Health and Safety at the Institute

Black and white photograph of a windowless room with floral wallpaper. A lamp hangs from the ceiling, a large cabinet is on the right wall, and a large sink is on the left wall. In the center is a large table with an array of laboratory instruments. Test tubes, beakers, and other less recognizable instruments are handled by two women in nurse's uniforms and a man in a lab coat.

Pathological anatomy lab of the Institute, 1943

The Radium Institute was not a safe work environment. Most machines used very high-voltage and would regularly short-circuit, sometimes electrocuting workers, or catching on fire! This was the case for radiologist Albert Jutras who, in 1936, “in seconds, found himself surrounded by flames and burnt on a significant portion of his body.”

Black and white photograph of a young man standing sideways dressed in a lab coat. He is adjusting rotary knobs on a machine embedded in a white wall. The machine consists of these knobs as well as several dial gauges.

Doctor operating a machine, 1949

Black and white photograph depicting the corner of a room filled with machines and wiring. Two devices composed of several interconnected tubes suspended from the ceiling and attached to the walls are installed above two tables equipped with mattresses and pillows.

High-voltage medical device, date unknown

Even at the time, exposure to radium and X-rays was known to be hazardous for human health. Still, the Institute delayed implementation of safety protocols for its employees. For instance, a letter of grievances written in 1946 by the Institute’s staff mentioned that “safety measures against the dangers of radiation have always been rudimentary and insufficient. To this day a technician and a nurse have both died from anemia due to radiation.” Nurse Dalphond, a member of the Institute’s staff, believed that it was her faith in God which explained her remaining in good health despite the lack of protection offered by the Institute :

[Nurse Dalphond] admits she had worked in terrible conditions in the past. If she had known the power of the metal from which she directed radiation, she said, she would never have dared to use it so freely and without protection.

Black and white photograph of a woman in a nurse's uniform. She is adjusting rotary knobs on a large rectangular machine with several dials.

Nurse operating the console of a piece of radiotherapy equipment, 1949

To make matters worse, in addition to all the dangers employees were exposed to, no insurance company would cover them in case of an accident. The hazardous nature of the machines and the pervasiveness of radioactivity during procedures forced the Institute to create its own compensation fund for work-related injuries. In the 1940s, besides working in facilities that threatened their physical health, staff members and doctors were also complaining about a toxic work environment.

Precarious Funding Tensions Run High at the Institute