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A statutory inspection is carried out every thirteen months and registration is renewed
subject to satisfactory conditions prevailing at the time of inspection. No cause has so far
been found to recommend withdrawal of this registration.
During the year ten visits were carried out, including early morning bed inspection and late
night visits to interview suspected verminous persons.
EXHUMATION OF HUMAN REMAINS IN DISUSED CHURCHYARDS
At St. Giles Church, Cripplegate, in connection with the Barbican Development, 34 boxes of
human remains were removed by the London Necropolis Co. Ltd., and reinterred at Brookwood
Cemetery necessitating 4 early morning visits by the Public Health Inspectors concerned.
Subsequently, the Faculty authorising removal was amended to permit reinterment of any
human remains found later in a specially constructed vault to be built in the churchyard.
OFFICES, SHOPS AND RAILWAY PREMISES ACT, 1963
Offices
During the year the number of visits by Inspectors was 4,831, showing an increase over the
previous year (3,280) and reflecting the number of general inspections made which reached
1,003 (447). As in the past a large part of the Inspectors' time has been taken up answering
requests for advice and assistance from office and personnel management departments, compared
with which, complaints from office employees have been minimal. Here it is pleasing to note
that whilst the Act does not require the provision of rest and recreation facilities for staff, these
are increasingly being made available.
The standard of cleanliness is generally found to be satisfactory but in certain instances
where both internal cleaning staff and external contractors have been used, improvements have
been found to be necessary, and in these cases contractors have been found the more difficult to
deal with.
With regard to heating and ventilation in offices, it would seem that ventilation is the greater
problem, it being difficult in many instances to use windows for this purpose owing to traffic
noise and inclement weather. Mechanical ventilation is very often the only method whereby satisfactory
ventilation can be obtained and this usually involves a substantial capital outlay.
In new offices a high standard of lighting is usually provided. However, in older premises
the standard provided borders on being barely adequate for the task involved. When these older
installations are being renewed in offices a standard of between 45 and 60 lumens per square
foot is being recommended.
Where the provision of sanitary conveniences is inadequate, difficulty is often found in providing
floor space for the additional facilities required; most instances being limited by the
internal arrangements of the buildings.
The British Red Cross Society at Finsbury Barracks, City Road, E.C.1, carry out training in
First Aid to qualify persons under the Act and during the year under review 871 persons were
trained, the majority of these being from firms within the City.
Of the accidents reported during the year the greatest number were due to persons slippin g
on staircases and in passageways. These generally were due to slippery surfaces, but in many
instances the cause was probably unnecessary haste by the person involved.
Generally upon inspection it has been found that it is in the minor requirements of the Act
that premises are deficient, i.e. no provision of thermometers and abstracts of the Act not being
posted. With the co-operation of everyone concerned it has not been found necessary to institute
any proceedings under the Act this year.
It is worth noting that the amount of work involved in a general inspection varies considerably
e.g. one general inspection may concern a firm occupying one room whereas another may
concern a large office consisting of hundreds of rooms. Therefore, any comparison between one
local authority and another on the basis of the yearly number of inspections is invalid.
It has been the policy of this department to deploy the available inspectors in a way considered
to be of the best advantage to all concerned in preference to the achievement of a statistical
target of general inspections. This policy involves immediate attention to requests from
occupiers for advice and help, investigation of causes of accidents (332 in 1965 and 320 in 1966)
and consultations with architects and builders regarding new developments. In this connection
there are, in the City, the headquarters of many large firms, insurance companies, and banks and
questions posed by branches of these establishments to their headquarters on the implementation
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