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overcrowding, the maintenance of a reasonable temperature, the
securing of adequate ventilation of workrooms and the furnishing of
adequate means for draining floors where wet processes are carried on,
are enforced by the council in factories in which mechanical power is
not used. The provisions of section 7 are also applied to certain
building operations and works of engineering construction, etc.
A local authority is required to keep a register of factories with
respect to which it is responsible for the enforcement of any of the
provisions mentioned above. Close cooperation is maintained with HM
Inspectors of Factories in that any defaults found by HM Inspectors
during the course of their visits to factories and for which it is the
duty of the local authority to secure that remedial measures are taken,
are notified to the health department. Similarly the sanitary inspectors
notify HM Inspectors of any contraventions of the provisions of the
Act which come within the jurisdiction of the lastnamed officers.
HM Inspectors also forward to the health department details relating to
the establishment of new factories, the introduction of mechanical power
and other information which may come to their notice and which appears
to affect factories subject to the control of the local authority.
Special attention is paid to factories which provide canteens.
These factories are visited by the council's food inspectors and the
opportunity is taken to discuss with the canteen staff the various requirements
needed to maintain a good standard in food hygiene.
The medical officer of health is required in his annual report to
the local authority to report specifically on the administration of, and
furnish prescribed particulars with respect to, the matters under part I
(factories) and part VIII (outworkers) which are administered by
the local authority, and to send a copy of his annual report to the
Minister of Labour and National Service. For convenience in furnishing
this information a form is supplied by the Minister and the following
is a copy of the return relating to 1952:—