Vol.
33
A Practical
Housekeeping
Program for Industry*
HERBERT G. DYKTOR, F.A.P.H.A.
Chief Engineer, Bureau of Industrial Hygiene, Michigan Department of
Health, Lansing, Mich.
IN spite of diligent efforts to find a
good definition of the word " house-
keeping," I have been unsuccessful. I
have also discussed this subject with,
many people, and most of them gave
different interpretations. Possibly there
is no exact definition of the word, and,
therefore, it may not be presumptuous
on my part to say what housekeeping
means to me when it is related to an
industrial establishment.
Industrial housekeeping means more
than the slogan " a place for every-
thing and everything in its place "; it
must mean more than painting aisle-
ways and sweeping the aisles. To me,
it is that indefinable reaction when
making -an inspection, that here is a
plant, well organized, well kept, and on
its toes in plant hygiene. For a plant
to create this reaction on a trained ob-
server involves a great deal of planned
effort and some expenditure by manage-
ment, and this cannot be accomplished
either casually or in a day or two.
Housekeeping is not such a simple
matter as it may seem, and so it may
not be amiss at this point to review very
briefly some of the fundamental con-
siderations underlying good plant
housekeeping.
In recent years, the meaning and
* Presented before the Industrial Hygiene Section
of the American Public Health Association at the
Seventy-first Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Mo.,
October 29, 1942.
[557]
scope of housekeeping has expanded
until now many understand it to in-
clude supervision of sanitary facilities,
locker rooms, and the attendant prob-
lems of proper water supplies and
sewage disposal systems, in addition to
the usual cleaning and sweeping
operations.
ELEMENTS OF A GOOD PROGRAM
In my opinion, good housekeeping
comprises the following elements
(these are not necessarily in order of
importance):
1. Men and machines should be so placed
as to provide the easiest and most efficient
flow of production.
2. Operations should be so located that the
health hazards, possibly associated with one
will not imperil workers on another task.
3. Structural and operational arrangements
should be made to permit easy traffic of men
and materials within the plant.
4. Adequate space should be allotted for
the storage of movable equipment and tools
not in current use.
5. A safe water supply and proper sewerage
and sewage disposal facilities must be
provided.
6. Definite janitor service should be fur-
nished for the regular cleaning of sanitary
facilities, locker and eating rooms, windows,
lighting fixtures, and other parts of the
interior of the plant.
7. Proper maintenance of all equipment
must be enforced; this will become a rela-
tively easy matter if the other items are
carried out in a conscientious manner.
I shall not bore you with the func-
558 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
tional details involved in the foregoing
seven elements of good housekeeping.
Detailed information has been furnished
by several capable authors and is
readily available. However, I shall tell
you some of the reasons why good
housekeeping is so essential to all plants.
REASONS FOR PROGRAM
A plant may or may not handle ma-
terial hazardous to health. That is
beside the point, but every plant
should have a health and a safety pro-
gram. They are basic to all plants,
and I do not know of anyone who
would not benefit by having them.
It is my contention, however, that
you cannot have either a good health
program or a good safety program with-
out the foundation of good house-
keeping. What would be the use of
passing workers through a screen of
physical examinations, assigning them
to suitable tasks, and then exposing
them, for instance, to heavy dust con-
centrations often due to poor house-
keeping, or to the potential danger of
infection because of lack of proper
sanitation? What would be the use of
having a fine safety program on paper
if you exposed workers to accidents
because of improper stacking of ma-
terials, bad floor conditions, or poor
equipment maintenance?
To my mind, the logic of having
good housekeeping as a basis for any
health maintenance or accident preven-
tion program is quite plain. I do not
believe that it is necessary for me to
convince you on this point. Rather do
I believe that it might be well to study
the situation and apply remedies where
needed.
We know that the annual loss of in-
dustrial man-hours due to occupational
mishaps is increasing, and we know from
observation that at present housekeep-
ing often is neglected, especiallv in the
smaller plants. Probably there is a
definite connection between these two
Meay, 1943
concurrent experiences due, perhaps, to
a combination of emphasis on produc-
tion, overcrowding of manufacturing
facilities, inexperienced labor, and lack
of proper supervision.
Whatever the reasons for this state
of affairs may be, the results speak for
themselves and they are not so good.
I suggest that a considerable improve-
ment may be attained by initiating and
maintaining a thoroughgoing plan of
better housekeeping in all plants, par-
ticularly in the smaller plants. In the
latter, good housekeeping may fre-
quently be the only readily available
means of controlling occupational
hazards, and for this reason it is doubly
important.
The industrial hygienist takes the
first step in establishing the kind of
housekeeping program I have in mind.
He must make a thorough sale to plant
mnanagement as otherwise his effort will
merely produce sporadic attempts and
temporary effects. To be successful,
the sale must result in a program that
is well conceived and practical. It will
then be carried out conscientiously as
an everyday routine.
No matter how small the plant, a
good housekeeping program will cost
some money, both for fixtures and for
labor. Therefore, the authority for
carrying out the program must be dele-
gated by management to some one
person. It is my belief, in the light of
past experience, that authority cannot
be successfully delegated to a com-
mittee because of the frequent inability
to get unanimous opinions, procrastina-
tion on details, and general inertia. We
all know how committees proceed un-
less one man takes upon himself the
burden of getting prompt action. And
so, why not appoint one man for the
job, in the first place?
