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L EGHE
C LEGE
LB ARY
Effective Industrial Use of
Women in the
Defense Program
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THE WOMEN'S BUREAU
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Special Bulletin No. 1
SepJ 1'40
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
FRANCES PERKINS, SECRETARY
WOMEN'S BUREAU
MAR y ANDERSON' DIRECTOR
+
Effective Industrial Use of Women
in the Defense Program
SPECIAL BuLLETIN No. 1 oF THB WoMBN's BUREAU
United States
Government Printing Office
Washington: 1940
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.
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Price 10 cents
Prepared in cooperation with the Labor Advisory Committee
on Standards for the Employment of Women in
the Defense Program, representing:
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
International Association of Machinists
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of America
National Women's Trade Union League
Steel Workers Organizing Committee
Textile Workers Union of America
United Automobile Workers of America
United Rubber Workers of America
II
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EFFECTIVE INDUSTRIAL USE OF · WOMEN IN THE
DEFENSE PROGRAM
I. Physical characteristics of the job must be suited to woman's physique.
II. Safety assures continuous production.
1. Machinery should be carefully guarded.
2. Speed is a powerful factor in causing fatigue and accidents.
3. Muscular strain should be avoided if women workers are to produce at their maximum.
4. Minors must not be employed on hazardous processes.
III. Women require special protection where industrial poisons are used.
IV. The fine work many women perform calls for special lighting.
V. Seats are vitally important for women workers.
VI. General plant sanitation and safety is essential.
VII. Practical work clothing for women prevents injury.
VIII. Moderate hours of work result in quality and quantity production.
IX. Minimum-wage standards and prevailing-wage standards should be
maintained.
X. T1-aining and employment policies should be adjusted to women's needs.
XI. Industrial home work should be prohibited on Government contracts.
*
Experience gained by the Women's Bureau in studying the
successful employment of women during the first World War
and in the 20 years thereafter is a guide for the participation of
women in the defense industries to be expanded in the months
ahead.
Though women have proved themselves able to do almost
any type of work, careful consideration should be given, in
planning a defense program, to their employment on processes
where they have been found to be most efficient. Altogether,
women workers have an important part to play in such a program.1
1 Experience in regard to women workers in the World War is discussed in great detail
in the following publication: The New Position of Women in Industry, Bul. 12, Women's
Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, 1924. This report contains the following statement:
First. The popular belief that women in industry rendered real service to the Nation
during the war is sustained by the figures showing the numbers of women employed both
in war agent and implement industries and in war food and fabric industries, by the preponderance of evidence from employers holding important Government contracts, and
by the official statement of the Assistant Secretary of War, acting as Director of Munitions.
Second. The labor shortage and excessive demands on industries essential to the production of implements and agents of warfare resulted during the war in-(a) A sharp increase in the number of women workers in these industries during the war. (b) A marked
decrease in the number of women in the traditional woman-employing industries, resulting in a relief of the long-standing congestion of woman labor in these pursuits and in
part contributing to a marked increase in the wage scales of the women remaining in these
industries. (c) The employment of woman labor in other skilled crafts from which women
had been practically debarred before the war.
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2
Ejfective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
Particular attention also must be given to the necessary health
safeguards where women are employed, since they often are in
jobs new to them, operating unfamiliar machinery, and affected
more seriously than men by certain of the poisonous substances
in common use in industry. Extended experience, both in
commercial plants and in the World War industries in 1914-18,
shows positively that the fullest productivity depends on adequate safeguards to health. In no country during the World
War did the early patriotic enthusiasm, which led to long hours
and strenuous work under adverse working conditions, turn out
precision implements in quantities necessary for warfare. Nor
could such enthusiasm maintain quantity production when
harmful working conditions gradually undermined workers'
health.
The defense program, calling for speed, quality, and quantity of production, can be attained and maintained over an extended period only when working conditions leading to fatigue,
discomfort, ill health, or accident are eliminated.
The following factors have been found of utmost importance
in a program aimed to secure successful production in part
through the employment of women workers. They represent
general standards, but for some of the particular industries
in a defense program further provisions also are essential, and
continual investigation and consultation is necessary.
I. Physical Characteristics of the Job Must Be Suited to
Woman's Physique
There are certain types of work that women do particularly
well. Examples are as follows: 2
1. Women excel in work requiring care and constant alertness, good eyesight, and use of light instruments, such as
gages, micrometers, vernier calipers-work calling for
little physical exertion.
These are characteristics of such jobs as inspection of castings,
machinings, and finished parts, of routine powder analysis, of
testing electrical equipment.
---2
Ibid., pp. 93 and 142.
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2. Women excel at work requiring manipulative dexterity
and speed, but which permits the individual to set her
own tempo ·a nd to work in a sitting position.
