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OFFICES, SHOPS AND RAILWAY PREMISES ACT, 1963
1 Registration and Inspections
The number of newly registered premises has increased slightly this year, whilst the overall number of
employees has risen by almost a third. This considerable increase has been due partially to the nationalisation
of the Post Office, but in the main to the acceptance from the Factory Inspectorate of the British Broadcasting
Corporation premises in the Borough.
A full-time Section is responsible for the administration of the Act and its Regulations as in previous years.
The 1971 temporary reduction of the Section's staff to one Senior Public Health Inspector has unfortunately
continued throughout 1972. In July the officer who had held this appointment for three years resigned, and
although the post was filled internally as speedily as possible an unavoidable situation arose in the the newly
appointed inspector was required, because of overall staff shortage, to divide his time between his previous
unfilled post and his Offices and Shops responsibilities for nearly three months.
These factors are reflected in a considerable reduction in the number of inspections made during the year.
Due to the great difficulty in recruiting Public Health Inspectors in London, after repeated advertising, it has
become necessary to rearrange the staffing structure of the Section to one Senior Public Health Inspector and
two Technical Assistants. It is hoped that these latter posts will be filled during the first months of 1973 which
will result in a corresponding increase in the number of initial and follow-up inspections carried out over the
forthcoming year.
The routine street by street inspections on the scale of previous years has obviously not been possible during
1972. The resources of the Section have therefore been concentrated on the important matters of the
investigation of accidents, reported contraventions of the Hoists and Lifts Regulations, complaints regarding
unsatisfactory working conditions generally and the inspection of newly registered premises.
As in previous years premises are also inspected before a licence under the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries
Act is issued to ascertain whether objections should be made regarding the requirements of the Offices, Shops
and Railway Premises Act.
2 Accidents
During 1971 a circular letter was sent to all registered premises notifying employers of their obligation
under the Act to report accidents. The number of notifications received this year have consequently increased,
althouth the figure is still below that which was anticipated having regard to the total number of employees in
registered premises. It is proposed to re-circularise all firms to again draw attention to their obligations under
the Act, and to reinforce this with direct advice and instruction during visits by inspectors.
A total of 57 accidents was reported during the year, only five of which it was considered necessary to
investigate. In three of these case formal warning was given.
The following table shows the primary cause and the type of premises in which the accident occured:-

Once again it can be seen that falls of all kinds constitute the largest group of accidents of which only one
was of a serious nature. This particular accident involved a fall from a flat roof on which handrails have since
been erected.
An accident at a local bank is of particular interest and has involved liaison with the Factory Inspectorate
Engineering Department. In this case a bank clerk broke a bone in his wrist when he accidentally operated a
printing machine whilst his hand was under the printing head. This was possible because of the lack of
shrouding of the dual switches enabling them to be operated with the hip and forearm rather than both hands.
The manufacturers have now produced a modification for the machine and the bank in question have made
arrangements for this to be fitted.
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