Hygiene of the painters' trade.

  • Alice Hamilton
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hygiene of the painters' trade. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    The painters' trade is regarded in all countries as the most important of the lead industries. vSix Eiiro])ean countries have car- ried on investigations in the use of lead pahit in industry, and five have recommended legislation more or less comprehensive to lessen the dangers to which painters arc exjiosed. In the United States, Illinois alone has passed such a law, and it does not cover any painting except that done in workshops. A study of hospital reports from four cities shows that one-fourth of the hospital cases of lead poisoning m these cities were painters. In New York City the proportion is even greater. Forty of 60 fatal cases of lead poisonmg in New York were painters. Among 1,009 painters in Chicago who sent answers to a list of questions, 185 gave a history of lead poisoning, 72 of kidney trouble, 77 of rheumatism, and 24 of stomach trouble. One hundred able-bodied painters presented themselves for physical examination by a specialist in occupational diseases, who found that 59 of them showed evidence of chronic lead poisoning. An analysis was made of the hospital or dispensary liistories of 100 lead-poisoned painters. The proportion of complicated and of chronic cases was large, over half had had more than one attack, 39 had had palsy, and 9 had had brain symptoms. This study of the painters' trade in the United States shows that there are many elements of danger, most of them avoidable, and it shows that if protective legislation is to be passed it should be directed toward the prevention of poisonous fumes and dust, and the provision of facilities for bodily cleanliness. Such legislation should (1) forbid the use in unventilated rooms of paints or paint removers containing volatile poisons; (2) forbid dry sandpapering or dry chipping oflf of lead paint; (3) insist that the employer provide a proper place for his workmen to hang their street clothes and keep and eat their lunch, and a washroom with a sufficient number of basins, warm water, soap, towels, and brushes; (4) require the labelmg of all paint oft'ered for sale in such a way that the painter can be apprised of the danger involved in its use; (5) in the case of work done in factories, cards of instruction for the workmen should be posted, and if necessary these should be written in one or more foreign languages. The total prohibition of lead paint for use in interior work would do more than anything else to improve conditions in the painting trade.
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