London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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75
WORKSHOPS.
As mentioned in previous Reports, the sanitary defects generally found
in workshops may be classified under the following headings:—
Want of cleansing.
Insufficient ventilation.
Overcrowding.
The lack of separate and suitable water-closet accommodation for
both sexes.
Under the Factory Act, the occupier of a Workshop is bound to give notice to
H.M Factory Department of the establishment of any Workshop, but no such
notice is required to be given to the Local Authority, and the information
subsequently reaches the Local Authority through the Factory Department.
As Local Authorities have been made specially responsible for Workshops,
it is desirable that notice of the existence of any new Workshop should
also be given to them and so enable any sanitary defects to be remedied
without unnecessary delay.
The District Surveyor was notified of dangerous structures observed by the
Inspectors in the course of their inspections.
* Details of Workshop Inspections, 1908.
| New workshops notified by H.M. Factory Department | 164 |
| No Abstract of Act affixed where women and young persons were employed—cases notified to H.M. Factory Inspector | 57 |
| Domestic workshops on register | 29 |
| Statutory Certificates for cleansing issued by Medical Officer of Health | 255 |
| Outworkers working in the City notified to the Corporation | |
| Outworkers notified by Corporation to outside districts | 16,909 |
| Complaints— | |
| From H.M. Factory Inspector - 19 | |
| General 20 | |
| Total number of complaints— | 39 |
| Initial inspections (workrooms) 291 | |
| Periodical inspections 2,743 | |
| Re-inspections (sanitary work in hand) 2,704 | |
| Workers employed— | 5,738 |
| Men 7,728 | |
| Women 8,585 | |
| Notices served— | 16,313 |
| Intimation 608 | |
| Statutory 166 | |
| — | 774 |
* For details of Women Sanitary Inspectors' Work, see p. 84.