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
Marylebone 1955
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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co-operative and readily accepted advice and suggestions from the Department. Much good has
resulted from this unspectacular work and several parts of the Borough where smoke and grit emission
has in the past been particularly troublesome now enjoy improved conditions. Some owners have
shown the greatest concern when nuisances have been reported to them and display a gratifying
willingness to do anything practicable to effect a remedy. The management of one large establishment
which had been giving trouble has been to very great expense to reduce smoke emission from their
plant by entirely replacing their oil burning equipment and by carrying out research to reduce still
further the possibility of nuisance from soot emission. Another has changed over from coal to oil.
Factories.
As required by section 128 of the Factories Act, 1937, a report on the administration by the Borough
Council of the matters under Parts I and VIII of the Act is given in Tables 6 and 7.
TABLE 6.—Factories : Inspections for Purposes of Provisions as to Health.
| Premises | Registered | Inspections | Written notices | Occupiers prosecuted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Factories without mechanical power | 271 | 370 | 31 | — |
| Factories with mechanical power | 1,303 | 1,527 | 134 | — |
| Other premises* (excluding out-workers' premises) | 195 | 425 | — | — |
| Totals | 1,769 | 2,322 | 165 | - |
| * Electrical stations, institutions, sites of building operations and works of engineering construction. | ||||
TABLE 7. — F actories : D efects F ound.
| Particulars | Defects | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Found | Remedied | Referred | In respect of which prosecutions were instituted | ||
| To H.M. Inspector of Factories | By H.M. Inspector of Factories | ||||
| Want of cleanliness | 185 | 168 | 9 | — | - |
| Overcrowding | 2 | 2 | 6 | — | — |
| Unreasonable temperature | — | — | — | — | — |
| Inadequate ventilation | 6 | 4 | 7 | — | — |
| Ineffective drainage of floors | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sanitary conveniences:— | |||||
| (a) insufficient | 5 | 4 | — | 2 | — |
| (b) unsuitable or defective | 103 | 71 | — | 8 | — |
| (c) not separate for sexes | 12 | 7 | — | 3 | — |
| Other offences (excluding offences relating to outwork) | 78 | 71 | 311 | 1 | — |
| Totals | 391 | 317 | 333 | 14 | — |
The defects and unsatisfactory conditions found (391) showed a further decrease on the numbers
discovered in previous years, and the greater proportion again related to want of cleanliness of
workrooms and sanitary accommodation.
The general health sections of the Factories Acts administered by local authorities are : in factories
where mechanical power is not used, provisions relating to cleanliness, overcrowding, temperature,
ventilation, sanitary accommodation and drainage of floors, and in factories where mechanical power
is used, provisions relating to sanitary accommodation only. It thus seems that the local authority
is regarded as competent to deal with health matters in non-power factories, no matter how large the
premises or how many are employed, but not competent to do so in premises, however small, where
even the smallest power driven tool is used.
It is only recently that use of mechanical power in factories has become the rule. When the Act
became effective in 1937 most work-places had no power machinery. Consequently, the local authority
was responsible for administering the health sections in the majority of factories and the factory