In the larger plants which employ a
full-time safety director or engineer, he
is, of course, the indicated person*, to
assume responsibility for proper house-
Vol. 33 HOUSEKEEPING IN INDUSTRY
keeping, but in the smaller plants, not
possessing the services of such a man,
the selection will depend on certain
considerations.
I do not believe that the plant
superintendent is the man for the job.
As a rule, his efforts are concentrated
on production. In addition to this
full-time job, he has numerous other
responsibilities, all connected with
manufacture and labor. Neither is one
of the foremen the man for it. Gen-
erally speaking, their world is restricted
to just a portion of the plant, and,
therefore, they may lack the proper
perspective, and their prestige with the
workers in other departments may not
be such as to permit them to enforce
regulations.
It seems to me that the employment
manager may fill the bill in most cases.
Generally he has the responsibility for
hiring personnel, exercises related func-
tions such as group insurance, work-
men's compensation, and general wel-
fare activities. He is well known to all
employees, is respected because, in
many instances, he represents manage-
ment to them. Moreover, his duties
place him in close contact with com-
pany officials and his requests receive
attention and consideration.
If the plant is too small to have an
employment manager, then the respon-
sibility for plant housekeeping could
very well devolve on one of the com-
pany officials, preferably the treasurer
since he is the man who handles the
purse strings. It will also be an ad-
vantage to have such an official take an
active interest in the workers' environ-
ment and its attendant difficulties and
thereby contribute substantially to a
better understanding between labor and
management.
Individual conditions will govern the
selection of the man for taking charge
of a plant housekeeping program but
its importance compels great care in
making that selection.
559
THE PROGRAM
Once the proper man is selected, he
will, in company with the superin-
tendent, make a survey of the plant
and find the location of bottlenecks
caused, for instance, by an outdated
arrangement of machines or by a badly
timed system of supply and removal of
materials. With the superintendent he
will decide on the necessary steps to
establish a smooth production flow. He
will segregate or isolate operations
which may inconvenience, annoy, or
endanger neighboring operations. He
will observe movement of men and ma-
terials throughout the plant and, in
cooperation with the various depart-
ments, decide on the direction of
traffic. To that end, he may decide on
the relocation of doors, removal of ob-
structions, demarcation of old and new
aisleways, and structural alterations.
He will also observe the disposal of
little used equipment and tools and will
devise a space where they can be stored
systematically and not become junk, if
of subsequent real value to the com-
pany. He will call for the maintenance
man and with him make a thorough
trip of the plant and inspect machines,
protective equipment and other devices,
and demand that they be put in good
condition immediately,- if necessary,
and thereafter be reinspected and
rechecked at regular intervals.
Having accomplished the foregoing
and acquainted himself with the inner
workings of his plant, the selectee will
consult his state or local health depart-
ment on matters pertaining to water
supplies and sewage disposal, particu-
larly if the plant is not connected with
municipal systems. He will also
ascertain from his state health depart-
ment or labor department what regu-
lations are in force relative to sanitary
and kindred facilities, and if women are
employed in the plant, what special
regulations exist for their benefit.
He will make up a list of daily,
560 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
weekly, monthly, and quarterly chores
that will have to be performed by the
janitor, such as cleaning of the various
sanitary facilities, windows, light fix-
tures, etc. He will go over the list in
detail with the janitor and personally
investigate and supervise the various
items on the list. This list may then
well be called the janitor's " standing
orders," and will have to be carried out
faithfully and consistently.
Finally, the housekeeping supervisor
will have to draft a schedule for him-
self for the regular inspection of the
plant in order to make certain that
there is no slackening in service and
that the plant is maintained in apple-
pie order.
All this may sound difficult and
tedious but all worth while objectives
involve work and expenditure, and plant
housekeeping is no exception.
Before closing, I should like to say
a few words concerning cooperation of
the workers. Experience has shown
that without the sincere collaboration
of labor, management may not have an
easy time with the maintenance of good
housekeeping in a plant. Industry as
a whole has been convinced for a long
time that it is good economics to keep
workers at their tasks and reduce
absenteeism, from whatever cause, to
a vanishing point. However, some of
the innovations instituted by manage-
May, 194-3
ment have often been misunderstood
and therefore are opposed by labor. It
may be reasonably expected, therefore,
that if before a housekeeping program
is put into effect, time is taken to ex-
plain the program to the workers, the
results might be beneficial to all con-
cerned. While this discussion stresses
the importance of good plant house-
keeping as a foundation for all other
health conservation and safety pro-
grams, the conclusion should not be
drawn that these programs are not
advocated. On the contrary, they
should be carried on with unabated
vigor, but they will be immeasurably
strengthened by a good housekeeping
program.
To summarize the proposed program:
1. Management appoints a supervisor,
preferably the employment manager, to set
up and carry out a housekeeping program.
2. Management gives the supervisor au-
thority to incur expense for fixtures and
additional labor.
3. Supervisor consults department heads
and labor to improve production flow, plant
traffic, and storage of unused equipment.
4. Supervisor ascertains state and local
regulations concerning sanitation.
5. Supervisor works out a plan with the
maintenance man to keep equipment in good
condition.
6. Supervisor provides janitor with itemized
orders for regular cleaning of the plant
interior.
7. Supervisor establishes a routine for the
periodic personal inspection of the plant.