View report page

(20) Before making any alterations with a view to
meeting these requirements the owner or occupier of the
bakehouse shall submit to the Sanitary Authority a
specification of the alterations which it is proposed to
make, and no work shall be begun until the applicant has
been informed that the specification has been approved.
The chief difficulty in underground bakehouse sanitation
is the question of ventilation. The problem is to provide for
the admission of a sufficient amount of fresh air without at
the same time affording free access for dust from the road or
adjoining ground. In some of the bakehouses in the low-lying
parts of Battersea it will not be an easy matter to secure the
bakehouse from wet.
A considerably number of specifications have been sent
in and approved, and in eleven bakehouses the alterations
necessary to obtain a certificate have already been begun.
The work of prescribing in detail the alterations necessary
for each particular bakehouse to fulfil the Council's requirements,
and of supervising the builder's work when begun, has
been heavy, and has occupied a considerable amount of the
time of the Council's officers. The Chief Sanitary Inspector
has done excellent work in this connection, his practical
knowledge of building construction being of great assistance.
Workplaces.
The term workplace is not defined in the Factory Act nor
in the Public Health (London) Act, although it occurs in both,
but in a case, Bennett v. Harding, under Section 38 of the
latter Act, it was held that the word "workplace" includes
any "place where work is done permanently, and where people
assemble together to do work permanently of some kind or
other." In this case a stable and stable yard, where men
were employed as cab-cleaners and horse-keepers, was held
to be a workplace. The Home Secretary has been advised
that kitchens of restaurants, etc., come within the meaning
of the term "workplace."
In October and November a systematic inspection of the
Battersea restaurant kitchens, which number 83, was made
by Inspector Benjamin. A list of these premises is given
below:—