These are characteristics of bench work calling for laying out
work for machine operators, operating very small machines to
finish small and irregular parts, assembling delicate instruments
and machines, loading shells, filling powder bags.
3. Women excel in work requiring skill but little strength,
either in handling parts or setting up machines.
These are characteristics of drilling machines, lathes, milling
machines, grinding and polishing machines operating on small
parts.
4. Women operate large machines successfully on heavy
work when such work, whether done by men or by women,
requires the use of lifting devices and pneumatic chucks.
II. Safety Assures Continuous Production
Various estimates of the annual cost of industrial mJuries
run into millions, and these do not include the so-called
incidental costs, which are found by analysis to be four times
as great as compensation and medical payments. All possible
methods of protection should be used to prevent injury from
unguarded machinery, excessive speed, muscular strain, explosive chemicals, fumes, acids, dusts, or other harmful substances or conditions. This is especially necessary when
women are employed on processes new to them. They will
come in contact with complicated machinery and will need
to handle dangerous materials and irregular and sharp objects.
1. Machinery should be carefully guarded.
Power machines cause two-thirds of women's permanent
partial injuries, such as loss of fingers or permanent injury to
other members of the body. The punch press is responsible
for half the machine accidents. 3 Typical accidents to women
resulting from poorly guarded machinery indicate the problem.4
3 New York Department of Labor, Bui. 127, Some Social and Economic Effects of
Work Accidents to Women, November 1924, p. 9.
4 Women's Bureau Bui. 60, Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio, and
Wisconsin.
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A finger amputated when caught in the press because of an improperly set guard.
A crushed and lacerated right thumb and forefinger, due to catching
the hand between the cross head of the punch and the top of an iron
bar that was fixed on the machine in front of the die.
Loss of a finger tip because the socket on a reamer slipped and reversed the handle while the worker was trying to fix the machine. This
occurred in an automobile-parts factory.
Injury to the right hand when a knitting machine started without
the operator's putting her foot on the treadle, because the belt connecting her machine with the shafting was out of order.
In matters of testing machine · guards and devising more
adequate guards, the State departments of labor, divisions of
industrial hygiene, and the United States Department of Labor
may be consulted. Standard materials and dimensions for
belts and belt guards have been approved by the American
Standards Association. 5 Further data as to guards can be
obtained by reference to Safe Practices pamphlets of the National Safety Council.
In some cases the guard may be applied to the worker rather
than the machine. From the number of goggle lenses shattered and replaced for workers in 166 steel mills over a recent
2-year period, a well-known optical laboratory estimated that
2,397 eyes were saved, an estimated saving of $4,000,000
besides preventing untold misery. Painful eye injuries caused
by shattered needles and flying fragments of buttons or snaps
to workers on button machines are avoided by the use of a
lightweight, transparent, plastic mask. 6
2. Speed is a powerful factor in causing fatigue and accidents.
The speed involved in modern industry is one of the factors
demanding that every part be in perfect working order to
prevent accidents. 7 Rapid processes are required, for example,
when a shoe worker revolving the shoes so as to trim off surplus leather from the upper completes 5,200 shoes a day.
5
See Summary in the National Safety News, March 1939.
Factory Management and Maintenance, November 1939, p. 288.
7 See Women's Bureau Bui. 14, A Physiological Basis for the Shorter Working Day for
Women.
6
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3. Muscular strain should be avoided if women workers are to produce
at their maximum.
Consideration should be given to the weight lifting involved
in the job, with provision of special devices for continuous
lifting or for heavy loads. Physical work depends on the total
load carried per day, average load carried at a time, and duration of its carrying. Much helpful information about lifting
equipment is given in the Safe Practices Pamphlets of the
National Safety Council. Conveyor systems are the answer
for continuous flow of material in process in one direction. The
lift truck, hand or power operated, is one of the greatest energy
savers, and eliminates motions hazardous to hands, feet, and
back. The stacker or tiering machine eliminates much heavy
work and many injuries due to handling material. 8
Six States prohibit employment of women at tasks involving
lifting or carrying heavy weights.9 Specific limits vary from
15 pounds to 75 pounds. The limit should be lower for girls
under 18 years. 10
4. Minors must not be employed on hazardous processes.
The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act provides that no
girls under 18 may be employed on types of machines or in occupations determined to be hazardous by the Children's Bureau.
The Public Contracts Act provides that no girls under 18 may
be employed on production under Government contracts.
III. Women Require Special Protection Where Industrial
Poisons Are Used
Women are likely to be more seriously affected than men by
some poisons, and certain of these are used to a considerable
extent in connection with various processes well adapted to
women's abilities. The need for constant study of materials
and substances, especially where newly used, cannot be too
strongly stressed.
8
Help for H eavy Loads, in National Safety News, March 1937, pp. 166, 167, 170, 172.
California, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington.
