View report page

125
BAKEHOUSES.
There are at the present time 126 bakehouses in the Borough. Of
this number 76 are above ground, or "level" bakehouses, as they are
termed by the trade, whilst 50 are underground, according to the description
in Section 101 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901. For years
past considerable attention has been given to improving the structural
and administrative condition of bakehouses. There is scarcely a bakehouse
in the Borough that has not been provided with an impervious
floor, impervious walls, and casters on all the dough troughs, together
with good means of ventilation. During the present year further
improvement in underground bakehouses has been made.
UNDERGROUND BAKEHOUSES.
The following minimum requirements for underground bakehouses,
after much consideration and after several interviews between the Public
Health Committee and the Association of Master Bakers, were assented
to by the Council.
Notice was subsequently given to the tenants and owners of underground
bakehouses in the district that certificates would be required in
all cases after January 1st, 1904, and that such certificates would be
withheld, and the underground bakehouses closed, unless the minimum
requirements decided upon by the Council were complied with.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR UNDERGROUND
BAKEHOUSES.
An underground bakehouse shall not be used as such after January
1st, 1904, unless such underground bakehouse be, in the opinion of the
Medical Officer of Health, suitable and fit on sanitary grounds for use
or occupation as a bakehouse, as shown by possessing the following
minimum sanitary requirements:—
A.—Construction.
(1) The underground bakehouse shall be of a minimum capacity
of 1000 cubic feet, and shall be in every part thereof at
least 8ft. high, measured from the floor to the ceiling, beams
and joists excepted, unless provided with daylight area or
areas, at least 3ft. wide and easily accessible, extending
below the floor level and directly communicating with the
external air and not glazed over, into which at least one
window of such underground bakehouse opens.