Edgar Leigh Collis: Industrial lung disease and ergonomics

Abstract

Edgar Collis was appointed as the second Medical Inspector of Factories in 1908, holding the post until the outbreak of the First World War when he became Medical Director of the Ministry of Munitions. After the war, he was appointed to the chair in public health in the University of Wales. He held this post while living in Lossiemouth in Scotland, some 570 miles distant. His research interests were in industrial lung disease, industrial hygiene, and the health of coal miners. He made important contributions to the first and third subjects, but was a less significant figure in the field of industrial hygiene. Among his achievements were the recognition of the relationship between silicosis and tuberculosis, the harmful effects of non-silicaceous coal dust, and the need to fit the worker to the job, and the job to the worker.