Peat Extraction

PEAT EXTRACTION. Sanitary-technical description of peat harvesting. Industrial peat extraction in the USSR is currently carried out by three main methods: machine-forming, milling, and hydraulic (hydropeat). Regardless of the method of peat extraction, a series of preparatory work is first carried out on the peat bogs, namely: a) drainage of the bog, carried out by constructing a system of drainage ditches, usually of two types—"main" ditches, which serve as the main collectors for draining surface and ground water from the entire peat deposit and discharging them into a nearby river, lake or other body of water, and "plot" ditches, which serve for draining individual working areas, or plots, from which the drained water is discharged into the main ditches; b) clearing the drained area of forest, shrubs, etc.; c) leveling the bog, i.e., bringing its surface into a condition suitable for work and removing the top layer of moss. i. Machine-forming, or elevator method of peat extraction. On a certain area prepared for work, an elevator machine is installed, which processes the peat mass into raw peat. "Diggers", armed with shovels, are positioned on separate platforms along the slope of the peat "face", breaking the peat into individual pieces and throwing it onto the moving belt of the elevator; on the belt, the pieces of mass are lifted upward and enter a press, where they are ground by a system of knives and turned into a homogeneous mass of peat briquettes; the latter is then pushed out in the form of an infinite bar from the nozzle of the elevator machine. At the nozzle, a "cutter" is positioned, who cuts the emerging peat mass with one or, more often, two knives into individual bricks of equal length; "carters", bringing their cart to the machine, receive the boards with peat bricks rolling from the nozzle and arrange them on the frames of their cart (there are three frames—lower, middle, and upper). After loading the cart (18-20 boards with peat bricks), the carter, pushing it before him, transports it along a narrow gauge track to the stacking field, where "stackers" await him; the latter remove the boards with peat bricks from the cart and dump the peat in solid rows onto the stacking field. When the spread peat has dried somewhat on the upper side (3-4 days), a team of female peat workers turns it over to the reverse side ("turning"); and finally, when the peat has dried and strengthened, it is first stacked into "fives" (five bricks crossed on top of each other), then into "small", "large" piles, and finally, when it is completely ready, into stacks. In recent years, the described method of peat extraction has been significantly mechanized: mechanized excavation of peat ("scrapers") has been introduced, "conveyors" have been introduced, thanks to which boards with peat bricks mechanically move from the roller table to the stacking fields along wire cables, where stackers remove them from the conveyor and arrange them on the stacking fields in the manner described above. The introduction of conveyors eliminates the work of carters. The main professional diseases of the "digger" are as follows: a) rheumatism (work often up to the knees in water), myositis, b) skin diseases. The main professional disease of the carter is heart enlargement. Among the professional diseases of the stacker, frequent myositis and a significant number of skin diseases can be noted. The main professional diseases of the layer and cutter are rheumatism. For female peat workers during the "turning" of peat, the main professional hazards are the bent position of the body, compression of internal organs, including the spleen, which provokes relapses of malaria, and the effect of increased intra-abdominal pressure on the internal reproductive organs (retroversion and prolapse of the uterus). Hydropeat. The hydraulic method of peat extraction consists in directing a jet of water from a special hose under high pressure (for units of the so-called "large hydropeat"—18 atmospheres and "small hydropeat"—up to 7 atmospheres) into the peat mass and mechanically washing it, while the resulting peat slurry is sucked from the quarry by a "peat pump", delivered under pressure into a system of metal pipes, and then poured onto spreading fields, where it is left in a continuous mass until it dries. Usually, a "large hydropeat" unit is served by 7-8 workers (including technical personnel), a "small hydropeat" unit by 4. The second stage of the peat extraction process—briquetting—is usually carried out manually by teams of female peat workers and consists in the fact that when the peat on the spreading fields has dried sufficiently and compacted, it is cut with blows of a "briquetting tool" (a type of wide hoe) into bricks, simultaneously tearing off the cut bricks from