The health of the Munition Workers' Committee was set up when the
Ministry was established with the concurrence of the Home Secretary,
"To consider and advise on questions of industrial fatigue, hours of
labor, and other matters affecting the personal health and physical
efficiency of workers in munition factories and work shops."

Sir George Newman, M.D., is chairman of the committee and the two
women members are Mrs. H.J. Tennant and Miss R.E. Squire. Memoranda
on various industrial problems have been drawn up by the committee and
acted upon--the first being on Sunday labour.

In the early part of the war our men and women frequently worked
seven days in the week and shifts were very long for women as for
men. Practically no holidays were taken in answer to Lord Kitchener's
appeals. The regulations preventing women from working on Sunday had
been removed in a limited number of cases. The investigation of the
committee in November, 1915, showed that Sunday labor when it meant
excessive hours was bad and it did not increase output, that the
strain on foremen and managers in particular was very great, and they
recommended a modification of the policy.

In a later Memorandum, No. 12, on output in relation to hours of work,
very interesting figures were given, practically all showing increased
output as a result of shorter hours of labor.

The committee reported in Memorandum No. 5 that it was of the opinion
that continuous work by women in excess of the normal legal limit of
sixty hours per week ought to be discontinued as soon as practicable,
and that the shift system should be used instead of overtime.