THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

DUSTY

DEATH —

PNEUMOCONIOSIS, THE MAN-MADE PLAGUE
KILLS THOUSANDS OF INDUSTRIAL WORK

From time immemorial men
have been dying of lung dis-
ease caused by breathing dust
at work. More than thirty in-
dustries are listed as carrying
a risk of this disease called
“pneumoconiosis” or ‘miner's
lung.”

The question of industrial

dust in operations under IWA
certification has been raised
from time to time at Local
Union Safety Council meet-
ings, Regional Safety Confer-_
ences and Regional Conven-
tions.

For the education and infor-
mation of IWA Camp and

Plant Accident Prevention
Committees as well as all other
persons interested in the field
of safety, the Lumber Worker
has reproduced an article by
Dr. Robert Murray — medical
adviser to the British Trade
Union Congress — published in
October 1967 by the Interna-
tional Labour Office in Geneva.

eon eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEE

Dust is a killer. All over
the world thousands of work-
ers die every year from its
malevolent effect on the lungs
causing the disease, pneumo-
coniosis. The coal mines of
Europe, Asia and America,
the gold mines of Africa and
India, the asbestos mines of
Canada and South Africa, the
quarries of Hong Kong, the
potteries of Britain and Japan,
foundries, textile mills, iron
works, building sites — even
the manufacture of household
cleaning powders — all con-
tribute their quota to the toll
of death and disability caused
by dust.

DUST CONTROL

Dust control in Britain is
relatively good, yet every
year in this country alone
something like 3,000 workers
die with fibrosis of the lungs.
The figure for 1965 was 3,019.

' I say “with” rather than “of”
because there will have been
some cases where the disease
was not the major cause of
death. The point is that all
these people had fibrosis of
the lungs when they died and
that their lives were short-
ened by the disease.

In spite of advances in dust
control and medical treatment
the annual death rate has not
materially changed in the last
ten years in Britain. Improve-
ments in some industries ap-
pear to be outweighed by de-
terioration in others. Two
things must be borne in mind,
however. Death from pneu-
moconiosis is not immediate.
It is caused by the slow and
insidious effects of prolonged
exposure, so that deaths to-
day represent working condi-
tions twenty or more years
ago. At the same time, meth-
ods of diagnosis are improv-
ing so that cases are recog-
nized today, both clinically
and for compensation pur-
poses, more readily than in
the past.

DUST DISEASE

Before causing or contribut-
ing to premature death, dust
disease of the lungs produces
disability, varying from slight

breathlessness on effort in the
early stages of the disease to

severe shortness of breath and |

total incapacity for work in
the advanced stages.
Because dust kills slowly, a
more appropriate figure than
actual deaths for indicating
the effect of working condi-
tions today is the number of
new cases reported each year.
In Britain these figures are
kept for the purpose of work-
men’s compensation under the
National Insurance (Ind us-
trial Industries) Acts. On the
face of it, they show a very
heartening improvement, the
total having fallen steadily
from 3,654 in 1960 to 1,403 in
1965. But there is no reason
for complacency in these fig-
ures. By far the greater num-
ber of cases in Britain are
caused by coal mining, and
here indeed there has been
dramatic progress. But more
than 30 other industries are
listed in the returns and there
is no apparent improvement
at all in these taken together.

IN BRITAIN

In Britain, generally outside
the coal industry, the position
seems to get neither much
better nor much worse, but
there are some industries in
which the number of cases
diagnosed has risen quite con-
siderably in recent years. In
asbestos manufacture, for ex-
ample, cases of pneumoconio-
sis reported to the Ministry
‘of National Insurance rose
every year between 1960 and
1965, from 29 in the first year
to 82 in the latter. That is an
increase of around 180 per
cent.

COAL MINING

To obtain a balanced pic-
ture, it should be noted that
industries other than coal
mining account for only about
400 of the new cases of pneu-
moconiosis reported in Brit-
ain each year. Coal mining
accounts for the remainder —
about 3,300 in 1960 and just
over 1,000 in 1965.

At the same time, let us not
be mesmerised by statistics.
Every one of these hundreds
listed in the returns is a hu-

man being whose lungs have
been diseased by breathing
industrial dust. If you are one
of those who have contracted
the disease outside the coal
industry, it can be small con-
solation to know that you are
“only” one of a group of 400.
A soldier wounded in battle
cannot be expected to care
very much whether it was a
big battle or a little one. And
if you are a coal miner who
has contracted the disease it
does not help you personally
to know that the statistics for
that industry are getting bet-
ter. :

ON INCREASE |

To some extent, of course,
these figures reflect the num-
ber of persons employed in
particular industries, some of
which expanded in Britain
during the relevant period
while others declined. Coal
mining declined, though at
nothing like the rate at which
the disease appears to have
been retreating. In develop-
ing countries, where old in-
dustries are expanding and
many new industries are be-
ing started, we must be pre-
pared for an increase in the
risk of industrial diseases in
years to come. To say that
this is part of the price to be
paid for economic advance
may appear callous: without
industrial development, how-
ever, no real attack can be
launched against the far
greater volume of suffering
and sickness caused by pov-
erty. The important thing is
that government, employers,
trade unions and medical sci-
ence combine to give the
worker the best possible pro-
tection against accidents and
diseases.

