Report of the Departmental Committee on Compensation for Industrial Diseases.

  • Great Britain. Home Office. Committee on Compensation for Industrial Diseases.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee on Compensation for Industrial Diseases. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/460 (page 4)
    and distinctive. In severe cases the sensory and motor nerve endings may become affected, and muscular atrophy, mostly of the fingers and thumb, results. Habits— of life and previous work affect susceptibility to the poison. Inhalation of the vapour of anilin oil—an amido-derivative of benzene—or of the vapour of anilin hydrochloride, or absorption 6f the oil through the skin, may cause symptoms of the same nature and due to the same cause as those just described, although as a rule they are much less pronounced. The effects of anilin oil, as used industrially in anilin black dyeing, are shown by the appearance in some workers of greyish or bluish coloration of the lips, accompanied by varying degrees of headache, dizziness, drowsiness and lassitude, some difficulty in breathing, and gastric disturbance with luss of appetite. These symptoms, as is the case also in dinitrobenzol workers, are aggravated in hot weather. We do not doubt that. definite effects, the result of inhalation of anilin vapour, may incapacitate the worker for a longer period than a week, but we would guard against the assumption that all illness in anilin black dyers is to be attributed to anilin, , In factories in which nitro- and amido-derivatives of benzene are made or used persons are found showing in slight degree the signs of their calling. With a view to obtain, if possible, proofs more conclusive than previous investigations had furnished of the precise changes in the blood which would serve as a means of diagnosing anilin and dinitrobenzol poisoning in distinction from illness due to some other cause, we invited Dr. W. Malden, of the Pathological Laboratory, Cambridge, to make special inquiry on this point. His report, based on exhaustive researches, will be found in the Appendix, and not only places beyond doubt the toxic effects of the substances, but furnishes data on which, in doubtful cases, a sound judgment can be based. , Poisoning by dinitrobenzol and anilin is distinctly a trade disease; and we consider that those who are employed in their manufacture or in their use should be entitled to compensation when incapacitated by their effects. These forms of poisoning can be most conveniently scheduled under the general heading of “Poisoning by nitro- and amido-derivatives of Benzene,” a form which would also cover cases of disease from the use of other members of this dangerous chemical group, should such cases occur. | 2. Carbon-bisulphide, used in indja-rubber manufacture, has been, in earlier years, the cause of a number of grave cases of disease. | The chronic effects were due either (a) to the action of the vapour, when inhaled, on the nerve centres, causing mental exaltation or depression, or (>) to inflammation of the sensory and motor nerve endings, producing numbness of the fect and hands, followed in some cases by peripheral neuritis or temporary blindness. In less severe cases headache, dizziness, gastric disturbance, | and impairment of appetite were frequent. | The dangerous properties of carbon-bisulphide have long been recognised, and stringent Special Rules were made by the Home Secretary in 1897 to protect the workers exposed to its effects. These rules have proved successful, and our inquiries lead to the conclusion that in recent years the disease has been wholly eradicated. So long as the substance is used, however, the possibility of poisoning remains. Should cases recur we consider that they should be the subject. of compensation. | 7 3. Naphtha.—Cases are reported in which persons engaged in the cleaning out of naphtha storage tanks have been overcome and rendered unconscious from the fumes- Such cases are in the nature of accidents, but naphtha has also been alleged to be a cause of illness, gradually contracted, among workers in india-rubber factories. We have carefully investigated this question, have visited factories where naphtha is used, have examined and questioned the workers, and have asked the opinion of a number of witnesses qualified to speak with authority. The smell of naphtha vapour causes’ in some workers headache, nausea and vomiting, and if there is vaporisation from large surfaces spread over with the material in rooms with deficient ventilation, psychical disturbance may result, akin to that produced by alcoholic vapour. We have not been able to find evidence that workers are incapacitated for a period as long as a week, and are of opinion that naphtha poisoning should not be added to the list. 4. Carbonic Oxide—-We received much evidence to the effect that poison