Report of the Coloured Labour Compound Commission appointed to enquire into the cubic amount of air-space in the compounds of the mines of the Witwatersrand.

Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Coloured Labour Compound Commission appointed to enquire into the cubic amount of air-space in the compounds of the mines of the Witwatersrand. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Majority Report. considers that it would not be justified in fixing the standard for carbonic acid in the air of the compounds at a lower figure than .6 per i,ooo of carbon dioxide as respiratory impurity. PART II. The Compound Huts^and Cubic Air-space, 22. The Report of the Transvaal Medical Society was handed in as evidence to the Commission (see Appendix A.) 23. In this report the Committee of the Transvaal Medical Society recom- mended that the huts be built on certain lines, and that means should be adopted, which they specified, in order to secuie adequate ventilation. These recom- mendations being adopted, the Committee considered that 200 cubic feet per head of the full complement of boys occupying each hut would be amply sufficient to secure that the air should never appreciably exceed the standard of vitiation ; the standard upon which the Committee worked, and which they adopted, being .6 per 1,000 of total CO2—a very severe test. The Commission were aware that this proposal of the Medical Society (200 cubic feet per head) is less than is required in common lodging-houses in towns in England, and, although the surrounding conditions in the Transvaal are so very different, the compounds standing in the open veld at a considerable distance from other buildings, decided to hear evidence on this point. 24. The Committee of the Transvaal Medical Society summarised their conclusions and recommendations as follows :— “ (i) Cubic air-space allowance is, per se, no sufficient guarantee of adequate ventilation. “ (2) That the essential requirement is adequate air change, and that the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) present in the air is the best objective criterion of its efficiency, the permissible limit of total CO2 being,, according to De Chaumont, 0.6 parts per 1,000 volumes of air; according to Haldane, 1.2 parts per 1,000. (The Commission, as- already stated, has adopted 0.6 per 1,000 above the outside air as their standard of respiratory impurity.) “ (3) Th^, given a sleeping-room of 4,000 cubic feet capacity, allowing 200 cubic feet of air-space with square foot air-inlet and ^ square foot air-outlet for each person, the amount of CO2 in the air at the end of eight hours would theoretically be 0.67 parts per 1,000 when 60 per cent, of the full complement are simultaneously accommodated,, and 0.77 per 1,000 when 90 pe*r cent, are sleeping. [The Chairman of the Chamber of Mines stated (see Appendix A) that during five- sevenths of each week not more than 66 per cent, of the full com- plement of boys would simultaneously occupy any room, and that during the remaining two-sevenths (Saturday and Sunday nights) the proportion of the complement would be about go per cent. “ (4) That if such rooms are, in addition, provided with a hooded stove, with a 6-inch flue, and, if around this flue, there is a second tube 12 inches in diameter, with a bell-shaped opening 8 feet from the ground, the amount of CO2 in the air at the end of eight hours, assuming the fire was burning during that time, will be 0.64 per 1,000 where 66 per cent, of the boys are sleeping, and 0.74 per .1,000 where 90 per cent, are present. “ (5) That, under these conditions, the vitiation at its worst would be only slightly over De Chaumont’s limit (0.6 per 1,000) and much under Haldane’s limit (1.2 per 1,000), which latter is considered good enough for workers in English factories ; moreover, it is four Ernes less than what is possible in common lodging-houses which meet modern bye-law requirements, and five times less than that unfortunately permitted in many elementary school-rooms in winter. “ (6) That theoretically, therefore, the provision of air change is reason- ably sufficient if 200 cubic feet of air-space, together with inlet and outlet area, and extraction by heat, be provided, as above indi- cated.”