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187
Appendix G.
[Extract from Annual Report of Medical Officer of Health for the
City of London for 1903.]
BAKEHOUSES.
(Underground.)
Bakehouses have been the subject of special legislation for many years, and
since the 1st January, 1896, it has been unlawful to establish any new one
underground. The Factory and Workshop Act of 1901 introduced some
stringent measures with regard to these places, and it was therein
enacted that after the 1st January, 1904, no existing underground*
bakehouse should be used unless certified by the Sanitary Authority to
be "suitable as regards construction, light, ventilation, and in all other
respects"(Sec. 101 (4)).
The evident intention of the Legislature was their abolition, and it therefore
became the duty of the Sanitary Authorities to adopt a high standard of
sanitary requirements in connection with them before granting certificates.
Immediately after the passing of the Act referred to above, due notice was
given to the owners of the underground bakehouses then in the City, stating
the requirements of the Corporation that would have to be complied with
before a certificate would be issued.
It would, of course, have been unreasonable to rigidly enforce standard
requirements in every case, as the circumstances in no two instances were
identical. In was therefore considered advisable to deal with each one upon
its merits, and as far as possible the accompanying standard was kept in view.
(1) Construction.
Floors, walls, and ceilings to have suitable hard, smooth, and jointless
surface.
The joints of any drain passing beneath the floor of any bakehouse to
be gas and water-tight. Any covers necessary to inspection chambers
to drains to be of metal, and be double covers with double sealed joints.
The floor of the bakehouse to be laid to proper falls from the sides to
the centre and be drained by means of a suitable channel to a gully, over
which a draw-off tap shall be fixed, the gully being surrounded by a
kerb and properly dished. Where possible the said gully shall be fixed
outside the bakehouse.
No certificate should be granted for any bakehouse which is liable to
be flooded with sewage owing to the public sewer becoming surcharged.
* An underground bakehouse is one in which the floor surface of any baking room is more than 3 feet
below the surface of the footway of the adjoining street, or of the ground adjoining or nearest to the room.