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As regards number, the standard set by the Sanitary Accommodation Order of
February 4th, 1903, could well be argued as being the minimum necessary in offices.
They should be quite separated from those provided for the men, and the approaches
should be so arranged that the possibility of men and women meeting should be
reduced to a minimum. If this is not the case extreme sensitiveness will prevent some
women from using the place until absolutely compelled.
Questions of urgency demand that they should be readily accessible. Attention
should be paid particularly to the distance in height which has to be climbed. This
presents a difficult problem in some of the older places and much ingenuity has to be
displayed satisfactorily to solve the problem. In new offices this point requires always
to be kept in mind.
A lavatory with a supply of soap and a towel should be provided in connection
with all conveniences. This need not be an elaborate arrangement, but it is essential in
the interests of cleanliness and health.
Women's conveniences should as far as practicable be on the premises. The suggestion
that outside public conveniences should be used should never be agreed to except in the
rarest of circumstances. In addition to the question of accessibility it should be
remembered that the use of public conveniences may involve a woman in expense unless
a free lavatory is available, which is not generally the case ; and even when it is, I
believe, most women would prefer to pay than use the free public provision. A
contribution of say 6d. or 1s. a week to the employe does not meet the case. In winter
or wet weather some personal preparation is necessary if a person goes outside, and this
interferes with routine and perhaps discipline, the latter ultimately resulting in onerous
restrictions.
Cleanliness.—The standard of cleanliness in a well-kept house should be the
standard aimed at, and more attention requires to be paid to the periodical removal of
the dust which collects on furniture, or papers not filed, on samples not kept in a store
room and on haphazard accumulations of different materials. If dust is not kept under
control, the atmosphere is interfered with to the prejudice of the workers. Dust can
be reduced somewhat by proper methods of daily cleansing. When damp cleansing has
superseded dry dusting in all cleaning work, a marked sanitary advance will have
been made.
Ventilation, Heating and Overcrowding.—This group of requirements
provides one of the most difficult problems for solution. They are closely associated
and can hardly be satisfactorily considered alone. The point when an overcrowded
condition is reached may depend less upon the number of occupants than upon the
ventilation provided, and the efficiency of ventilation may depend upon the method of
heating. Standards which arbitrarily fix the number of people who may be allowed
to occupy a room are therefore not entirely satisfactory, but it is difficult to suggest an
alternative.
It would probably be sound practice to require that a workplace should be provided
with at least as much cubic capacity per head as is a workshop, and in this instance 250
cubic feet in ordinary time, and 400 cubic feet during overtime represent the minimum.
It is impossible to reconcile the standard of 250 cubic feet with accepted
physiological requirements. The amount of air necessary to be drawn into a room of
that limited cubic capacity in order to reduce the proportion of CO2 to anything like a