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by David M Bloor
My father, Wilf Bloor, was one of the early occupational hygienists in the UK and as a consequence I was, I think, the first second-generation occupational hygienist in the UK, though there are a few more now.
Occupational hygiene (also known as industrial hygiene) is defined as the practice of identifying hazardous agents; Chemical, Physical and Biological; in the workplace that could cause disease or discomfort, evaluating the extent of the risk due to exposure to these hazardous agents, and ensuring control of those risks to prevent ill-health in the long or short term.
After studying Ceramics at the North Staffordshire Technical College my father was appointed the British Pottery Manufacturers Federation Research Scholar from 1936 to 1938. This was a post created and funded by the BPMF who were concerned about the incidence of dust related diseases in their industries. His job was to investigate dust conditions in the industry.
 The work was carried out by a team of three including a Factory Inspector. The measurements were made using some of the first commercially available thermal precipitators for collecting personal samples for particle counting. Salicylic acid filters were used to collect static samples and analysed by petrological and chemical methods to determine silica content. The results of this work were published in 1939 in the Transactions of the British Ceramic Society.
From 1938 until the end of the war my father worked at the Worksop plant of General Refractories, who were engaged in producing refractories for the then vital iron and steel industry.
After the war he moved to the British Iron and Steel Research Association in Sheffield and there went back to work in Occupational Hygiene. He was co-author of 5 papers on dust measurement in foundries and evaluation of local exhaust ventilation systems in the 1951 HMSO publication 'Dust in Steel Foundries' and author of a paper on dust reduction methods for the Institute of British Foundrymen.
In 1951 he returned to his roots and took up a post at the British Ceramic Research Association at Penkhull, where he was responsible for setting up and leading a research unit specifically to investigate dust control in the Pottery Industry. At this time there were over 200 newly diagnosed cases a year of pneumoconiosis in Stoke-on-Trent. When he retired in 1980 that had been reduced to single figures, an achievement he was proud to have been part of.
Despite of the large number of measurements he and his team made over the years he considered that the introduction of the Tyndall Beam, as a tool in visualising dust particles, was a break through in the development of control measures. One of the most important observations was that, despite the use of early designs of exhaust hoods, much of the dust entering the breathing zone of pottery workers was being generated from their cotton clothing. At BCRA he and his team tested many fabrics and clothing designs to provide protective clothing which did not increase exposure. Together with fabric manufacturers they developed what is still known as 'Ceramic Surface Terylene', this had a surface texture and weave which did not retain dust or allow dust to penetrate it while still allowing sufficient 'breathability' to be comfortable to wear. The material was combined with well thought out designs which minimised seams and other dust retaining features on the front of the garments. The material and designs were still in use in potteries world-wide until very recently when research on some new fabrics showed ones with even better performance. The Tyndall Beam also showed up the inefficiency of the local exhaust and general ventilation systems then available and lead to the development of standards for these by BCRA. Together with the other advances made in the ceramic industry there followed a dramatic reduction in the number of cases of dust related diseases.
He was involved in numerous committees, both of trade associations and professional bodies. As chairman of the Section of Occupational Health and Preventative Medicine of the North Staffs Medical Institute he was the first non-physician to hold that post. He was committed to the furthering of the profession of Occupational Hygiene and was for many years a visiting lecturer in Occupational Hygiene to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
My father was an early member of both British Occupational Hygiene Society and the Institute of Occupational Hygienists (which became BIOH in 1997 and merged with the Society again in 2003). He was one of the early Fellows of the Institute and the first Honorary Fellow, as well serving a term as vice-president.
While a student I worked in my father's departmant at BCRA for three summer vacations. Being the boss's son had advantages and disadvantages. I had to start as early as he did and finish as late, but at least I was sure of a ride home at the end of the day. My father felt it was important that everyone working in his department understood the background to the work we were doing, even lowly vacation technicians like myself, so my lunch breaks were spent reading Hunter's 'Diseases of Occupations' and browsing though Patty and the ILO Health and Safety Encyclopaedia and asking questions where I didn't understand.
One thing my father did insist on in his department was the use of hard- backed field notebooks. He often used to quote a maxim that one of his early mentors had as a poster on the laboratory wall - "Notebooks have good memories and so do scraps of paper - if you can find them." This was reinforced in my mind by the visit to my father's office of a lawyer who wanted him to act as an expert witness in a case involving exposure to silica dating back to the late 1930's. My father was able to walk straight to his files and refer to his notebooks from surveys of that time. |
