WELFARE SUPERVISION--PROTECTIVE CLOTHING--REST-ROOMS AND FIRST AID--WOMEN
POLICE
The problems arising from the sudden employment of thousands of women in
the factories have obviously been connected not only with the technical
training of the workers and with the adaptation of machinery to their
physical strength. Something had to be done, and that without delay, to
ensure the comfort and safety in the workshops of these new-comers to
industrial life.
In the first great rush for an increased munitions supply, war emergency
dictated the temporary suppression of the Factory Acts. There was no demur
within the factory gates. Women worked without hesitation from twelve to
fourteen hours a day, or a night, for seven days a week, and with the
voluntary sacrifice of public holidays. Their home conditions in a vast
number of cases offered no drop of consolation. Many of these women were
immigrants from remote corners of the Empire, or from faraway towns and
villages of the United Kingdom. Housing accommodation in crowded
industrial areas, or in a thinly populated countryside, was strained to
breaking-point. Undaunted, these workers--many of whom had previously led
an entirely sheltered life--rose before dawn to travel long distances to
the factory, and returned to take alternative possession with a
night-shift worker of a part share of a bedroom. The shameful conditions
to which the factory children were subjected at the period of the
Industrial Revolution seemed about to return.
_Welfare Supervision_
Such a state of things could not be tolerated, and Mr. Lloyd George, then
Minister of Munitions, grasped the situation. 'The workers of to-day', he
said, 'are the mothers of to-morrow. In a war of workshops the women of
Britain were needed to save Britain; it was for Britain to protect them.'
Measures were immediately adopted to improve the conditions of the workers
in the factory. A Departmental Committee was appointed to consider all
questions relating to the health of munition workers, and at the Ministry
of Munitions, on their recommendation, a Welfare and Health Department was
established, charged with 'securing a high standard of conditions for all
workers in munitions factories and more especially for the women and
juvenile employees'. Since then, step by step the machinery is being set
in motion for improving the conditions of life of munition workers.
Yet Welfare work in the factory is no new thing in England. In pre-war
days it had not, it is true, reached as widespread a development as in the
United States, but as long ago as 1792 it was in practice in this country
under another name. It is recorded of that period of one David Dale, whose
factory was a model to his contemporaries, that he 'gave his money by
shovelfuls to his employees' to find that 'God shovelled it back again.'
From the early part of the nineteenth century, sporadic attempts were
successfully made to improve the conditions of the factory workers over
and above the requirements of legislation, and before 1914 a number of
enlightened factory owners had won renown by the practice of Welfare work
within their precincts. The seal of official sanction has, however, only
been gained since the war, through the influx of women into munitions
trades.[1]
The Health of Munitions Workers Committee has, since its inception,
investigated at factory after factory such questions as the employment of
women, hours of labour, Sunday labour, juvenile employment, industrial
fatigue, canteen equipment, the dietary of workers. It has published its
conclusions in memoranda, stripped bare of officialism, so as to reveal
with frankness facts acquired by scientists in touch with reality.
Working in connexion with this Committee is the Welfare and Health
Department of the Ministry of Munitions. It follows closely the
suggestions of the experts, its Welfare officers moving up and down the
country, now offering a suggestion to the management of a factory, and
again, assimilating some practical experiment in Welfare work, originated
by a progressive factory-directorate. Thus, a pooling of ideas is being
effected, and isolated experiments of value are now being propagated
throughout the country.
But possibly one of the most valuable tasks of the Welfare and Health
Department is the selection and training of candidates for the work of
Welfare Supervision in the factories. A panel of approved candidates is
kept in readiness, so that a busy factory-manager may have at hand a
choice of Welfare workers who will, if necessary, undertake the entire
supervision of the personal interests of his female, or juvenile staff.
These officers, after engagement by the factory management, are
responsible solely to the firms that employ them and not to the Ministry
of Munitions. In establishments where T.N.T. (Tri-nitro-toluene) is
handled, the presence of a lady Welfare Supervisor is compulsory; in all
National factories such an officer is recognized as a necessary part of
the staff; and in Controlled Establishments, where a number of female
operators are employed, the management is officially encouraged to make
such an appointment.
In many cases, engineering shops are for the first time employing female
operators, and the management depute with relief all questions as to the
personal requirements of the 'new labour' to the lady superintendent; in
other instances, such matters as the engagement of the employees, canteen
arrangements, and so on, are placed in the hands of other officials.
