware and china; and in the processes incidental thereto, including the making of lithographic transfers.

Home Office

Date:: 1910

Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the dangers attendant on the use of lead and the danger or injury to health arising from dust and other causes in the manufacture of earthenware and china; and in the processes incidental thereto, including the making of lithographic transfers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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The Committee, therefore, while recognising the unfairness of suspension without compensation,* consider that it would be a retrograde step to discontinue such examinations altogether, pending an extension of the provisions of the Com- pensation Act, and accordingly recommend that they shall be continued but not at such short intervals. On this point there was some diversity of opinion among the medical witnesses, and Dr. Prendergast of Hanley was in favour of adhering to the practice of holding them every month; but, as explained with reference to the danger of inhaling flint dust, under the heading of Biscuit Placing, other doctors con- sidered that longer periods would suffice. After considering the question with regard both to the removal of any flint dust likely to be inhaled and to the need of medical examination, the Committee recommend:— That the scouring of ware which has been hred in powdered flint— whether done entirely by hand or with the aid of power-driven jiggers or other apparatus which is not so enclosed as effectually to prevent the escape of dust—shall not be carried on without the use of an efficient exhaust draught for the removal of dust. That all scourers or emptiers of biscuit ware, which has been fired in powdered flint, shall be medically examined by the Certifying Surgeon for the district at least once in every twelve months, the Surgeon to have the same powers of suspension as at present. That some scheme shall be devised whereby those suspended shall have reasonable compensation for loss of employment. Fine Brushing.—In some instances the ware after being scoured by machinery is not sufficiently clean, and has to be fine brushed, i.e., to undergo a final brushing by hand. It was stated in evidence that fine brushing is not, as a rule, required for ware that has been passed through a rumbler, but that the practice is still adopted in most factories in which open scouring jiggers are in use. A consider- able amount of dust is generated in the process, and both factory inspectors and employers emphasised the need of an efficient exhaust draught for its removal. In 1901 at the arbitration proceedings before Lord James of Hereford, fine brushing was accepted by Mr. Brough, one of the Counsel appearing for the manu- facturers, as coming within the definition of china scouring, but none the less the Committee in their visits to china factories have frequently found it in operation without any provision being made for local exhaust; they therefore recommend the insertion of a clause in the rules to the effect that:— Fine brushing is to be regarded as scouring for the purposes of all rules relating to the latter process. Batting.—Biscuit ware which has been fired in flint is sometimes put aside for a time before it is needed for the subsequent processes of printingf and glazing]:. During this period it becomes dusty, and it is frequently the custom to clean it by batting. i.e., by striking it smartly with a wad of tissue paper. The process is productive of a considerable amount of dust, which consists principally no doubt of the general dust of the room, but also contains an appreciable amount of fine particles of flint. Factory inspectors and manufacturers are entirely in accord as to the desirability of an efficient exhaust draught for removing the dust generated hi batting; Mr. Wahnsley, who was the Inspector in charge of North Staffordshire from 1892 to 1907, secured the provision of exhaust fans for this process throughout his district by exercising the powers conferred by Section 74 of the Factory and Work- shop Act, 1901§; if, however, the necessity should arise of enforcing the last-named section by legal proceedings, it would be requisite to call medical evidence in each case to prove that the dust is injurious; to avoid this somewhat cumbrous method of procedure, it is desirable to embody the requirement in question in the Special Eegulations for potteries. * See Compensation, page 10-i. t See page 85. X See page 67. § Requiring the use of exhaust fans in any process generating injurious dust, even when riot dealt with by any special rule.

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