The Woman's Part: A Record of Munitions WorkYates, L. K.
History
The Woman's Part: A Record of Munitions Work
Yates, L. K.
Great Britain. Army -- Ordnance facilities; Weapons industry -- Employees; World War, 1914-1918 -- Women
Ambulance and First-Aid work within the factory was not unusual even in
pre-war days. Since the development of munitions production it has become
almost a commonplace, and from December 1, 1917, its provision has been
obligatory in blast furnaces, foundries, copper-mills, iron-mills, and
metal works. Where T.N.T. is handled, the employment of at least one
whole-time medical officer is compulsory, if the employees number 2,000,
and, if in excess of that figure, at least one additional medical officer
must be employed. The professional work of these doctors is supervised by
the medical officers of the Welfare and Health Department, who also in a
similar way supervise the safety of workers employed upon the manufacture
of lethal gases.
The extra expense involved in the provision of such safeguards is by no
means unproductive. In one factory, for example, it has been estimated
that 2,500 hours were saved in a single week by prompt attention to minor
ailments; in another factory, where the firm meets all smaller claims for
Workmen's Compensation, it was found that in a period of eighteen months
following the establishment of a First-Aid organization, a credit balance
of nearly £500 accrued to the management after all expenses connected with
the factory doctor and the nurses had been defrayed.
Tribute should be paid to the medical staff for their share in the triumph
of First-Aid work within the munitions factory, for without their
extraordinary devotion the record of misadventure would undoubtedly be
higher. One hears from time to time how, in a temporary breakdown of such
a staff, a single worker will hold the fort. A typical case is recorded in
the press as I write. It tells of a young nurse who worked shifts of
twenty-four hours at a stretch, for a fortnight, during the absence of her
colleagues.
The development of the factory rest-room and cloak-room has also been a
marked feature in the munitions factories where women are employed.
Formerly, it was usual to see the women workers' outdoor garments hung
round the workshop walls; to-day, in numbers of munitions works, the
women's cloak-rooms are provided with cupboards where hot pipes dry wet
boots and clothing, where each girl has her own locker with lock and key,
and where the maximum of wash-hand basins supplied with hot and cold water
are set up. In T.N.T. workshops compulsory washing facilities are even
more elaborate. Bath-rooms are available, as well as a generous supply of
towels, and face ointment, or powder, are supplied as preventatives to any
ill effects from handling explosives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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