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35
Sanitary work generally
Mr. Phillips, the senior public health inspector, reports that during
1964 an advance in the facilities provided for staff in shops and offices
was begun by the registration of premises under the Offices, Shops and
Railway Premises Act, 1963. Although some inspections were carried
out in 1964, the greater effect of the Act will be felt in 1965 by the
enforcement of its requirements and those of the subsequent Regulations.
A number of accidents have already been reported and seem
fortunately to be of a minor charactor and due to lack of care rather than
the absence of guards to machinery which will nevertheless have to be
carefully watched. In several instances it was found that lack of proper
stacking of stock was the cause of accidents and suggestions for remedying
this was readily put into practice by the firms concerned. The
work of dealing with areas under the Clean Air Act, 1956, continued and
three further areas were submitted for confirmation, which will come
into force in the latter part of 1965. Over a thousand visits were paid
in connection with this work. Inspections under the Housing Act
continued to increase in all sections but especially in applications for
mortgages from would be owner occupiers, houses in multi-occupation
and particularly pleasing to note, improvement grants. Whilst the
number of applications for these grants continued to increase, there are
still many cases where tenants would like these additional facilities but
the owner is not prepared to co-operate. With the passing of the Housing
Act 1964 this difficulty may now be overcome by the declaration of an
Improvement Area when notice may be served to enforce the improvement
of properties. The number of visits on complaint continued to
fall during 1964, 2,220 visits being made compared with 2,513 during the
previous year. The number of notices served was lower, a total of
1,256 formal and informal notices compared with 2,075 in 1963. There
was a marked increase in the visits paid to food shops, cafes, restaurants
and premises where ice cream is sold. The number of hairdressers
premises registered increased from 167 to 177 and although most of these
continued to provide good hygienic conditions, it is regretted that in one
instance it was necessary to institute legal proceedings to enforce
compliance with standards required by the Bye-laws. A further reduction
is noted in the number of outworkers and the work involved
now is almost entirely the making up of articles of clothing. It is unfortunate
that after considerable publicity on the inflammability of
children's nightdresses and the subsequent regulations made under the
Consumer Protection Act, 1961, that three of the test purchases made
were found to be below the required standard. The legal proceedings
which are being taken in these cases will, it is hoped, give even further
publicity to this subject. Finally it will be noticed that the pigeon
catcher and his assistant have dealt with more than twice as many birds
during the year compared with the previous year and a marked improvement
in the clearance of nesting places under the railway bridges has
resulted. Every endeavour will be made to keep these as clear as possible
during the coming year and the public can help in keeping down the
number of pigeons by refraining from the regular feeding of them.