10 Overton, S. G.
Report No. 44, Industrial Fatigue Research Board, 1927, p. 115.
9
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
Examples of substances that have a particular effect on
women include:
Benzene, which may dispose to hemorrhage.11 This is used in explosive plants, in airplane factories in doping the wings, in rubber
factories, and in shoe and some metal plants.
TNT, dinitrobenzene, sulphuric ether, and various widely used producers of skin irritations (dermatitis). Women were employed extensively in explosive manufacture and in loading explosives.
Carbon disulphide, which is used in rubber and artificial silk manufacture. The dangers of this powerful poison seem to be more recently
understood; it attacks the nervous system, producing a result similar to
insanity. This serious hazard can be controlled by good workroom
ventilation, together with adequate local exhaust.
Lead, used in rubber and storage-battery plants and in spray painting,
as, for example, in automobile plants. It is perhaps one of the most
common poisons in use in modern industry. While in some industries
the hazard has been practically eliminated, other industries, plants, or
processes develop its use.
Mercury, which is used in chemical plants, in photographic supplies, by
browners on guns.
Arsenic, which is used in chemical plants, by electroplaters, and by
workers on enamel and on rubber.
Silica dust, which is produced by grinding and polishing machines on
which women work, and unless it is entirely removed from the air
produces an incurable lung disease.
Exhaust systems are absolutely necessary to prevent the air
from carrying to the worker the fumes from the poisons just
listed, and from many other acids or chemicals such as mercury, wood alcohol, ammonia, and so forth; from gases such as
carbon monoxide; and from dusts such as that caused by
silica. Individual respirators often are needed where the
process brings the worker near to such fumes and gases. All
equipment should be inspected frequently to .make sure that
it is not worn or leaking so that it no longer protects. Furthermore, individual respirators often are not sufficient to take
the place of adequate exhaust systems, and in the case of
some substances, such as silica dust, it is absolutely necessary
to have this removed from the air at its source by proper
11 Hamilton, Alice, M. D.
Industrial Poisons in the United States. New York, Macmillan Co., 1925.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
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exhausts or by effective wet methods. (See also the section
on Ventilation.)
Where lead is used, the worker must be protected by exhaust
systems, and, depending on the process, by gloves and by
individual respirators as well, and there must also be provision for frequent washing of hands and other exposed parts
of the body. Food should never be eaten in the workroom
where such poisons are used. (See also the section on Washrooms and Lunchrooms.)
No easy panacea exists for protecting workers from all
poisons. There must be continual study of the use of new
substances, the methods of their use, and the employment of
better-known materials in new processes. For the substances
that have been long in use in industry, protective measures
are known. The United States Department of Labor publishes small pamphlets telling of the effects of certain industrial
poisons and giving suggestions as to their prevention.
New processes are constantly developed and these may
mean introducing new substances whose effects are less well
known. This happened during the years 1914-18. In connection with the experience in munition plants at that time,
Dr. Alice Hamilton states:
There is no way of knowing how much illness and death resulted
from the mad rush during the first months of the war, before the factories were in a position to carry on the work properly, to get out the
product. Another thing that led to sickness in this work was its unfamiliarity. It involved new problems in engineering that had to be
solved by men with little or no experience with these substances and
reactions * * *. Undoubtedly also the newness of the substances
employed and of their byproducts was responsible for many accidents. It is plain that in some plants the occurrence of a serious
case of poisoning was the first thing that aroused the management to
the fact that a certain process was really dangerous * * *. Such
occurrences as [poisoning from nitrobenzol fumes, from TNT, or lung
affections from nitrous fumes] were totally new experiences to the
ordinary physician, and there was very little in the medical literature
to help him * * * .
241702°--40--2
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
IV. The Fine Work Many Women Perform Calls For
Special Lighting
Workers in poorly lighted factories are, in effect, partly
blindfolded. Minimum requirements are as follows:
1. Sufficient illumination varying with occupation.
2. Proper distribution of light to prevent glare and shadows.
3. Consideration of lighting problems in seating arrangements.
4. Special aids for very fine work.
The National Safety Council states that 15 to 25 percent of all
industrial accidents are due to poor lighting.
In a steel machine shop in Chicago an additional lighting cost
amounting to less than 2 percent of the pay roll produced an increase
in production of 10 percent.
In Great Britairi glasses to relieve eyestrain were furnished drawersin in textile plants, and sorters of lamp filaments, which are about
half the diameter of a human hair. Relief afforded increased output
from 8 to 26 percent for drawing-in, 20 percent for filament sorting
and mounting.
A detailed study of output and errors in typesetting under different
grades of illumination found maximum fatigue when minimum light
was provided. The quality of the work suffered, as judged by number
of errors, until the illumination reached 24.5 foot candles.
Lighting is measured in "foot candles," one unit representing one standard candle at a distance of 1 foot. It is determined
by a small measure that can be carried about in the plant.
