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
=House-Painting[35].=--The work of house-painting and plumbing outside
a workshop does not come under the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901,
except to a limited extent under Section 105 in buildings in course
of erection; and even in that case the requirement of notification of
lead poisoning imposed by Section 73 does not apply. If, however, a
house-painter is employed for part of his time in mixing paints in a
workshop belonging to a builder, then the question may legitimately be
raised as to whether plumbism may not have been due in some measure to
such workshop conditions. Despite the limited extent to which the Act
applies to lead poisoning of house-painters and plumbers, seeing that
it is industrial in origin many practitioners notify cases, with the
result that the number every year exceeds considerably that from any
other lead industry in the country. Thus, the number notified in the
ten years 1900-1909 was 1,973, including 383 deaths. The proportion
of deaths to persons notified is much higher than for lead industries
generally (19·4 per cent., as compared with 4·0 per cent.). If the
proportion of cases to deaths were the same in house-painting as in
other industries (and it is a fair assumption to make), the number of
cases would be 9,418.
When investigation is made into the reported cases, the pre-dominance
of the severer symptoms--paralysis, brain symptoms, and chronic
plumbism--is brought out. Causation of poisoning, in order of
importance, appears to be: (1) Dust from sandpapering one surface of
paint before applying another; (2) dust from mixing dry white lead
with oil; (3) dust arising from paint that has dried on overalls; (4)
contamination of food with unwashed hands; and (5) fumes from burning
off old paint.
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