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225
[1909
Workplaces.—Fifty-four workplaces have been inspected and registered during the year.
These are the receiving offices of laundries where the linen is received and given out again. These
offices are not under the Factory Act at all, although a certain amouut of work is done similar to that
done in laundries, such as packing and sorting, also marking, both in needlework and ink. They
are really shops and come under the Shop Hours Act as regards the hours for thj persons employed
there. These receiving offices appear to be of two classes, those run by steam laundries for the
purpose of collecting work from various districts and those run by private occupiers who take in the
work and get it done anywhere or anyhow. As regards the latter class there is always the possibility
of the work being done on the premises if the giving out does not prove sufficiently satisfactory or
lucrative. It is therefore desirable that these places should be inspected regularly to ascertain if
work is actually done there, as it is not an unusual thing for a receiving office to become a laundry
or vice versa. The number of defects found on the premises has quite justified the amount of attention
given to them.
Workplaces Notified to Home Office —The names and addresses of 203 workplaces where the
Abstract of the Factory Act was not affixed, or which had not already been visited by H.M. Inspector
have been forwarded to the Home Office. This is a larger number than last year in spite of the
fact that trade is still dull. The particulars of the workplaces notified will be found in the accompanying
tabular statement, which also includes those notified by Inspector West. The table of
workplaces notified includes also any factories found unvisited or without the necessary papers.
Although workshop occupiers are liable to a penalty for employing hands for a longer period than
one month without notifying to the Home Office, they still continue to break the law with impunity,
possibly due to the fact that prosecutions in this part of London have not been frequent. A good
number of the workshops mentioned in table have been notified before any employees were engaged,
so that the number of employees eventually affected by the notification is considerably larger than
would appear from the table.
Cleanliness—During the year 83 instances of workrooms found in a dirty condition either in
whole or part have been dealt with. Of these 72 had been cleansed under my supervision before the
end of the year. A few of these refer to the dirty state of the floors, but most refer to dirty walls and
ceilings. A change for the better has been noticed in the cleanliness of workshop walls and ceilings
during the year, many having been found cleansed at the time of inspection. The occupiers now
know that cleansing must be done periodically, so they prefer to do it voluntarily in a quiet time,
rather than be compelled to do it when work is busy.
Overcrowding.—Overcrowding was found in 8 workrooms during the year. The number of
employees was reduced in each case on notice being given. Most of the workrooms inspected had
not nearly the full complement of workers allowed, as trade has, if anything, been more unsatisfactory
han before. Some workrooms were certainly being run at a loss, one coming under notice where
there were two employees entirely without work waiting patiently at their benches in the hope that
an order might come in. They had then been waiting for days.
Ventilation, etc.— Six instances of insufficient means of ventilation have been noticed and of
these three had been remedied before the end of the year. There has been, as usual, an insufficient
use of the means of ventilation. Some of the workrooms are not ventilated even during meal times,
as the employees have meals in the rooms, and of course continue to exclude the fresh air. It almost
appears desirable that meals in workrooms should be forbidden with a view to more efficient ventilation
during the absence of the workers. Some of the larger workshops have mess-rooms specially
given up to the workers, but this is by no means universal—in fact it is practically impossible in the
case of a small industry. In four cases during the year the air was found vitiated by flueless gas
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