Harland and Wolff has its own "Health Service"

Since ‘H & W News’ was “born” in 1971 we have regularly printed details of Golden Shoe Awards In order to publicise the advantages of wearing safety footwear. We have also published appeals for employees to wear helmets, safety glasses and ear muffs. Unfortunately not everyone in the Company is safety conscious and many of the 90,000 attendances dealt with each year by the H & W Medical Service involve injuries which could have been avoided if the patient had taken a few elementary safety precautions. How does the service cope with its task?

The heart of the H & W Medical Service is located in the Medical Centre in the Abercorn Yard. Here our resident Doctor — Dr. Jim Sweetnam, MA, MB, B.Ch, BAO, MRCPI — controls not only the activities of the Centre but also of the six Treatment Rooms situated in various parts of the shipyard and engine works. They are sited at Musgrave Yard, the Plant Shop, Victoria Works, Thompson Works and Out fitting areas. The statutory requirement to provide first aid cover whenever more than 50 men are working is exceeded by the Company policy to provide a medical service and a nursing staff of 13 who operate a rota system covering day and night shifts to ensure continuity of competent service.

The nurses are qualified to give immediate treatment for minor injuries, and first-aid treatment in the case of more serious injuries. An important part of their job is to be on the alert for signs of other conditions which might not be apparent even to the patient. A man, for instance, who is frequently stumbling will need first-aid treatment for the injuries he receives; but he may well be suffering from impaired vision, lack of co-ordination, or defective balance.

Nurse Murray checks a patient’s blood pressure on a sphygmomanometer.

Experience

All the nurses have special experience in casualty work. In the case of several of the male attendants this experience was acquired during service with the armed forces where multiple casualties and difficult situations gave excellent training for the problems of primary aid in this yard. Stewart Hughes, who gained much of his experience in hospital ships, has been longest with H & W and is due to retire in July after over 30 years’ dedicated work. Others who got their first taste of looking after the sick while in the Services are Sammy Thompson, the Department’s Nursing Supervisor; Welshman Ted Jacobs; C.O.H.S.E. Convener Bert Mitchell and Walter Searles. Tommy Saulters joined H & W after three years spent in the Canadian Army, while the R.A.F. was the early training ground for Jimmy Duly and for Hugh Boal. Completing the male nursing staff are Herbie Fryers and John McDowell. The girls on the nursing staff are local-hospital trained, Mary Devine and Diane Hunter at Whiteabbey and Myrtle Murray at the “Royal.” Occupational health care is not, however, concerned solely with the treatment of patients. It is actively involved with our Safety team in the prevention of accidents and with work associated illness with special emphasis on the recognition of materials and processes which could be harmful to health.

Other aspects of medicine

The Department is also concerned with many other aspects of medicine. It advises and performs, for instance, the vaccination of members of the workforce who have to go 3broad on duty, it maintains close contact with local hospitals, it works in co-operation with the Factory Inspectorate and the local Health Authorities to ensure that working conditions are healthy. In short, all aspects of the health of employees is the concern of the H & W Medical organisation — aided in their activities by the competent back-up of secretarial staff Isabelle Leeburn and Linda Bell, by the Ambulance Drivers who help in the care of the cases and who, often in difficult conditions, get them to the next stage of treatment.