Healthcare of Workers in the Vitkovice Ironworks as Part of the Workload of Social Workers in Industrial Companies in 1954

Abstract

Objective: This paper aims to describe the healthcare of workers, including institutions and their provided Social Services, to define the role of a Social Worker and to identify the methods of Social Work used in the company Slobodníková Vitkovice Ironworks in the former Czechoslovakia. Design: Historical research. Participants: Archival materials of Vitkovice Ironworks and available relevant literary sources on the topic covering the period between 1876 - 1954. Methods: A combination of research methods: (1) Hermeneutic-classificatory Content Analysis according to Plichtová (1996), (2) Thematic Analysis according to Catherine Kohler Riessman (2008) following Michael Foucault’s Genealogical Method. Results: The workers’ health at Vitkovice Ironworks was one of the priority areas of the Social Care System in the company. Since 1945 the position of Social Workers has existed under the Social Care Department and their job description also included addressing the health issues of the workers. Conclusion: The result is the discovery, in the considered time, that the health care of workers was an integral part of the corporate social policy of the Vitkovice Ironworks, in which professionally educated Social Workers participated with their specific methods.