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2
Health &
Hygiene
Education
In addition to the usual health education work which goes on continuously by
distribution of handbills, poster exhibition various talks and the advice given by the
officers of the Department when visiting homes shops, factories, etc., there were two
publicity highlights in the year. These were the holding of two public exhibitions one
on the subject matter of Clean Air, and the other having "Safety in the Home" as its
theme. Exhibitions of this nature involve a good deal of work for everybody concerned
and, as described in this report, it will be obvious that many individuals and
organisations were actively concerned in the arrangements for these exhibitions as well
as the Public Health Department itself. Exhibitions in these days must face the
competition of many other attractions for the public both during the day and in the
evening It is satisfactory to record, however, that both exhibitions were considered
to have justified the work involved in their arrangements and the "Safety in the
Home" Exhibition in particular proved attractive to the general public as well as to
the special groups who visited, such as school children, A feature which aroused very
considerable interest at this exhibition was the invitations to schools to send in
children's paintings around the theme of home safety. This gave scope for a good deal
of imagination and the standard of many of the paintings sent in, allowing for the ages
of many of the children submitting pictures, was considered to be excellent The work
of the Islington Home Safety Committee also received considerable publicity from the
publication of the handbook "Sense About Safety"
Legislation
and
Problems
Minor legislation which may add up to quite a considerable number of improvements
continued to be introduced during the year Tragedies due to the use, and sometimes
mis-use, of oil heaters led to the passing of the Oil Burners (Standards) Act 1960
which should be of considerable help in reducing such risks in future. In matters of
this kind however, it must be borne in mind that the most important factor in
prevention is the intelligent co-operation of the public itself.
The Noise Abatement Act, 1960, was another piece of legislation which should
help with a continually increasing problem of modern life, that is, noise nuisance
For the first time vibration as well as noise may be dealt with.
The London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1960 also enlarged powers of
dealing with dust nuisances, and the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act,
1960, similarly extended the powers for dealing with caravans and caravan sites
Fortunately, perhaps, one compensation of an area which is so completely built up as
Islington is that very little space, if any is left for caravan sites
Property improvements as mentioned in last year's Report are proceeding on a
considerable scale but nevertheless there are still many instances where the
Department has, unfortunately found it necessary to institute proceedings for public
health nuisances which have not been dealt with in a reasonable time and the Report
includes a summary of legal proceedings which had been taken in 36 nuisance cases
Pollution
of the
Atmosphere
It is hoped that as time goes on more areas in Islington will be declared
Smoke Control Areas at an increasing rate. Two Smoke Control Orders came into
operation during the year and it is gratifying that there has been the most
excellent co-operation of the public and no objections at all were raised against
the respective Orders. The Council during the year agreed to the appointment of two
Technical Officers to be engaged whole-time on duties under the Clean Air Act
working under the supervision of the Specialist Public Health Inspectors, and the
benefits of these appointments will no doubt be felt in the very near future