Lead poisoning and lead absorption : $b The symptoms, pathology and prevention, with special reference to their industrial origin, and an account of the principal processes involving riskLegge, Thomas Morison, Sir
Science
Lead poisoning and lead absorption : $b The symptoms, pathology and prevention, with special reference to their industrial origin, and an account of the principal processes involving risk
Legge, Thomas Morison, Sir
Lead poisoning
In the ten years 1900-1909 the number of reported cases in tinning
hollow-ware was 93 among about 200 persons employed, in harness
furniture 23 among about 150 persons employed, and in iron drums and
kegs 47 among about 250 persons employed.
=Plumbing and Soldering.=--The figures included in the table on p.
47 have reference only to these processes as carried on in factory
premises. House plumbers, when reported, are included with house
painters. The figures are made up of two classes--(1) Those handling
white and red lead paste, and (2) those engaged in soldering and lead
burning. The number of cases reported in the ten years 1900-1909 was,
in the first class 122, and in the second 95.
Any worker using red lead as a jointing paste who is not a house
plumber or a coach or ship builder is included under the first heading,
as, for example, electricians, persons engaged in mechanics’ workshops,
lead-light making where red lead cement is brushed between the lead
lines and the glass to render them water-tight, and such occupations
as placing strips of canvas coated with red lead between sheets of
iron work before riveting, so as to afford protection against rust. In
several reports there is reference to the dust created in the breaking
up of old joints with aid of hammer and chisel before proceeding to
recaulk them.
Dust in making up the paste is the principal source of danger. This is
crudely done, and unless large quantities of paste are made exhaust
ventilation is never provided, in view of the intermittency of the
work. The wearing of a respirator should be possible, but it would
be unsafe to recommend that as a sufficient means of prevention.
Installation, whenever possible, of localized exhaust ventilation at
the mixing bench is most desirable. Personal cleanliness is important,
as the hands become ingrained with the paste.
The heading “Soldering” includes in the main (_a_) the soldering of
tins of all descriptions, bicycle lamps, etc., with a stick of solder,
either held in the hand or lying on the bench, which is touched by the
hot soldering-iron, the surface to be soldered having previously been
cleaned with “killed spirit”--_i.e._, zinc chloride flux; and (_b_)
lead burning, by means of a hydrogen or oxy-hydrogen blowpipe flame, of
lead-lined boxes, vats in sulphuric acid and other chemical works. Some
cases are included which occurred in the manufacture of solder itself.
Green wood is held at the bottom of the pot of molten metal, and the
gases distilled from the wood pass upwards through the metal and escape
at the surface, carrying small quantities of lead into the atmosphere
of the workroom.
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