oa South African Medical Journal - An examination of the methods of physical classification of african labourers for manual work

Abstract

Mine medical officers mainly use body weight as their criterion for placing African mine labourers in the various work categories from strenuous (A) to light work (C). Using maximum oxygen intakes as their criterion, the Human Sciences Laboratory examined the mine medical officer's classification to determine the percentage of Africans not capable of performing the tasks of their respective categories, and the wastage of labour due to wrong classification.