Section 47.201. Suggested safe practices

It is recommended that the following safe practices be adhered to and a notice of them be posted by the employer in a conspicuous place of each establishment:

POISONS IN PRINTING

Lead, the main constituent of type metal is absorbed into the system chiefly from the stomach and in small part from the lungs and possibly from the skin. The dust of the workrooms always contains lead in very finely divided form. Unless very great precautions are taken this settles on the floor, the hands, or the lips, and is in this way carried to the stomach. Taken into the body, it produces:

Colic;

Constipation;

Paralysis;

Disease of the heart, blood vessels, and kidneys;

Insanity; and

Death.

Protect yourself from it in every way.

Do not splash metal from your melting pots; it dries, becomes dust, and you inhale the lead.

Never hold type in your mouth.

Do not permit dry sweeping of your workroom or dusting of the fonts while you are present. The only safe way of cleaning during working hours is vacuum cleaning.

Do not keep your lunch exposed to the dust of the workroom.

Never touch food or place your fingers in your mouth without first washing your hands thoroughly. A nail file or other instrument for cleaning the nails, a brush, hot water and soap are necessary if the lead is to be removed thoroughly. Benzine is often used to clean the ink from the rolls of the printing presses.

Poisoning from this substance produces:

Faintness;

Dizziness;

Headache; and

Vomiting.

This material should be used only in places that are well ventilated.

Anilin oil forms a part of some of the mixtures, used in cleaning rolls. It is more poisonous than benzine and, in addition to the symptoms given under benzine, may, in severe cases, cause:

Convulsions, or

Death.

Find out whether or not the cleaning mixture contains anilin oil. If it does, use it only in well-ventilated rooms. Do not splash any of it on your body, your clothes, or the floor. You may be poisoned by absorbing it through the skin or by breathing the fumes as the liquid evaporates.

Poisonous gases are given off by all fires. In addition, most gas fires do not burn up all the gas but allow some of it to escape into the room. See that all fires have flues in good working order leading to the outside air in order to carry away any gases that might injure your health.

TUBERCULOSIS

Of every 1,000 deaths among printers, 292 are caused by tuberculosis. To have this disease you must take the germ into your body. You may get it from the common drinking cup, the common towel, or from your coughing neighbor who spits on the floor. If your employer does not provide individual cups and towels, provide your own. Your health is worth it. Plenty of cuspidors conveniently placed and in a clean shop ought to prevent everybody from spitting on the floor.

INACTIVITY

Long sitting or standing in one position, especially in rooms without plenty of fresh air, cause poor circulation of the blood. Overcome this by plenty of exercise in the open air after working hours.

LIGHT

If you cannot have daylight for your work, endeavor to have all artificial lights properly placed and shaded so as to keep the glare from your eyes. You need the best light possible to do your work quickly and well. A printer with eyesight ruined is a printer out of a job.

Death from tuberculosis or lead poisoning is absolutely unnecessary. If you contract either of these diseases, see your physician at once. Both are curable if treatment is begun early and carefully carried out.

HOW TO PREVENT SICKNESS

1. Do not go to work on an empty stomach; this weakens the system.
Do not put fingers in the mouth.
Do not take food into the workrooms.
Do not eat food in the workroom.

Before eating and before leaving work thoroughly wash your face, arms, and hands with soap and warm water; cleanse your nose and rinse your mouth with water.

2. Take a bath frequently, every day if possible. Cleanliness is one of the best preventives of sickness.

3. Do not chew tobacco while at work, for in handling tobacco with dirty hands the dust may be carried by your fingers into your mouth.

4. Alcoholic liquors weaken the system and make it more liable to disease. All employes are urged to abstain from the use of all alcoholic liquors.

5. Drink plenty of good milk.

6. Keep your finger nails clean and cut short so that dust can not collect under and around them.

7. It is better not to wear a mustache or beard as they collect dust. If worn it is better to keep them cut short and wash them thoroughly every day.

8. To have good health you must keep your bowels open. Whenever constipated, take a dose of Epsom or Glauber’s salts or other laxative.

9. Dry sweeping is prohibited. The floors and walls should be cleaned either with a vacuum cleaner, or flushed with water, or swept only after being thoroughly sprinkled with a sufficient quantity of wet sawdust to lay all dust thoroughly.

10. If a workman finds that he is affected by lead, he should leave this trade.

11. If ill consult a physician at once. Do not endanger your health by taking home remedies or the advice of friends or drug clerks who are not licensed physicians.