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The condition of the workshops has been found to be on the whole
satisfactory. Five cases of overcrowding were detected. At 13 premises
the sanitary accommodation was insufficient or unsuitable, and several cases
of defective drainage, or where structural works were needed, were dealt with
by the District Inspector.
VENTILATION AND HEATING OF WORKSHOPS.
The question of the proper ventilation and heating of workshops in
accordance with Sections 6 and 7, Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, and
Section 2, Public Health (London) Act, 1891, was raised with regard to
several of the workshops inspected. In many instances the means of
ventilation are adequate for ordinary purposes, but when, in order to obtain
a reasonable temperature, ordinary gas burners are lighted early in the day,
the fumes generated render special means of ventilation necessary, if purity
of air is to maintained. It has been pointed out to the employers that the
method of heating rooms by ordinary gas burners is unhealthy, inadequate and
expensive, and their attention has been invited to the Report recently
published by the Committee appointed by the Home Secretary to enquire
into the ventilation of factories and workshops, wherein it is shown that the
products of combustion from an ordinary gas jet burning five cubic feet of
gas per hour, vitiate the air to the same extent as the breathing of four men
or five women. So that, while the use of the ordinary gas jet for lighting
purposes is undesirable (unless special means of ventilation be provided),
burning gas all day through these burners as a means of heating is positively
injurious ; and a workshop so heated must be deemed not to be kept in
conformity with the Act. Stress has also been laid on the danger—in view
of the quantity of gas consumed—of gas stoves, when unprovided with a flue
or other means of carrying ofl* the products of combustion.
It appears from the wording of Section 6, Factory and Workshop Act,
1901, that the duty of enforcing this Section (which relates to temperature)
devolves upon H.M. Inspectors of Factories. In the case of a contravention
of this Section being detected by an officer of the Sanitary Authority, the
right course to pursue would presumably be for the said officer to report the