The following standards for artificial lighting are the minimum
needs for workers in various occupations according to the
Illuminating Engineering Society. The illuminating for natural
lighting should be at least four times the minimum specified
for artificial lighting.
Foot candles
Automobile manufacture-Assembly line . ... ... ... .. .. ............. . . . . 50 to
Textile millsCotton-Spooling, spinning, drawing, warping, weaving, quilling, inspecting,
knitting, slashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Woolen-Twisting, dyeing . .. ... ... . . ..... .. . ....... . .. .. ... . .. .. .. . ...
Drawing-in, warping- Light goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dark goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Weaving . . . .. ... . .. Light goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dark goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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100
20
10
15
30
15
30
Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
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Foot candles
Steel and iron mills-Automatic machines, light and cold rolling, wire drawing,
shearing, fine by line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Rubber manufacturing . ...... . .... . . . ... . . . ..... . . . .................. 10 to 20
Airplane-Repair departments ... . ........... . ... . ........... . ........ 30 to 50
Foundries-Core making . .. . ....... .. ........... .. ... . .... . . .. .. .. . . .. ..
20
V. Seats Are Vitally Important For Women Workers
Arrangements should be made so that women can change
from a standing to a sitting position. The right kind of chair
should be provided, adjustable to both the worker and the
particular occupation.
The New York study of industrial seating made in 1921 found
three striking facts about proper and improper seating:
1. Providing of chairs and tables suited particularly to the occupation increased production in a rubber factory so that 16 girls performed
as much work as 20 had done before.
2. A foot-pedal operator who has to strain unduly to reach the pedal
suffers from pelvic congestion with resulting harm to pelvic organs.
3. Addition of satisfactory foot rests and foot pedals in an electricalsupply factory eliminated much fatigue.
Women polishing metal could increase their output as much as 32
percent when special seats were provided that made it possible to work
seated or standing, according to a British investigation.
In muscular work output has been found to increase from 2 to 13
percent when workers could alternate sitting and standing. Dr. Vernon,
one of the foremost British authorities, concludes that such changes have
even more effect than rest pauses.
VI. General Plant Sanitation and Safety Is Essential
Clean and well-ordered establishments are necessary for
health of workers, and for their greatest production as well.
This includes the following:
1 . Washing facilities.
Washing facilities in convenient locations with hot and cold
water, soap, and individual towels are essential, as is instruction in proper methods of use. Some more or less serious
forms of skin infection (dermatitis) may result from many
of the substances used in industry. When processes require
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Ejfective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
use of certain poisons, it is essential that hands be washed
frequently.
A recent study in Pennsylvania of persons at work insulating wire
whose skin came in contact with chlorinated naphthalene showed that
this resulted in skin affections for about three-fourths of the workers
reported. Children of parents having the dermatitis also were found
infected as a result of the material being carried home on the skin and
clothing of the worker. Both Pennsylvania and New York Departments of Labor found the disease could be prevented if, in addition to
adequate ventilation, there were provided personal hygiene facilities
including regular wash periods, provision of soap, cold cream, individual towels, and protective lotion.
In a study of industrial dermatitis, a noted Philadelphia skin specialist,
Dr. Joseph V. Klauder, found numerous cases due to inadequate
washing facilities or the use of harmful agents to remove foreign
substances from the skin. "* * * an enormous number of cases
of trade dermatitis are caused annually, not by substances encountered
at work, but by their removal by methods harmful to the skin."
For example, (1) a woman in a printing shop used turpentine and
kerosene for many years in order to remove stains from her hands and
forearms. Dermatitis involved these areas. A patch test with turpentine showed her sensitive to this substance. (2) A woman employed
as a machine "seasoner" in a tannery experienced dermatitis of both
hands. For many years she had been using hypochlorite of soda to
remove stains from her hands and this material was the cause of the
infection.
2. Adequately equipped lunch room, dressing room, and rest room.
These are necessary not alone for the convenience of the
workers. A very real health hazard may result if food is
eaten or street clothes are hung in the workroom where
poisonous substances or tools that may carry poisons are in
constant use. For example, among the measures to prevent
occurrence of lead poisoning are lunch rooms and dressing
rooms separate from the work place.
Working efficiency is reduced if work is continued a long
time without food, according to studies made by Harvard
University. Facilities for getting a good noon meal reduce
sickness, absenteeism, and fatigue.
Margaret Bondfield, formerly at the head of the labor department
in the British Cabinet, stated that in 1914 when cafeterias were put in
British munitions plants men and women workers had, for the first
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Effective Industrial Use of W omen in the Defense Program
time, hot meals on workdays. Production, morale, and general health
were favorably affected. In this country men coming to C. C. C.
camps after a period of unemployment and consequent lack of proper
food gain 8 to 10 pounds and their working efficiency is thus increased.
