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OCCUPATION MORTALITY STATISTICS OF

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND, 1890-1907.

BY F. S. CRUM.

The annual reports of the Medical Officer of Health of Sheffield, England, have long been of special interest and value because they have contained occupation mortality data. This fact in itself is sufficient to mark the reports as being unique, for mortality by occupation is very rarely included in the health reports of England or any other country. Sheffield being an important centre for the manufacture of cutlery and files, many men are employed there as cutlers, grinders, toolmakers, file-makers, etc., and the occupation statistics are of special value because they throw considerable light upon certain trades which are health-injurious.

The present report, like those for many previous years, contains the tabulated mortality returns for all of the important occupations. The industries of special importance, however, are those already specifically mentioned. The following table found on page xi of the report for 1907 will indicate in a rough way the effect of certain occupations on mortality, and particularly their effect on the mortality from certain causes of death:

AVERAGE MORTALITY IN SHEFFIELD FROM ALL CAUSES AND FROM

PHTHISIS AND DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS DURING THE THREE YEARS, 1905, 1906, AND 1907, IN CERTAIN DUSTY TRADES, AND AMONG ALL MALES OVER TWENTY YEARS OF AGE.

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This table would have been more useful if it had been given by divisional periods of life, but even in its present form it is suggestive of the baneful effect on health of certain trades which expose the workmen to mineral and metallic dust. The mortality rate from all causes is shown to have been more than double the expected rate for grinders and cutlers, and excessive for file-cutters and other metal-goods workers. The mortality from phthisis was more than six times as high for grinders as for all males, and very much in excess also among the other metal workers. The mortality from respiratory diseases was four times as high for cutlers as for all occupied males, and considerably in excess among other metal workers.

Unfortunately, the number of persons employed in the various trades peculiar to Sheffield are not available by divisional periods of life, and it is therefore impossible to calculate deathrates by age groups. The mortality returns, however, are given by age groups and by principal causes of death, and a study of these statistics can be made in such a manner as to show the proportion which certain causes of death bear to the mortality from all causes at various divisional periods of life. This method, when used in a comparative way, is very suggestive and perhaps quite as determining for certain purposes as deathrates per 1,000 living.

In the following tables a summary is presented of the statistics of four typical trades-grinders, cutlers, tool-makers, and file-cutters for the eighteen-year period 1890-1907, for the purpose of showing whether or not there has been any improvement in the mortality from phthisis and respiratory diseases of the workmen in the trades specified:

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I. PROPORTIONATE MORTALITY OF GRINDERS FROM PHTHISIS AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES IN SHEFFIELD, 1890-1907.

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II. PROPORTIONATE MORTALITY OF CUTLERS FROM PHTHISIS AND RESPIRATORY DISEASES, SHEFFIELD, 1890-1907.

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"The term cutler has not, in Sheffield, the meaning popularly given it; that of a maker of scissors, forks, razors, and other small cutting uten-
sils. Such a one is a dry grinder; whereas a cutler is one who makes heavier goods, edge-tools, saws and scythes, all of which are wet ground." (Ar-
lidge, Diseases of Occupation," p. 341.)

"The baneful tendency of the trade [grinding] is not confined to dry grinding; the position in which the artisans work is exceedingly unfavor-
able to the action of the lungs, the upper half of the body being constantly bent forward over the revolving stone; and in the branches in which dry
grinding is not used, the articles, such as saws, scythes and edge tools, are heavy, demanding great muscular exertion. Independently, however,
of the bodily exhaustion which is occasioned, the grinders are exceedingly subject to acute inflammatory diseases from the exposed situations in which
they work." (Holland, "The Vital Statistics of Sheffield," p. 115.)

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