GENERAL CONSIDERATION

Definition

That branch of hygiene dealing with industries is of very great importance. This will be readily recognized when we consider that practically the entire population is involved in some sort of gainful occupation.

Industrial hygiene is concerned in creating conditions in industry which will prevent accidents, promote public and personal health by eliminating adverse influences, and in creating environmental conditions which will prolong the worker’s life by improving the conditions under which he labors. Public health, mortality and morbidity are influenced more by the environmental conditions in the occupations than by any other factor in human life. At least two-thirds of the entire human life is spent in some occupation and the danger of life, limb and health is well known to all.

The various industries differ largely in their effects upon the workers, the mortality in some being greater than in others; accidents are more numerous in some than others, some occupations being more hazardous. Some dis-eases occur more frequently in certain occupations. The environment may necessitate a greater adaptation in one part of the body than in another; a very dusty work, for example, will affect the respiratory tract while another occupation will affect a different part of the body.

Effect of Occupation upon Health

It is obvious that occupations have a certain effect upon the adaptative processes of the body as well as producing traumatic conditions from accidents, which result in total or partial disability, sudden death, or acute or chronic conditions from poisoning for example. In the industries there may be such adverse environments as to draw so heavily upon the adaptative forces that the body will be reduced to a greatly weakened state. The personal health of the individual enters as a conditioning factor, as well as do his peculiarities and personal weaknesses.

Personal Factors

The individual with low vitality, poor nutrition and poor elimination will be affected to a greater extent in some occupations than in others. The person with a subluxation at lung place, lessening the resistance of the tissues in this zone, will find that an occupation which necessitates breathing air laden with dust will affect the lungs because of their already weakened condition. Many accidents which jeopardize the health and life of workers result from carelessness or from a lack of knowledge about the devices employed.

Choice of Occupation

Great care should be exercised in the choice of an occupation. This should not be left to chance nor to the ignorant fancy of the youth. The occupations which will best suit the idiosyncrasies of the individual both mentally and physically should be selected. Many lives are shortened because of the unwise choice of occupation. The individual with defective lungs should not select a dusty trade, nor the physically weak person a trade which requires an enormous amount of muscular strength. In other words, a trade should be carefully selected with a view to the weak and strong points of the individual.

In this question of a choice in employment the sex should be taken into consideration. While there are many occupations in which women are as competent or more competent than men, yet there are several factors to be weighed. Taken as a general rule, women are not as strong physically as men. There are some occupations which have a very detrimental effect upon the reproductive organs. Statistics show that women are more easily affected by industrial poisons than men. Congestion of the reproductive organs during menstruation is increased and if women are compelled to work at certain occupations during this menstrual period, they will certainly find it detrimental to their health.

It is a recognized fact, according to many authorities on the subject, that there is a larger percentage of abortions and miscarriages among women in industries than among women in domestic life. The infant mortality is also very much higher. Many abortions and miscarriages result from the effects of industrial poisoning, as well as from heavy and continuous work.

Effect of Labor upon Children

The most injurious effects from occupation are those upon children since they are more susceptible to the ill effects than adults. The child should have every advantage for the development of all parts of his body that there may be no interference with its proper growth. Attention should be given to his mental and moral development. These things can not receive proper attention if the child is forced to labor under adverse conditions just at the time when the body is developing.

Many occupations are such that curvatures of the spine are produced and different parts of the body overtaxed. Child labor should be prohibited. There is no labor so expensive to our country as child labor. If our children are not given an opportunity to develop physically, mentally and morally, we will suffer in citizenship in the next generation. There is bound to be a deterioration from such procedure.

The organs of the child are peculiarly susceptible to the effects of overwork and fatigue; the entire body is in the process of development and its development may be retarded and its growth seriously hindered. It is a most excellent thing to keep the child employed and active, but there certainly should be a means of protecting him from the avarice and greed of heartless employers. The best way to do this is to keep him out of gainful employment until there has been sufficient physical development to insure against overtaxing the young body.

Place of Work

The influence of the occupation upon health will be governed not only by the character of the work, but also by the environment in which the work is performed. Whether it is indoor or outdoor work, whether it is an active or sedentary occupation, and whether there are extremes in the temperature, humidity, air pressure or light, or whether the work is on the surface or below it as in mines, are all factors. The position of the worker, the length of the working hours, the physical, mental and nervous strain all have a bearing on health. Outdoor work is preferred, especially for those who are inclined to pulmonary or respiratory disorders, because of the difference in the purity of the air. Outdoor workers suffer less from fatigue and their mortality rate is lower.

Effect of Posture

Posture of the workman is not without its effect upon the health and its bearing upon industrial hygiene is very important. There are many conditions that have their beginning in the occupation, such as faulty development of different parts of the body, curvatures of the spine, and especially those which are adaptative. Many subluxations are produced by posture assumed during long hours of work. In analyzing such cases chiropractically, the history of the occupation and the posture assumed should be carefully considered so that in adjusting the subluxated vertebrae there may be no opposition to the adaptative processes of Innate Intelligence in her endeavor to compensate for the faulty posture.

Sedentary occupations such as typing, bookkeeping, shoe-making, engraving and tailoring result in lack of muscular activity and produce characteristic occupational disorders and deformities. It is not natural for an individual to remain in any one posture for the greater part of the day. Innate needs to have the body more or less active so that the proper adaptative processes can be carried on within the body.

Sitting constantly at a desk will create a tendency to stooped shoulders and thus cramp the respiratory organs. The result will be a lack of proper oxygenation of the blood which will have its effect upon the metabolic processes of the body. There will be a sluggishness of the liver and other vital organs, and a tendency to anemia, constipation, general lack of muscular tone and low vitality.

Active occupations exercise the natural processes of the body and create a necessity for the action of Innate in all parts of the body. Activity keeps the muscles in tone and makes the processes of elimination more active. Activity is one of Nature’s laws and is essential in the vital expressions of life in the body. This is shown by the provisions Nature has made for such activity. Especially are the active occupations to be preferred over the sedentary for young people and for those up to the age of forty-five or fifty. After this age the sedentary occupations are not so detrimental.

Fatigue

Fatigue comes as a result of overwork and is a purely personal factor since the amount of work that may be performed before producing fatigue will vary in different individuals. Fatigue is produced by an accumulation of toxines and waste material in the body when katabolism is greater than anabolism. This may be brought on by overtaxing the body to the point where it is impossible for Innate Intelligence to rebuild the tissues as rapidly as they are being torn down. It can readily be seen that if there should be an accumulation of waste material from faulty metabolism due to interference with transmission, fatigue would be produced sooner and with less work than in the individual normally excreting the poisons.

If one part of the body or one set of muscles is overworked fatigue neurosis will be produced. There may be loss of motor function due, not to interference with transmission of motor mental impulses, but to the fact that the organ, usually a muscle, becomes an unfit medium for the expression of the mental impulses. A good illustration of this is writer’s cramp, and cramps among typesetters and telegraphers. In these cases, however, there are usually local subluxations that should be adjusted.