THE DAY'S WORK

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 38, 8 November 1919, Page 6

THE DAY'S WORK

A SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION ON HOURS

INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY AN3

FATIGUE

At the vect'iit Congress of British Associations in England a joint meeting of tlio Economic Science Section with tho Physiology Section and the Psychology Sub-Section was lield for tho purpose of discussing "The Influence of the SixHour Day on Industrial Efficiency and Fatigue." Dr. 11. M, Vernon, who opened (he dis. cussion, referred to Lord Leverhnlme's t-uggestion that, instead of the usual eight-hour shift system, in wliich, as a rule, the machinery ran only forty-four hours a week, the workers should be put on to two six-hour shifts every day, viz., from 7 a.m. to 1.110 p.m., and 1.30 p.m. to 10 p.m., with half-hour breaks for meals. By this means the machinery would be kept running for seventy-two hour's per week, and, as the overhead charges for machncry were often higher Hum the cost of wages, it would still bo possible to pay the workers as much for six hours' work as for eight hours' work, even if their rate of production did not improve by reason of the shorter hours. Available evidence did not indicate that there would be much improvement of output in many industries. In the tinplate trade the inillmen sometimes work eight-hour shifts and sometimes six-hour shifts, and their hourly output was found to be only 10 per cent, greater in tho latter instance than in the former. In the iron and steel.industry areduction cf shift from twelve to eight hours caused no increase of' hourly output from blast furnaces and rolling mills, but 2 to !) per cent, increnso from openhearth steel furnaces. In. -the cotton' spinning mills of the United States a reduction of two or three hours in tho weekly-hours of work caused an almost proportional decrease of output.

Experience Among Munition Workers, Verv cifferent results were observed ia curtain munition tindustrics. ' Men engaged in tho somewhat heavy operation of sizing fuso bodies increased'their hourly output 39 per cent, when their nominal hours were reduced from sixty-seven to fifty-six per week, and their actual hours of work from 55.2 per week to 50.U per week, or their total weekly output went up 21 per Sent. Women engaged in turning alumiib'um fuso bodies ou Capstan lathes improved their . hourly output 56 per cent., and their total weekly output 15 per cent., when their boms of actual work were reduced from Gti.O per week to 48.G per week. The reason whv reduction of. hours caused such oifferent effects in different industries was because of tho various degrees to which the work was controlled by the personal element, and by machinery. In sizing fuse bodies the men were not dependent on auv machinery whatever, and could speed up to any extent they wished. In turning fuso Iwdics the women wero .to somo extent limiteo' by the speed of tho machinery. lii|i.inoiher operation known as boring lop caps, the youths employed fed the caps into semi-automatic machines which could not; bo speeded up. Conseanontlv their, output could only bo improved by their keeping more closely 1o their work, and it; was found thai; when their hours of actual work we.ro reduced from 72.5 per week to 53.1 net! week, their hourly output, increased mdy 27 ner cent., or was insufficient to balanco tho reduction of hours, and in consentience their lolal weekly output fell oil' 7 tier cent.

It was m-o'bablo that in most, industries the eight-hour day did not cause more than a moderate amount of physical fatigue. The workers suffered rather from monotony 1 and boredom, as many of them wero engaged on the same task! day after day and year after year. Especially on theso grounds it was to bn hoped that «om« such, scheme as Lord Leverlmlme's would gradually bo adopted in tho industrial world, but it could not como' {■•uddenly, as it might render us unable to compete in the open markets of the world with other countries which adopted, for instance, two seven-and-0.-half-hour'sihifls per day instead of two six-hour shifts.

Experience in America. Sir. P. Sargent Florence reported on investigations made by a committee under the National Research Council of America in co-operation with the United States Public Health Services. Their main report, which.would appear shortly, made a comparison between a tenhour engineering factory and ani'ther of eight hours in' tho matter of accidents, Host time, and labour wastage. Thev had brought out the importance of tlie different typos of work in' producing fatiguo, and tho importance of rhythmical movements in industry. Tho gen. oral effect was in favour of tho' eighthour plan. Tho average ago of tho worker in the o'ght hours' factory was 31, and in the feu hours' factory 2!) to 30. Tin's suggested the problem of What happened to those'over 4-5. It looked as If the strain of industry was one that told very heavily, and that the people wero unable to. continue. Conditions of labour ought to bo made fit for pcoplo to remain lonjror at w(H\ The effect on physical conditions was due to noise, harmful air, and 'iiglit conditions, muscular and eye strain. The presence of noise .was the most important. . Tho lime, interval between operations or various steps in operation-; coiiid 1 e m- asm d, and such measurements could be used as an index of the rhythm. A method was devised of fitting- up the machine to he studied. with electrical contacts, so that each step'in the operation coulo, bo recorded automatically. Experiments showed that in a single movement such as tapping, the coefficient of dispersion on two subjects was 2.40 per cent, and 2.51 per cent. In the facing and scoring fuse ring (hand-screw machine type) the coefficient in one operator was as low as■ 2.74 ner cent.; in the experienced worker if was as high as 8.34 per cent. The fatiirue of the- day did not. seem to lessen the rhvlhm of the operation. Distraction.! such as counting the ringing of a bell, did not seem to interfere with the rhvthm. He suggested that rhythm might avoid fatigue: it relieved attention and its consequent fatigue.

The Consumer Must Come First. Sir Hugh Bell said that if output could btj maintained, if we could enable a man to do his best with energy of twelve or eight or even six hours, no reasonable employer would deny that that was the best solution of the diflicultv. It was because they wero doubtful of that that they were resisting legislative interferences. Dr. Collis had told them that the human unit—a man and 'woman and at least three chilaren—must produce more than it consumed, and in that wav alone could wealth, which was the measure of the commodity of life, lie increased, and we could recover from (he terrible position to which the war had. brought us. Unless we could persuade the community as a whole to produce more our position would' be most disastrous and alarming. (Hear, hear.) A man who restricted his labour was a bad cilizen: an employer who endeavoured lo prevent the importation of articles from abroad was a bad cilizen. too. (Laughter and cheers.) If a solution could be found in shortened hours, in heaven's name lei, the hours be shortened, but let us not try to do it by legislation. ]>i the blast furnace and tho steel trade the hours had been reduced to eight by arrangement, with the men. The negotiations lasted for years, until the men were persuaded that, if the concession' were made, it must be made without increase in the cost of pig-iron, and that was practically accomplished. The same result had just been brought about in tho ste.d trade. Therefore, he thought it obvious when, in large branches of industry, shortened hours could be brought about by negotiations legislation was not necessary. »