the main mass with each blow of the "briquetting tool" to one brick at a time, while simultaneously turning it over. During "briquetting", female peat workers are positioned in a row and move forward, each processing their own strip. Recently, in some places, manual briquetting has been replaced by mechanical cutting of dried peat into bricks and mechanical turning of the bricks at the same time, but manual briquetting is still quite widespread. Subsequently, the working processes (turning, stacking into small and large piles and stacks) are similar to those in the machine-elevator method and do not require special sanitary-technical description. Milling method of peat extraction has been introduced into production practice only in recent years and is the most mechanized. Its main stages are: a) milling—fully mechanized loosening of the peat layer on the surface of the peat field, b) turning. This is done for its faster drying either by mechanized means, by using rakes attached to a tractor, or manually—by a team of female peat workers; c) windrowing—collecting the dried crumbs into "windrows" (rolls)—is also done either by mechanized means, by attaching special implements to a tractor moving across the field, or manually, with wooden shovels; d) stacking is usually done manually, by filling baskets (15-18 kg) with crumbs from windrows or heaps of peat and carrying them to the stack; in the last two to three years, carrying peat crumbs in baskets during stacking has been replaced by transporting them with special light wheelbarrows. Professional hazards of the milling method of peat extraction: a) Irritating effect of peat dust on the skin, especially in skin folds, as well as in wounds, scratches, and any skin diseases, and on the respiratory tract, b) For female peat workers engaged in hilling and stacking—prolonged muscle strain leading to flat feet (see). Sanitary-epidemiological work on peat extraction. 1. Malaria. Peat enterprises, due to the favorable conditions for the spread of malaria, can be placed alongside such places as rice plantations, fishing grounds, etc. To characterize the malaria incidence in peat enterprises, we present the incidence of malaria in the enterprises of the Moscow region, starting from 1922 (as a percentage of the population). Sick during the season: 1922—58.2%, 1923—25.2%, 1924—44.6%, 1925—12.5%, 1926—14.3%, 1927—12.4%, 1928—7.7%, 1929—7.2%, 1930—7.7%, 1931—11.5%, 1932—9.3%, 1933—7.2%, 1934—6.9%. The quite sharp decrease in malaria starting from 1932 is the result of a broad and rationally organized anti-malaria campaign. The reasons for the high prevalence of malaria on peat enterprises are as follows: a) The presence among permanent peat workers, especially those recruited from the southern regions of the Moscow region (former Ryazan and Tula provinces), of a large number of malaria patients. b) As a result of peat extraction on the territory of peat enterprises, a huge amount (sometimes tens of thousands of hectares) of worked-out quarries filled with water and well heated by the sun remains. These quarries, and in addition to them the network of ditches of the bog's drainage system, constitute real nurseries for the malaria vector—the mosquito Anopheles. c) Some labor processes (turning peat and the associated spleen massage, excessive insolation on hot sunny days, etc.) increase the number of relapses, which contributes to the infection of mosquitoes and the further spread of malaria, d) In some cases, the overnight stay of peat workers in warm weather outside barracks facilitates the possibility of malaria infection.—MEASURES. a) Complete accounting of all malaria patients among peat workers by their general examination and blood analysis immediately upon arrival at the peat enterprise. Anti-relapse quinine treatment of all identified malaria patients through a special institute of quinine administrators. b) Compilation of lists and their submission after the end of the season to the place of residence of the sick for subsequent observation, c) Hospitalization of severe cases and persistent forms. d) Destruction of the larval stage of the mosquito by oiling or dusting water bodies with Paris green. Large water areas of worked-out quarries _g swampy floodplains of rivers and lakes, inaccessible to ground processing, should be subjected to aerial verdification, i.e., dusting with Paris green from airplanes, e) Mechanical protection of dwellings from flying mosquitoes with metal mesh (windows and doors), f) Placing workers under mosquito nets at night, g) Destruction of mosquitoes in wintering places, in dwellings and in their shelters, h) Small hydraulic engineering works (cleaning the drainage system to improve water flow, elimination of small unnecessary household water bodies, etc.) and other measures. 2.