Hence, the duties of the lady Welfare Supervisor differ from factory to
factory. Generally speaking, the supervisor, or lady superintendent within
the factory is made responsible for some, or all, of the following
matters:
1. She aids, or is entirely responsible for, the selection of women,
girls, and boys for employment.
2. The general behaviour of the women and girls inside the factory falls
under her purview.
3. The transfer of a woman employee from one process to another is
suggested by the Welfare Supervisor where health considerations make such
an alteration advisable.
4. She is consulted on general grounds with regard to the dismissal of
women and girls.
5. Factory conditions come under her observation, and reports are made,
when necessary, to the management, on the cleanliness, ventilation, or
warmth of the establishment.
6. The necessity of the provision of seats is suggested, where this is
possible.
7. In large factories, where the canteen is under separate management, the
Welfare Supervisor reports as to whether the necessary facilities are
available for the women employees. In smaller factories, the Welfare
Supervisor may be called upon to manage the canteen.
8. While not responsible, except in small factories, for actual attention
to accidents, the Welfare Supervisor works in close touch with the factory
doctors and nurses. She also helps in the selection of the nurses, and
should see that their work is carried out promptly. She supervises the
keeping of all records of accidents and illness in the ambulance room, and
of all maternity cases noted in the factory. She keeps in touch with all
cases of serious accident or illness and with the Compensation Department
inside the works.
9. She supervises cloak-rooms and selects the staff of attendants
necessary for these.
10. The protective clothing supplied to the women at work comes under her
supervision.
In large establishments where the female and juvenile staff is counted by
the thousand, these multifarious duties are necessarily divided among many
individuals, and the Welfare work within the factory (Intra-mural Welfare,
as it is now termed) develops into a Department. A typical example of such
an evolution may be seen at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. In pre-war days,
the female staff numbered 125; to-day some 25,000 women are there at work.
The Welfare supervision is happily in charge of a super-woman. In addition
to her manifold duties she has trained a staff of assistants who, like
herself, spare no effort to promote the health and happiness of those
under their care. I have stood many an hour in this super-woman's office
and watched her, surrounded by a throng of workers, fitting new-comers
into vacancies, listening to reasons from others for a desired
transference, or advising as to work, or meals, health, or recreation. No
girl was refused a hearing, however trivial the difficulty, and a
grievance as to the colour of a factory cap was discussed with as much
attention with one employee as the causes of a 'shop' disagreement was
with another complainant. I have accompanied her on visits through the
works (the entire tour would take almost a week to accomplish), and have
noted the diplomacy with which a suggested improvement in ventilation, or
a needed cloak-room alteration, was discussed with the official in charge,
and carried through. I have seen the faces of rows of workers light up as
this modern Florence Nightingale passed through their shop, and have
walked through the Danger Zone amazed at the arrangements for the
protection of the worker.
What is true of the life in such large concerns as Woolwich Arsenal, or
His Majesty's Factory, Gretna, is typical on a large scale of the
development of Welfare work in many a munitions factory throughout the
kingdom. Protective clothing has been universally adopted, ambulance-rooms
and rest-rooms have been opened, cloak-room accommodation improved,
canteens established, sane recreation encouraged, and the protection of a
women-police service introduced. In short, an atmosphere is being
introduced by which the old-time barrier between employer and employed is
being helped to disappear.
_Protective Clothing_
So much has been accomplished since the advent of women in the munitions
factories with regard to protective clothing for the worker that the
subject might well fill a chapter to itself. A separate Department in the
Ministry of Munitions now concerns itself solely with its supply, and is
continually experimenting with improvements in aprons, gloves, boots,
caps, and tunics. Cotton overalls are now generally worn by the women
employees and much thought has been given to the production of these
garments in suitable materials and design. They are made with firmly
stitched belts and with inset pockets, so as to avert accidents by contact
of loose ends in the machinery, and are more often in the popular shades
of khaki, or brown, with scarlet facings, or dark blue faced with crimson.
But there is no set rule either as to colour, or design, so long as the
principle of protection is followed.
Caps, which at first were much disliked by the workers, have at length
found general favour, not, it is true, by reason of the immunity they
offer against accident, but because they have been fashioned so as to add
'chic' to the wearer. They are usually of the 'Mob,' or 'Dutch' variety,
and match the overall in colour and texture; they are all designed so that
there is no pressure round the head. Sometimes, the cap of safety has been
skilfully used as a mark of distinction, and one may see, in a shop
staffed by women, the operators at the machines in khaki headgear, the
setters-up of machines in scarlet caps, and the overlookers or inspectors
of the product in bright blue head-dress.