Adequate rest rooms also contribute to the efficiency of the
work force.
3. Good drinking facilities.
Pure cool water should be provided in places convenient to
workers, with individual cups or sanitary bubbling fountains.
Drinking water can promote health or spread disease. The
American Standards Association has established detailed specifications for sanitary drinking fountains, available from that
organization and well summarized in the National Safety
News, March 1939.
Water will carry disease germs due to impurities in the source
of supply or any other impurities with which it may come in
contact before it reaches the drinker's mouth. It may be
contaminated during storage, distribution, cooling, or by the
way in which it is served. These sources all should be carefully investigated.
Among the diseases known to have been transmitted by depositing
of germs upon drinking devices a:i;e influenza, diphtheria, scarlet fever,
measles, whooping cough, cerebrospinal meningitis, poliomyelitis
smallpox, chickenpox, mumps, septic sore throat, syphilis, tuberculosis,
pneumonia, and the common cold.
The effects of hot, heavy work in sapping strength and
reducing production can be averted by additional supplies of
salt to replace that lost through profuse sweating. Where
heat fatigue may be a problem, salt tablets should be available
in dispensers near drinking fountains. Dosage recommended
is as follows:
Tablets daily
Light to medium work ..•.•.••••••••••••••• ; • • • • • • • . • • . . . • . . . 5 to 6
Medium to heavy work....................................... 8 to 10
Extra heavy, hot work ........................................ 12 to 15
A large steel company in Ohio used to have as many as seven or eight
cases of heat cramps and heat sickness a day during hot spells. They
then began to install a few salt-dispensing machines with such good
results that finally one was placed at every drinking fountain. In a
later year, only one case of heat cramps occurred throughout the entire
summer.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
The medical director of an electrical-supply manufacturing company
stated that cases of heat sickness had been common before the use of
salt tablets. Cases have been rare since.
4. Separate toilets for women.
Toilets should be in locations convenient to workrooms.
They should be kept in a sanitary condition. An adequate
supply of toilet paper should be provided. Washing facilities
should be located nearby. A ratio of at least 1 toilet facility
to every 15 women is recommended by the Women's Bureau.
It is important to have outside ventilation. More detailed
recommendations also are made as to construction of toilets,
materials to be used in bowls, and so forth. (See Women's
Bureau Bul. 99.)
5. Ventilation.
Ventilation of the plant should have special attention based
on scientific knowledge. This is of particular importance to
the health of workers in defense industries, because injurious
chemicals often must be used. Safe ventilation includes
attention to temperature, humidity, air motion, and especially
removal of injurious vapors, fumes, gases, and dusts peculiar
to the industry. The following minimum requirements have
been developed by experts in this field:
(1) Supply of fresh air of not less than 1,000 cubic feet per person per
hour.
(2) Adequate air movement {20 to 40 feet per minute in winter and
higher in summer).
(3) Relative humidity not to exceed 70 percent and preferably less.
(4) In work with poisonous vapors or dusts:
(a) Prevent escape of gases and dusts in the air.
(b) Use exhausts to remove these substances if they are present
in the air.
(c) Provide adequate ventilation and movement of the air.
(d) Provide masks where necessary.
6. General plant housekeeping.
Every floor needs thorough daily cleaning to remove oils,
grease, and materials which may cause falls and to remove dusts
which may otherwise be health hazards. Falls accounted for
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about 4,000 of the 27,000 compensated injuries in manufacturing in New York in 1937. Removal of dust from all surfaces
also reduces fire and explosion hazards. Suction methods of
cleaning are preferable. If sweeping is used, the floor must be
moistened or sweeping compound used to prevent raising dust.
7. Provision of medical department.
It is essential in carrying out heal th and safety measures to
have the services of an industrial physician, who may be continuously on duty or on call, and an industrial nurse.
The well-qualified industrial nurse can produce financial returns. As
an example, one plant of 400 employees reduced its accident frequency
50 percent, cut down number of days lost 87 percent, and decreased
medical aid cases 54 percent through employment of an industrial nurse.
8. Committees of workers.
Every plant should have a committee to whom harmful conditions of all kinds may be reported, and who will cooperate
with management in safety education work.
* * *
STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY STATES
Compliance with the safety, sanitary, and factory inspection
laws of the State in which the work is performed should be the
· first requirement. Where State divisions of industrial hygiene
exist, they should be consulted as to particular problems. 12
STANDARDS REQUIRED IN FEDERAL ACTS
Where standards for labor have not been established by the
State, it should be remembered that the Federal Peblic Contracts Act provides that no work shall be done in surroundings
insanitary or hazardous or dangerous to health and safety of
employees. This applies to supplementary materials as well as
those contracted for.