Paratyphoid fevers. To prevent the introduction of paratyphoid fevers to peat extraction sites, a number of general sanitary measures are taken: detection of lice infestation, sanitary treatment of personnel. For this purpose, there is a network of sanitary checkpoints and disinfection facilities at peat extraction sites. 3. Intestinal infections. The main reasons that provide wide opportunities for the spread of intestinal infections at peat extraction sites are the unsatisfactory organization of water supply and use, poor sanitation, and a number of other reasons. The standing of groundwater at peat enterprises, due to their territorial location in the lowest places (swamps), is extremely high, and the poor organization of sanitation and often the unsanitary condition of residential settlements almost invariably lead to contamination of soil and groundwater. Nevertheless, these diseases, which reached a very high level 6-7 years ago (up to 24% of total morbidity), have decreased significantly in recent years. Serious preventive measures and the fight against these infections have brought their level almost to the normal level among the general population of surrounding areas. Preventive measures and control: a) mass vaccination according to Besredka against typhoid diseases for all workers at the beginning of the season, b) anti-dysentery vaccinations according to epidemiological indications, c) immediate hospitalization and subsequent disinfection in all cases of illness, d) artesian water supply, e) improvement of the sanitation situation, organization of irrigation fields and other facilities, f) control of drinking water. 4. Helminthiases. As special examinations of peat workers for helminth infection have shown, helminthiases are widespread among them. Among the types of helminths, the following predominate: 1) Ascaris lumbricoides (about 70%), 2) Oxyuris vermicularis (about 22%), 3) Trichocephalus trichiurus (about 6%), 4) Taeniae (about 2%). 5. Traumatism. The number of traumatic diseases in the peat industry is very high. According to various peat enterprises, it ranges from 24.18% (peat enterprises of Orekhovo-Zuevo) to 36.05% (peat enterprises of Noginsky district), averaging about 30%. The causes of such traumatism, in addition to purely production conditions (close arrangement in the pit and on the field, etc.), are the insufficiently good special clothing (footwear) and still not well-made, without individual fitting, small working tools (shovels, axes, hoes). Measures to reduce traumatism are serious: special clothing and tools are improved, working conditions are improved for the better, and it must be assumed that traumatism in the coming years, especially in connection with the mechanization of production, will be, if not completely eliminated, then at least significantly reduced. Legislation on labor protection and healthcare. 1) Mandatory resolution of the USSR People's Commissariat of Labor of October 9, 1928, No. 593. This resolution regulates¹ "to the present time the main issues of labor protection and housing and living conditions at peat enterprises. 2) "Instruction of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR on outpatient and hospital construction at peat extraction sites" (Questions of Healthcare, No. 2406/4 18/VIII 1929), revised in 1934. 3) "List of diseases preventing work at peat extraction sites" (resolution of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR, People's Commissariat of Labor of the RSFSR, agreed with the Central Committee of the Peat Workers' Union").

V. Masyanovsky. TOPHUS (tophus) (Gr. - porous stone), an inflammatory new formation of tissue in connection with the deposition of organic or inorganic salts in it. Most often this refers to gouty deposits of uric acid salts , less often to deposits of lime, e.g. in tuberculosis or in the so-called lime gout (see Lime deposits). Sometimes t. syphiliticus is also spoken of, referring to periosteal proliferations of bone tissue. TRAUMA (from Gr. trauma - injury, wound), the effect on the body of an external factor, accompanied by a violation of the anatomical integrity of tissues and their physiological functions. These violations are classified as various injuries or wounds and constitute the main group of phenomena of industrial and domestic trauma, and the study of the latter in a socio-clinical and theoretical sense constitutes the content of traumatology. Traumatizing factors can be all objects of the external world, all varieties of radiant energy, electricity, high and low t°, etc. T. exists not only as a pathological, but also as a physiological phenomenon; such are the birth trauma of the mother, the fetus, the act of defloration. Every T: is both a local and a general phenomenon. In some cases (more often) local disorders predominate, connected e.g. with rupture of muscles, fracture of bones, etc. In other cases, local phenomena are quantitatively negligible or even absent, while general phenomena come to the fore; such are traumatic neuroses and psychoses, which are special forms of the body's reaction to T., sometimes to an absolutely negligible and even non-physical one (T. mental). The significance of the general or remote action of T. is taken into account by modern therapy and surgery and is to some extent theoretically substantiated. The beneficial effect of cauterization