For wet and dusty work there are trouser suits in cotton, woollen, or
mackintosh, or tunic suits with knee breeches and leggings, or gaiters.
Mackintosh coats are also provided for outdoor work in shipyards, or for
trucking and lorrying, or for overhead crane-work within the factory.
Acid-proof and oil-proof aprons are now furnished for certain operations,
and for other processes specially prepared gloves are supplied. The
varieties in workshop gloves are now very great; they are made in such
materials as india-rubber, canvas, or leather, or a union of these three,
or in teon-faced canvas or teon-faced leather. Some are cuffless; others,
for work in acids, have turned-up cuffs, and others again are gauntlets
reaching the elbow. In every case, the process for which they are provided
is minutely studied, and the fashion adopted is dictated by utility.
Footgear has also received a considerable amount of attention, and there
are now available Wellington boots, or half-Wellingtons, for outdoor work,
or wooden clogs for processes in the shops where the flooring is apt to
become persistently wet.
But, possibly, factory fashions receive most care when designed for
wearers in Filling shops. For these, suits in wool lasting-cloth are found
satisfactory, the most popular and smartest being in cream-colour, faced
with scarlet. Fire-proofed blue serge overalls and asbestos coats with
caps of the same material are also employed in certain of these factories.
For work in the Danger Zone no metal fasteners are permissible, and the
coat, or overall, is cut so as to protect the neck and throat from contact
with the powder used in the process.
Boots and shoes for this type of work are also specially designed. No iron
must enter into their composition, the soles being either machine-sewn, or
riveted with brass. Sometimes, cloth and india-rubber over-shoes are the
chosen footwear of the Danger Zone, and in this case the fasteners must
also be free from iron. These precautions are no mere fad, but essential
safeguards where friction between a fragment of iron and a combustible
powder might lead to an explosion. Respirators, and in some cases veils,
are also needful accessories of the Filling factory, and these too are
provided for the workers.
A complete factory uniform has thus evolved since the war: it is a model
of suitable clothing for industrial work. Arising from within the
workshops to meet essential needs, these fashions are not only free from
vulgarity, or eccentricity, but have a distinct beauty of their own. It is
unlikely that women, once accustomed to the comfort and cleanliness of
such garments, will desire to return to the discredited habit of tarnished
finery worn at work.
_Rest-Rooms and First Aid_
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 L500 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.
Inside the workshops the spirit of reform is equally apparent; seats are
provided where possible, and lifting-tackle, or sliding boards, are
introduced to minimize strain when dealing with heavy weights. Sometimes,
one hears how such improvements, suggested for the women employees, are
extended to the men. At a certain engineering works, for example, where in
pre-war days women had never been employed, it was suggested by a
Government official that seats should be supplied for the women. The
management looked askance. It would be 'such a bad example to the
apprentices', it was said. The point was, however, pressed, and after a
short time the suggestion materialized. The manager then stated, with
surprised satisfaction, that the seats 'seemed to renew people', and he
had accordingly extended the improvement to the men.
_Women Police_
One of the most recent developments in the protection of women in the
factories is the employment of women police. In the summer of 1916, when
it was found necessary to obtain further control and supervision of the
women employees in munitions works, Sir Edward Henry, the Chief
Commissioner of Police, recommended that the Ministry of Munitions should
apply to the Women Police Service for a supply of trained women police.
This request has now created an extensive development of such work, and
to-day women police are undertaking numerous duties in munitions works.
They check the entry of women into the factory; examine passports; search
for such contraband as matches, cigarettes, and alcohol; deal with
complaints of petty offences; assist the magistrates at the police court,
and patrol the neighbourhood of the factory with a view to the protection
of the women employed.
As many of the works have been erected in lonely places, and as the shifts
are worked by night as well as by day, it can easily be imagined what a
safeguard to the young employee is the presence of these female guardians
of the peace. Even within the precincts of the factory, the security
assured by the patrolling police-women is of great importance, since many
of the factories are built on isolated plots extending perhaps six miles
from barrier to barrier, and within these boundaries women are often
employed in isolated huts, should they be engaged on the production of
explosives. The preventive work of the women police is, in these areas,
incalculable.
In such ways, Welfare work has taken root in the factories of Britain, and
in the words of Mr. Lloyd George, 'it is a strange irony, but no small
compensation, that the making of weapons of destruction should afford the
occasion to humanize industry. Yet such is the case.'
[Illustration: SLITTING AND ROUGHING OPTICAL GLASS]
[Illustration: VIEW OF CANTEEN KITCHEN]
[Illustration: WEIGHING FERRO CHROME FOR ANALYSIS]