Blood Contamination: An Industry Hours Model

Considerable good research has been done on the subject of lead in blood. Most of it has been concerned with the effects of automobile exhaust fumes upon ordinary folk going about their everyday business. Less has been devoted to people working in lead contaminated industrial environments. Much of what has been done in this area has been in the nature of statistical surveys, relating average levels of blood lead to particular job situations and surrounding these averages with measures of dispersion and confidence. Nearly all these industrial surveys conclude that personal work-cleanliness is the major reason for dispersions around the averages.

After a study in one of our factories, our Operational Research group was forced to the same conclusion, but with a slightly different twist. As always, the problem was stated with urgency. A few blood lead figures had gone higher than expectations: why? A quick study of the usual statistical type showed conclusively that all the norms were being held; the factory was not generally out of control. Those people with high blood lead concentrations were moved and everyone quieted down again. But OR continued.