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1906]
202
(a) Cleanliness.—(Sec. 2). Every workshop and workplace must be kept in
a cleanly state and free from effluvia arising from any drain, privy
earth closet, water closet, urinal or other nuisance ; and if they be not
so kept the Council may deal with them under sec. 2 (g. i) of the
Public Health London Act, 1891.
(b) Air Space.—(Sees. 2-3). Workshops and workplaces must not be
over-crowded so as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the
persons employed, and if they are in this condition the Council is
empowered to deal with them as a nuisance under sec. 2 (iii.) of the
Public Heaith (London) Act, 1891. Under sec. 3 (1) of the Factory
and Workshop Act, a workshop is overcrowded, " if the number of
cubic feet of space in any room therein bears to the number of
persons employed at one time in the room a proportion less than two
hundred and fifty, or, during any period of overtime, four hundred,
cubic feet of space to every person." By sec. 3 (3) of the Act the
Secretary of State has power to alter this amount in the case of
a workshop, not being a domestic workshop, " which is occupied by
day as a workshop and by night as a sleeping apartment " ; and by
his Order of the 17th January, 1902, the amount in such cases has
been increased to 400 cubic feet. The Act requires (sec. 3 (4) ) a
notice " specifying the number of persons who may be employed in
each room," to be affixed in every workshop.
(c) Ventilation (sees. 2, 7).—Every workshop and workplace must be
ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless as far as practicable
any gas, vapours, dust, or other impurities generated in the
course of the work, that are a nuisance or injurious to health ; and
any such place may be dealt with under sec. 2 (ii) of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891. This provision is supplemented by a
special requirement (sec. 7 (1) of the Factory and Workshop Act), that
" in every room in any factory or workshop sufficient means of ventilation
shall be provided, and sufficient ventilation shall be maintained,"
and when a standard has been presented by the Secretary of State,
which he has power to make under the succeeding sub-section for
any class of workshops, that standard must be observed. By section
157 of this Act, men's workshops, that is to say, workshops conducted
on the system of not employing any woman, young person or child
are excluded from the operation of this requirement.