Health in Industry

Men and women in war industries should not work more than six days a week, with a maximum of 56 hours for men, 44 for women. They should have balanced nutritious food, snacks between meals while at work.

These rules of health were recommended at the Congress on Industrial Health in Chicago last week by a physiologist, who declared they were based on British war experience.

All Work and No Play? Famed Physiologist Andrew Conway Ivy of Northwestern University, in a paper on The Physiology of Work, summarized the lessons the British learned after Dunkirk when men in British factories began to work a seven-day week (from 70 to 80 hours):

1) "An extension of the usual hours, except for a short period, does not yield a proportional increase in output."

2) "After an extended period of overtime has been discontinued, weeks are required before the original steady output is attained."

3) "More than 60 hours per week leads to lost time during work, increased absenteeism and sickness. . . ."

4) "Organized or enforced rest periods, particularly with an opportunity to take food during the period, assist in the maintenance of a high output level."

Said Dr. Ivy: "One day's rest in seven is essential. We cannot win the war with work alone. Work demands rest, good food, wholesome recreation."

Food, Not Pills. Mass distribution of vitamin pills to factory workers is "irrational, unwise, uneconomical." So declared the American Medical Association's Council on Foods & Nutrition, headed by Dr. James Somerville McLester of Birmingham, Ala.

What working men need, declared the Council, are nourishing, vitamin-rich snacks between meals to still their hunger pangs, keep up their blood-sugar level, provide energy. The doctors suggested:

1) since meals in company cafeterias are often "inadequate" in vitamins, they should be planned by trained dietitians;

2) workers who need extra energy should be served "Oslo meals" in mid-morning and afternoon. Originally given to Norwegian school children, Oslo meals (now used in British factories) consist of wholemeal bread, cheese, half an orange, half an apple, a raw carrot, a little less than a pint of milk.

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