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18
SANITARY CONVENIENCES.
Additional sanitary accommodation was required and has
been provided in 6 work-places.
In several establishments where both sexes were employed
I have been able to suggest some improvement in the existing
arrangements. 12 new water-closets have been substituted for
old and insanitary ones, while 29 others, found to be defective
as regards water supply, were repaired. In cases where the
water-closets or lavatories were found dirty and neglected, I
frequently found on inquiry that the employers were quite unaware
of the condition of things, and were only too glad to be
informed.
VENTILATION, HEATING, AND LIGHTING.
Improvement in the means of ventilation has been effected
in 10 work-rooms, while 3 have been discontinued as unsuitable.
In 11 rooms, where the workers were suffering from the effects
of cold, the temperature has been improved by the adoption of
proper means of warming : on the other hand in several laundries
it has been found possible to considerably reduce the abnormally
high temperature by inducing air currents, screening or removing
stoves, and other means.
I am glad to be able to report the increasing use of electricity
for lighting all classes of workrooms; the gain in purity
of atmosphere is very great.
In workrooms, as in many other places, the question of
ventilation is a vexed one. It is comparatively easy to induce
employers to provide sufficient means of ventilation—the real
difficulty often lies with the workpeople themselves, who are
unable to dissociate the idea of fresh air from that of draught
and its consequences; their determined efforts to block up all
air-inlets are truly ingenious. Patience and persuasion on the
part of the inspector is, however, sometimes rewarded by good
and lasting results.
DRAINAGE OF FLOORS.
In several wash-houses the surface drainage has been improved
; stone and concrete floors have been repaired, wooden
floors have been removed and replaced by a flooring of some
impervious material.