A follow-up study of pneumoconiosis in an iron foundry and some investigations into the effect of foundry dust in the lungs.

In a survey of health and environmental conditions in the Butterley Foundries (Keatinge and Potter, 1945) one of the principal health risks to which the workers were exposed was found to be pneumoconiosis, and it was estimated that the potential dust risk of fettlers was many times greater than that to which other workers in the foundries were exposed. Sixty foundry men, divided into broad occupational groups, five fettlers, 31 moulders, 24 others, were submitted to x-ray examination of the chest. Two out of the five fettlers examined were affected in comparison with only eight out of the 31 moulders. Since the publication of this survey a number of other inquiries have been made into the health of foundry workers and the environmental conditions in foundries (Eskildsen, 1949; Gordon, 1950; Vigliani, Parmeggiani, and Zanetti, 1948; Zanetti and Dompe, 1950) but the most extensive has been that undertaken by McLaughlin (1950), in which 2,767 people were examined. McLaughlin and his colleagues however found that in the iron foundry the moulder as compared with the fettler was exposed to a greater risk of silicosis probably due to the use of silica parting powders. Although several surveys have been made of the health of foundry workers, few follow-up studies appear to have been carried out in Great Britain. Since the last study of the Butterley Foundries was published nearly 10 years ago it was felt that a further survey of the incidence of respiratory disease amongst those examined on a previous occasion might prove instructive; in considering the findings of the present survey, it must be borne in mind that it is iron-founding alone which is carried out at Butterley. There are three foundries at Butterley: No. 1 Foundry produces small, medium, and light castings, on a semi-mechanized basis; No. 2 Foundry makes large castings of a general nature; and No. 3 Foundry very light castings on a fully mechanized unit. More than 200 workers are employed in the foundries, of whom 20 are engaged in fettling, 50 in moulding, 16 in core-making, and the remainder in other work. The work done is representative of many branches of iron-founding, and the building and general conditions are of a kind very usual in the industry. The dust environment in the Butterley Foundries has not altered materially since the previous survey was carried out and is comparable with that recorded in other iron foundries by McLaughlin (1950). Examination of the dust (at Sheffield University) showed obvious large particles, and a fine fraction was separated by suspension in tap water and decanting into a large filter, after the larger particles had sedimented. Samples of the dust after separation of this fine fraction showed that it contained 35 to 36% of total silica, and 38% of iron, (reckoned as Fe2O3): chemical analysis (Trostel and Wynne, 1940) gave the percentage of free silica as 24 8% and x-ray analysis gave a figure of 18 5%.