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Inspections have been carried out throughout the year and all offices
and shops in this district have now received at least one general inspection.
Co-operation has been readily secured in compliance with the Act and the
quality of working conditions within these premises has been raised
considerably.
However, the department has been concerned recently with the implementation
of the provisions of the Act in Launderettes where difficulty has been
experienced in establishing whether persons are employed for a sufficient
number of hours to bring the premises within the scope of the Act. Inspection
of such premises indicates a general lack of maintenance of the machinery
and equipment and these combined facts render both the public and the staff
liable to sustain injury without the local authority having any method of
control.
Whilst informal action by Public Health Inspectors is often effective,
I should welcome an amendment to Section 3 of the Act to bring within the
scope of the Act, premises of a special nature where the aggregate hours
of one or more persons does not exceed 21 hours per week but where the
potential hazards to the staff and to the public are of a serious and/or
dangerous nature.
Some small difficulty has been experienced in assessing a standard for
ventilation within the expression "effective and suitable". Cases are on
record where workrooms have been found to contain no permanent form of
ventilation but were we to have enforced the provision of ventilation it
would have appeared harsh to the employer in cases where shop or office doors
are alleged to be kept open. If the Minister were to make the Regulations to
prescribe the standards then the enforcing authorities and employers would be
able to agree within the limits laid down.