12 Industrial hygiene divisions have been established in the following States and Territories: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New
Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin,
Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
VII. Practical Work Clothing For Women Prevents Injury
The following general standards should apply on this
impor(ant matter:
1. Clothing must be reasonably comfortable in any temperature in
which it is worn.
2. It must fit and not interfere with workers' movements.
3. It must afford adequate protection against the hazard for which it
is designed.
[See National Safety Council, Safety Fashions for Women in Industry.]
Safety hats.-A large metal-products factory in the Middle West
has standardized work clothing for their women factory employees with
safety in mind. The safety hat is a light comfortable cap of attractive
design, confining loose hair and yet standing up from the head sufficiently so that revolving machinery cannot catch in the cap and from
there into the hair.
Illustrative of the need for protective caps around moving machinery
is the case of a girl whose hair caught in a machine as she leaned over
to tighten it. Her head was pulled into the moving parts of the
machine.
Gloves.-Protective gloves or finger stalls of material suitable to the
hazard should be used where hot or sharp-edged parts are handled, and
in some cases where substances used may poison the skin. Cuts and
burns and skin diseases are reduced by these precautions.
Uniforms.-Uniforms sometimes are needed, as, for example, to
prevent skirts from getting caught in machinery. One company has
designed for its women employees a jumper suit that fits snugly for
this purpose and is provided in attractive colors. Such uniforms are
useful in work such as airplane repairing, where climbing is necessary.
Shoes.-Falls are a major cause of women's injuries, ranking first in most
States reporting. Major causes of these may be wet or slippery floors,
unprotected stairways, cluttered aisles, and so forth, but shoes play an
important part in such accidents. Thin soles, high heels, worn-out
shoes are hazards. The general rules that heels must be sensible, no
cut-out toes, and no bedroom slippers are sufficient in many plants.
Where special safety shoes are needed they should be provided and
required. In a study of the 36 foot injuries occurring in a rubber factory in 1938 it was found that 22 could have been prevented by use of
safety shoes and 7 others much reduced in severity.
Leggings, spats, and aprons.-These may be a safety necessity for certain
operations. A large plate-glass company has devised a special foot
protector for girls, covering the ankle and top of the foot.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
15
Jewelry.-Jewelry may be the cause of painful injury, and should not
be worn at work around machinery.
Goggles.-The necessity for goggles is evidenced by the fact that 80 percent of the 1,800 to 2,000 eye injuries occurring in New York every
year are caused by flying bodies. In a metal factory employing 25,000
workers, $25,000 was spent on goggles with a resultant saving in two
years of $116,000.
VIII.
Moderate Hours of Work Result
Quantity Production
tn
Quality and
The hour standards that have been established in the past
few years should be maintained. Such a policy is possible and
essential in the defense program. Such a policy is sound, as it
will mean jobs for more workers. Thus expanded production
should lead to employment of many more persons. The millions of unemployed men and women constitute an available
labor supply on which to draw.
The effort to speed up production should not lead to longer
hours or overtime for those already employed. Industrial
history during the last World War and since proves that this is
a short-sighted policy, whereas reasonable and regular hours
mean more efficient workers. 13
The moderate working hours recently set up as standards are
conducive to increased production and better quality of goods.
Such hours are a highly effective means of safeguarding the
workers against undue fatigue and conserving their energies to
enable them to produce steadily under pressure over a long
period.
1. Daily and weekly hours.
The basic schedule should not exceed 8 hours a day and
40 hours a week.
This schedule is the standard provided by the Public Contracts Act,
and that to become effective October 24, 1940, under the Federal Fair
Labor Standards Act. In recent years many plants have adhered to
this schedule and found it satisfactory.
13 See U. S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau, Bull. No. 43, Standard and
Scheduled Hours of Work for Women in Industry. Washington, D. C., 1925, pp. 1-10.
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Effective Industrial Use _o f Women in the Defense Program
The following are typical illustrations o{ the value of moderate hours
to a program of expanded production:
The 8-hour day.-An investigation by a committee of Federated American Engineering Societies, of continuous-process industries that had
changed from 12-hour to 8-hour shifts, showed that no technical difficulties were encountered, and where good planning and care in execution were used, the effect on quality and quantity of production was
satisfactory. For some plants in practically every major continuousprocess industry there was reported an increase in production of 25
percent or more per man and a marked decrease in absenteeism and
labor turnover .14
A report published in 1919 by the National Industrial Conference
Board, on a survey of hours of work, contained the following statement
by a representative of a large firm (conducting practically all branches
of metal manufacturing) in regard to its change to an 8-hour day from
longer hours: "We are convinced * * * that the shorter day
does conduce to a larger output, better quality of work, better health
conditions, to the decrease in the number of accidents, and to the contentment of our workers." 111
The 40-hour week.-The United States Government Printing Office
after changing to a 5-day week ( 40 hours) in 1932 reported that the
production per employee had increased by from 4 to 10 percent and
that the daily output of the plant was greater than in the 5}~-day week
(44 hours). 16
2. D ays of rest.
At least one and a half, and preferably two, days of rest
should be allowed in every seven_ days.