of the skin, cups (dry, blood-letting), mustard plasters and other external influences is generally recognized, which, by traumatizing tissues, cause on the one hand reflex phenomena in internal organs according to the corresponding nerve segment and vasomotor apparatus, on the other hand, being accompanied by hemorrhages, histolysis, these same T. lead to the absorption of breakdown products, causing the so-called autoproteinotherapeutic or auto-hemotherapeutic effect. Operative T. (regardless of its place, complexity and danger) can produce significant changes in the entire system of nervous and humoral connections in the body and thereby affect the local processes that served as the occasion for the intervention itself. Since every T. is accompanied by one or another violation on the part of the nervous system, and the latter plays a leading role in the pathogenesis of many diseases, it is natural that T. can also find practical application as a method of treatment from this side. Novocaine blockade of a part of the nerve network by Prof. A. D. Speransky represents such an attempt to intervene in the "nerve relations" that, in the opinion of this author, underlie the pathogenesis of all diseases. It is clear that accidental T. can also cause the same remote effect, i.e. become pathogenic not only at the place of its application. In this respect, acute ulcerative processes in the stomach with T. of the brain, with injuries of the peritoneum, etc., are well known. The reflected phenomena of a general nature that arise after T. can have the character of shock, collapse, i.e. phenomena associated with significant perturbations in the vegetative system and in particular in the vasomotor sphere. To what extent these general phenomena here depend on the absorption of certain products of tissue breakdown in the area of trauma (of the histamine type), this question should be considered open; on the other hand, the phenomena of auto-intoxication with extensive T., accompanied by decomposition of soft tissues, or e.g. a burn, apparently admit of no doubt. The action of T. can be direct, when the very explanation of the mechanism of the resulting damage fits into our usual concepts of a physical and mechanical order. In a number of cases, the local action of T. turns out to be more complex, indirect. Such are subcutaneous traumatic injuries of some internal organs, e.g. the intestine, here also belong the so-called late traumatic apoplexies of the brain. In these cases, T. does not always give a direct and clearly visible violation of the integrity of the organ and its vessels, not to mention that the skin coverings at the same time may not bear any signs of trauma. Despite this, after several hours or days T. a severe picture of perforation of the intestine or hemorrhage into the brain develops. The mechanism of these phenomena is that initially under the influence of T. a reflex spasm apparently arises in the arterial system of the organ. This spasm leads to a violation of tissue nutrition, including the capillary system. When spastic phenomena pass into paralytic ones, the blood rushing through the dilated circulatory system, being in conditions of peristaltic circulation (see Stasis), easily leaves the vessel bed per diapedesin, stuffing and fibrillating the surrounding tissues and thereby causing them to soften or rupture. The development of the entire mechanism in such late traumatic injuries and apoplexies can cover periods of several days and even weeks (Rosenhagen). In connection with trauma, secretory disorders in organs can also arise without violation of their anatomical integrity. Attention is drawn e.g. to traumatic jaundice with T. of the liver, to anuria with T. of the lumbar region, etc. T. has important significance in the etiology and pathogenesis of infectious processes. In some cases infection develops as a direct consequence of T., when the latter is accompanied by the introduction of pathogenic microorganisms into the tissues (anthrax, tetanus, sepsis, syphilis, etc.). Often infection associated with trauma develops only indirectly, i.e. by creating a predisposition to infection at the site of T., for some reason present in the body, but latent until then. These include cases of tuberculous osteomyelitis of bones after their trauma (without damage to the coverings), similar cases of gummatous syphilis, meningitis, appendicitis, pneumonias (after bruises of the skull, chest, abdomen). Operative T. in some cases is accompanied by the direct introduction of infection; in other cases, e.g. when separating old adhesions, it only revives latent infection. Every T., insofar as it violates the integrity of tissues, is subsequently accompanied by inflammation (aseptic or septic) and regeneration. The latter, under some still little known conditions for us, can become the starting point of neoplastic processes (post-traumatic sarcomas, gliomas, angiomas). With chronic T., which is in essence chronic irritation, prerequisites are created for the development of cancerous neoplasms. Such are some forms of industrial cancer. Cases of limited post-traumatic atherosclerosis have been described, the explanation of which can be found in the sharp change in the permeability of the vascular wall for lipoids precisely in connection with T. Experimental data (Sokolov) speak of the same POSSIBILITY.

I. Davydovsky.