Every industrial country
which keeps records can show
comparable figures to those I
have quoted for Britain. And
these only represent the vis-
ible part of the iceberg. Un-
derlying these figures is a
great deal of unrecognized ill
health — bronchitis for ex-
ample — attributable, at least
in part, to dust exposure.

Ever since man began to
make tools he has been creat-
ing dust. The first stone age
implements were made of flint
dug out of flint mines in chalk
strata. In Norfolk county in

eastern England there is a
place called Grimes Graves.
These are old flint mines
whose main shaft is reputed
to be 20,000 years old. Nearby
in the town of Brandon flint-
knappers are still at work,
carrying out the same process
by which our stone age an-
cestors made their tools and
weapons. This process pro-
duces silica dust, which in the
course of time and in the ab-
sence of precautions may lead
to the development of silico-
sis, one of the group of dis-
eases known by the generic
term of the pneumoconioses.

SILICA DUST

Later in man’s development
monuments and religious sym-
bols were made of sandstone
and granite as in ancient
Egypt. In the quarrying and
dressing of these stones silica
dust was produced. At the
present time the handling of
stone in the building of the
Aswan High Dam is very
probably producing pneumo-
coniosis casualties.

In the search for more so-
phisticated materials for fuel
and weapons, deeper and
more extensive mines were
dug. Cramped conditions and
poor ventilation increased
dust exposure and by the six-
teenth century they led to
the recognition by Paracelsus
and Agricola of-the disease
known to them as the miners’
disease —- pneumoconiosis.

Since mediaeval times, min-
ing has become increasingly
dusty and the risk has cor-
respondingly increased. Today
with automatic processing
more dust than ever is pro-
duced, though fewer men are
exposed. In the same way, the
more power that is applied to
the processes of drilling,
grinding, milling and polish-
ing in industry, the more —
and finer—the dust produced.
Unfortunately the technology
of dust control does not al-
ways keep pace with produc-
tion methods.

EARLY STAGE

Nevertheless, progress in
medical and industrial hy-
giene has been such that we
are now able to detect cases
at an early stage and to de-
sign methods of control in the
light of environmental investi-
gations. The more we learn
of pneumoconiosis the more
effective can be our preven-
tive measures. This must be
our aim. The disease cannot

be cured. It can only be re-
vented, : 3

4

- |

The precise nature of th
damage to the lungs varies
with the particular dust. In.
general the disease consists ir
the development of fibrous or”
scar tissue within the spongy
substance of the lung, redu
ing its elasticity and diminish- :
ing the surface area for
absorption of oxygen into
blood from the air. The pro- |
gressive nature of the disease
is its most important charac- |
teristic, and this is aggravated |
by any infection, particularly |
tuberculosis, with which th ;
disease is frequently associat. |
ed. ‘
Dusts such as plaster, ce-4
ment and limestone do not
appear to cause any specifi¢ {
disease, though large quanti-
ties of dust of any kind ar
undesirable. Many cases o $
pneumoconiosis arise fron
mixed dusts, for example, i t
foundries.

q

Animal and vegetable dusts,
can cause asthma in suscept-)
ible persons. Upholsterers and.
chicken handlers exposed to
the dust of feathers are knowf |
to suffer from it, as are wood
workers exposed to the dus’
of timbers such as teak and|
western red cedar. One severe
outbreak of asthma in a cot-
ton weaving factory was
traced to inhaling the dust of
tamarind seed used as a size.
The dust from mouldy ha’
can give rise to a condition;
sometimes resembling pneu>
moconiosis called “Farmer’s|

sisal dust in the textile indus:
try cause a special type 0
dust disease called byssinosi

It is the mineral dusts, how
ever, which give rise to
most severe and pe
damage to the lungs.
worst of these is silica. Am
drilling, crushing, grinding +
manipulation of siliceous ma-
terials involves the hazard 0
dust inhalation. Mining ané
tunnelling, quarrying of gran
ite, slate and refractory mé@
terials, the use of ground flint
as a constituent of pottery
abrasive powders, cleani:
castings moulded in san
the foundry industry a
many other processes are |
gerous because of silica |

Asbestos is a fibrous sil
with a deservedly bad

tation. It is used i