The value of such a break in working time in terms of health and
efficiency of women workers was stressed in a report by a committee on
health of munition workers in Great Britain in 1915. This report dealt
also with the detrimental effects of the long hours, including the 7-day
week, that had been used during the first year of the first World War
with the hope of speeding up production. The study proved the value
of the changed policy of shorter hours. The following excerpts from
the report are of interest:
"If the maximum output is to be secured and maintained for any
length of time, a weekly period must be allowed. Except for quite
14 Federated American Engineering Societies.
Committee on Work Periods in Continuous Industry. The Twelve-Hour Shift in Industry. 1922. pp. 13-14.
15 National Industrial Conference Board. Research Report No. 18. Hours of Work
as Related to Output and Health of Workers: Metal Manufacturing Industries. July
1919.
16 U. S. Printing Office. Annual Report of the Public Printer. Washington, D. C.
1932, 1933.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
17
short periods, continuous work * * * is a profound mistake and
does not pay * * * output is not increased.17
"The importance to women of a wise limitation of their hours of work
and an appropriate distribution of the pauses in those hours can hardly
be overstated. The weight of scientific evidence is behind such limitation, and without it health and efficiency cannot be maintained; The
week-end rest has been found a factor of such importance in maintaining
health and vigor that it has been reinstated by employers who had taken
it for work at the beginning of the war. The committee are strongly of
the opinion that for women and girls a portion of Saturday and the
whole of Sunday should be available for rest." 18
3. Time for meals.
A regular time should be set for any meal eaten at the plant,
the period allowed varying from 30 to 60 minutes according to
circumstances.
Working efficiency is reduced if work is continued a long time without
food, according to studies made by Harvard University. 19
Where lunch facilities are such as to make a half-hour meal period
practicable, workers often prefer this to a longer break in the work
schedule in order to have an earlier closing period.
4. Rest periods.
A rest of at least 10 minutes m the middle of each 4-hour
period without lengthening the workday is essential. The
worker should not have to pay for such rest periods.
A report by the National Industrial Conference Board in 1919 gives
definite data on the value of rest periods, compiled in a survey of 104
establishments in the United States, after they had introduced rest
periods. Many firms reported an improvement in quality of work,
especially where the task required concentrated attention. The management of an establishment employing 13,000 women stated, "We feel
that it pays in output and quality of work to have rest periods." 20
Analysis of another study showed that in various occupations the immediate effect of allowing a rest period was to increase the output 2.8
percent, and in other groups tested some months after introduction of
the rest period output had increased 6.2 percent. 21
17 Great Britain.
Ministry of Munitions. Health of Munition Workers Committee.
Memorandum No. 1. 1915.
18 Great Britain.
Ministry of Munitions. Health of Munition Workers Committee.
Memorandum No. 4, Employment of Women. 1915.
19 Journal of Industrial Hygiene.
Industrial Fatigue, September 1936, vol. 18, p. 417.
20 National Industrial Conference Board. Research Report No. 13, Rest Periods for
Industrial Workers. 1919.
21 British Industrial Fatigue Research Board, Report No. 47, 1928. p, 16.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
Employees coming under the Fa~r Labor Standards Act must be paid for
short rest periods (up to and including 20 minutes), the Administrator of
the Act has decreed.
5. Overtime.
Overtime should be avoided as far as possible. The following illustrations stress the detrimental effects of overtime:
The report by the British Committee on the Health of Munition Workers,
already referred to, stated: " * * * flagging output * * * characterizes
the last hours of overtime during the day, and it is stated that the disadvantages of the overtime system are being increasingly recognized by
employers." 22
The decreased efficiency characteristic of overtime work is shown by a
study of output in relation to hours in a motor plant on an 8-hour day and
a metal plant on a 10-hour day. In the last hour of the day, even when
allowance was made for stoppage of machinery, and so forth, the 8-hour
plant had an output 10.2 percent below its own efficiency but the 10-hour
plant showed a decline of 20. 9 percent. 23
When overtime is necessary it should be spread among all
available workers. Overtime wages should be time and a
half the regular rate of pay for each hour in excess of the 8
hours a day or 40 hours a week.
IX.
Minimum-Wage Standards and Prevailing-Wage
Standards Should Be Maintained
The health, morale, and efficiency of women as workers can
be maintained only if they are paid wages sufficient to enable
them to buy the necessities of life, and wages that are commensurate with the services rendered.
1. Minimum rates.
The rates set by the Secretary of Labor under the Public
Contracts Act are required in plants in the various industries
operating under contract with the Federal Government.
All minimum rates set up under the Federal Fair Labor
Standards Act must be complied with by all establishments
covered by the law. The act permits no wage differentials on
the basis of age or sex.
