 The Labour politician Keir Hardie took an interest in the working conditions of labourers in the chemical industry, and in 1899 exposed conditions at White's works in a series of pamphlets entitled "White Slaves", published in "The Labour Leader" and distributed in their thousands.Safety regulations introduced in 1893 were largely ignored, and workers were forced to operate in unventilated areas without effective protective equipment.So dangerous was the toxic dust to which they were exposed that they were known locally as "White's Dead Men".