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90
Inspection of Workshops (other than Bakehouses).
The number of workshop inspections in 1909 was 627.
Cleanliness.
Sixteen workrooms were found on inspection to require cleansing;
11 of these were cleansed on the request of the Inspector, in 5 cases it
was necessary to serve a notice before the work was carried out.
Ventilation and Warming.
In 2 workshops the means of ventilation were found defective, and
the defects were remedied. Additional ventilation in the form of a
ventilating shaft was provided to one underground workshop.
Means of warming were improved or provided in 7 cases.
Six workshops were found to be warmed by gas stoves that were
unprovided with flues to carry off the products of combustion. This is
a contravention of section 6 of the Factory Act, in which it is laid down
that the measures which in every factory and workshop "must be taken
for securing and maintaining a reasonable temperature in each room in
which any person is employed, must not interfere with the
purity of the air of any room in which any person is employed." In 5
cases the warming arrangements were made satisfactory by the provision
of fires or of gas stoves fitted with proper flues, and one case was under
notice at the end of the year. One workroom was found without means
of warming, and such means were provided.
Overcrowding.
All the workrooms in the workshops are measured by the inspectors,
and the cubic space in each room is ascertained. The maximum
number of workers that can legally occupy the room is then calculated
and this information set out on a card, supplied by the Council, which
is hung up in each room. The number of legal occupants varies
according as overtime is worked, or whether the room is used as a
sleeping-room as well as a workroom. During 1909, 46 new workrooms
were measured.
Overcrowding was found in 13 instances. In 5 cases, the overcrowding
was abated immediately on the request of the Inspector, but
in 8 cases this was not done until a written notice had been served.