22 Great Britain. Ministry of Munitions. Health of Munition Workers Committee.
Memorandum No. 4, Employment of Women. 1915.
23 U. S. Public Health Service. Bulletin 106, "Comparison of an Eight-Hour Plant
and a Ten-Hour Plant,"
February 1920.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
19
Existing State minimum-wage rates must be complied with
by all establishments covered unless such rates are superseded
by Federal rates.
2. Wage policies.
Rates should be based on occupation and not on sex or race
of the worker.
The standard of wages prevailing for men should not be
lowered where women are employed.
Certain uniform practices in setting wage rates are essential
to the good of all concerned. Effort should be made to arrive
at clearly defined occupations or standard rates, whether
computed by the hour or by the piece.
3. Overtime rates.
The rate of pay for all hours in excess of the basic hour
schedule should be at least one and a half times the regular
rate which a woman is paid.
4. Wages and living costs.
Wage rates should be revised periodically and adjusted to
marked rise in cost of living.
X. Training and Employment Policies Should Be Adjusted
To Women's Needs
The program of rapidly expanded production m defense
industries calls for sound employment policies; otherwise,
discontent among · workers and dislocation among industries
may result, and retard and cripple the program unduly. On
the other hand, elimination of causes of friction will make for
a satisfied and satisfactory labor force and greater output.
Such policies must be carefully worked out from the viewpoint both of the defense program and of normal manufacture
of goods. The situation must be analyzed in regard to men
and women workers, both those having jobs and those seeking
jobs. Attention must be given to the needs of the present
situation in relation to future needs, particularly the period
just following the completion of the emergency program.
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Ejfective Industrial Use of Women in the Dejense Program
1. Dislocation.
Effort should be made to prevent dislocation in industry that
is bound to result if women and men are drawn from their
regular jobs into expanding defense industries. The present
emergency program is not so acute as was that during the
World War, when considerable sudden shifting of women to
take men's jobs was essential. Also today there are large
numbers of men and women available for the new jobs.
In the World W ar the " quick shift from a peace to a war footing
contributed as much at first to the dislocation of normal industrial
conditions as did the drafting of millions of men from the ranks of
producers to the service in the Army and Navy." 24
2. Training.
Women should be tr·a ined for those jobs in defense industries
for which experience has shown women to be fitted, and also
for other new jobs suited to their physique.
3. Training methods.
Training in the plant usually is necessary for workers
employed for processes new to them, but in many instances
women may require somewhat more extensive training than
men require. This is due to the fact that girls are not given
the same opportunity in vocational schools to secure a general
mechanical training and background.
Women should be trained in a special section before being
assigned to the production room, especially for work in divisions hitherto staffed by men. This arrangement permits
the weeding out of unsuitable workers and the developing of
the best methods. It also prevents the slowing up of work in
the production room that is bound to result from the presence
and efforts of inexperienced persons.
When a foreman must train women, care should be taken to
choose one who is willing and able to do this task, and who
understands the lack of knowledge of mechanical terms on the
part of many women.
24
U.S. D epartment of Labor, W om en 's Bureau, Bul. 12, The New Position of Women
in American Industry. Washington, D. C., 1920. p. 2.
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program
21
During the period of 1914-18 the training section for women varied in
size from one set up in the corner of a large workroom to large establishments giving intensive training to women workers. The typical school
trained about 30 women at a time. Arithmetic, blueprint reading, the
use of measuring instruments, were taught in addition to the operation of
the essential machines. The length of the course varied from 10 days
to 3 weeks.
Training in the plant should be a legitimate expense of the
employer. Women as trainees should be paid an hourly rate
until they are ready to go on into regular production work.
4. Personnel management.
The appointment of a competent person as employment executive where women are employed, with responsibilities for
conditions and policies especially affecting women, is necessary. A well-qualified woman in such a position usually will
get the best results.
5. Collective bargaining.
Opportunity should be given women workers to participate
in trade-union organization and collective bargaining, which
have been established by law as fundamental rights.
Women should be included among employee representatives
charged with responsibilities for maintenance of existing standards or development of other desirable standards.
XI. Industrial Home Work Should Be Prohibited on
Government Contracts
Home manufacture of industrial products is not likely to result
in best production methods. During the World War disease
and dirt were found in many homes where the sewing on Army
goods was done, the women in these tenements working early
and late to complete their tasks. Army overcoats were found
in homes, piled in the dark bedrooms and in heaps on dirty
floors.
Pay for industrial processes done in the home ordinarily is
found to be far below pay in the factory, and it frequently is
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Effective Industrial Use of Women in the l)ejense Program
true that several members of the family, including small
children, must work to obtain these earnings.
Twenty States have industrial home-work regulation: Cali. fornia, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas,
Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
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