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79
This Report was approved by the Court of Common Council, and the two
additional Inspectors and a Clerk were appointed in November, 1902.
Although, owing to the exigencies of the Department generally, their whole
time has not been devoted to the work for which they were specially engaged,
I am trusting to be able to remedy this defect during the coming year,
recognising that the best results can only be obtained by a rigid continuity of
action.
Much time has been occupied in the preparation of books, forms and tables,
to enable a proper record of the work of inspection to be kept, a very necessary
measure, and more especially so, as a copy of your Medical Officer's Annual
Report on the working of the Act is required to be sent year by year to H.M.
Factory Department.
WORKSHOPS.
Speaking generally, the defects needing remedy in Workshops are as
follow:—
(a) Want of cleansing.
(b) Insufficient ventilation.
(c) Overcrowding.
(e) The need for separate and suitable water-closet accommodation
for each sex.
The Act does not require convenience for personal ablution to be provided,
but in a number of instances this has been done on my advice.
The question of the temperature to be maintained in workshops appears to
rest with the Factory Inspector, and it is greatly to be hoped that a definite
standard, so far as is possible, be fixed in the near future. The question of
efficient and continuous ventilation is an all-important factor, and one which
will have to be dealt with if healthy conditions are to be maintained in
workshops.
So long as the simple expedient of opening doors and windows has to be
resorted to when fresh air is needed, little improvement can be expected, and
some inexpensive system of ventilation which would obviate the danger of
draughts, &c., should be compulsory. Electricity, both for heating and
ventilation, may be expected to play an important part in this connection in
the near future.
BAKEHOUSES.
The Bakehouses within the City (which are "Workshops" under the Act)
have been duly inspected and found in fair condition generally, as regards
cleanliness, &c.