British Cellophane Medical Centre, Bridgwater
British Cellophane employed over 3,000 people at its peak. A lot of these people would be working with some rather nasty machines that would be loud, fast-moving and dangerous, or working with some unpleasant acids in the CS2 Recovery Plant and labs. As you would expect, cuts, gashes, burns, blinding, breathing problems and broken bones were common amongst the workers and so the Medical Center on site was always going to be epic.
:
According to urbanity, I write very big long reports (I'm still trying to work out if that's a good or a bad thing!), so here's my attempt at a history in brief:
One day, a scientist invented cellophane. A factory was built to make it. It closed later.
But seriously, for a proper history go to my last report.
The last building we (urbanity and I; nice to meet you btw!) stopped at on our trip was the Medical Centre, or as it was officially known the "Occupational Health Centre". We were both quite excited by this as I don't remember seeing it before and at first glances it looks inaccessible. Sometimes trying the most obvious places pays off!
Much like the admin block, it is very dated inside - lots of wood and linoleum - but this almost made it stylish.
Workers with mild injuries that did not require urgent medical attention would enter through the handsome wooden doors and, seeing as there were a lot of these sorts of injuries, they would have to wait in this funky art deco waiting room:
Amazing! Anyway, through some more original doors was the main room. The centre closed with the main factory in 2005, which means it's in good condition and there is some modern equipment around, but there's a lot of really cool old stuff mixed in:
Like this old fashioned wheelchair:
And this trolley:
Off the main room was a preparation room, where nurses would prepare ointments, dressings and sterilise equipment.
No idea what this is, someone care to shed some light on it ?
For more urgent cases, and if patients could not make it to the centre on their own, they would have to be transported there on this, one of several stretchers in there:
The centre was barely 30 yards from some doors that led straight onto the factory floors, making it easily accessible for the whole site. For more urgent cases there were also several private rooms with beds in, and more of those awesome coloured partitions.
The now silent factory would once have been exceptionally noisy, and some workers who worked constantly in this would have to have their hearing checked reguarly to ensure it wasn't being damaged. There's a little sound proofed booth in one room, in which tests would be conducted.
A rather macabre looking chair:
And finally, in the event of a fire or explosion or structural collapse, in which many people could be imjured, there would be designated First Aid "officers" if you like, who would re-enter the buildings wearing one of these helmets, still neatly stacked waiting to be used.
And that's it. Not massive but probably one of the most special buildings on site, and full of medical goody-ness. I'll whack up a report on the labs/admin tomorrow.
G.
British Cellophane employed over 3,000 people at its peak. A lot of these people would be working with some rather nasty machines that would be loud, fast-moving and dangerous, or working with some unpleasant acids in the CS2 Recovery Plant and labs. As you would expect, cuts, gashes, burns, blinding, breathing problems and broken bones were common amongst the workers and so the Medical Center on site was always going to be epic.
: According to urbanity, I write very big long reports (I'm still trying to work out if that's a good or a bad thing!), so here's my attempt at a history in brief:
One day, a scientist invented cellophane. A factory was built to make it. It closed later.
But seriously, for a proper history go to my last report.
The last building we (urbanity and I; nice to meet you btw!) stopped at on our trip was the Medical Centre, or as it was officially known the "Occupational Health Centre". We were both quite excited by this as I don't remember seeing it before and at first glances it looks inaccessible. Sometimes trying the most obvious places pays off!
Much like the admin block, it is very dated inside - lots of wood and linoleum - but this almost made it stylish. Workers with mild injuries that did not require urgent medical attention would enter through the handsome wooden doors and, seeing as there were a lot of these sorts of injuries, they would have to wait in this funky art deco waiting room:
Amazing! Anyway, through some more original doors was the main room. The centre closed with the main factory in 2005, which means it's in good condition and there is some modern equipment around, but there's a lot of really cool old stuff mixed in:
Like this old fashioned wheelchair:
And this trolley:
Off the main room was a preparation room, where nurses would prepare ointments, dressings and sterilise equipment.
No idea what this is, someone care to shed some light on it ?
For more urgent cases, and if patients could not make it to the centre on their own, they would have to be transported there on this, one of several stretchers in there:
The centre was barely 30 yards from some doors that led straight onto the factory floors, making it easily accessible for the whole site. For more urgent cases there were also several private rooms with beds in, and more of those awesome coloured partitions.
The now silent factory would once have been exceptionally noisy, and some workers who worked constantly in this would have to have their hearing checked reguarly to ensure it wasn't being damaged. There's a little sound proofed booth in one room, in which tests would be conducted.
A rather macabre looking chair:
And finally, in the event of a fire or explosion or structural collapse, in which many people could be imjured, there would be designated First Aid "officers" if you like, who would re-enter the buildings wearing one of these helmets, still neatly stacked waiting to be used.
And that's it. Not massive but probably one of the most special buildings on site, and full of medical goody-ness. I'll whack up a report on the labs/admin tomorrow.
G.
