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over the latter months of the year that there was an increase in the use of converters
and muffles by contractors, with a satisfactory decrease in nuisance.
OFFICES, SHOPS AND RAILWAY PREMISES ACT, 1963
This Act is designed to raise standards of working conditions in offices, shops,
warehouses, canteens, catering establishments and fuel storage depots so as to
promote the health, welfare and safety of the employees.
At the end of the year, 2,964 premises were registered by the Council under
this Act, there having been 204 additions to the register, and 56 deletions. There were
still some areas of the Borough which had not been fully surveyed by the end of 1966,
and it cannot be said that the register was fully accurate or complete.
Inspection of premises to which the Act applied continued at a very satisfactory
pace with 1,607 general inspections and a total of 2,802 visits of all kinds. With the
appointment of an additional full-time technical officer in October it was possible to
intensify the extent of registration and reinspection by the end of the year. Although
there were some difficulties with a number of occupiers who were intially reluctant
to comply with the requirements of the Act, there was a general acceptance of the
Council's requirements for securing compliance.
Occupiers are responsible for notifying accidents to their employees which
result in absences of three days or more from normal work. During 1966, 108
accidepts were reported - an increase of 11 over the figures for 1965. A leaflet giving
details of the regulations relating to accidents was sent out to occupiers with all
correspondence relating to their premises because it was felt that many accidents
were still not being notified!. Fortunately there were no fatal accidents during the
year, but there was one prosecution in a case where serious injury was caused to an
employee who fell through an unguarded trap door in a shop floor. There were two
contraventions of Section 16 of the Act. The opening of the trap door was not
securely fenced and steps leading to the basement were not provided with handrails
or handholds. The magistrate found both charges proved and imposed total fines of
£30 with 20 guineas costs. The following table gives an analysis of reported
accidents according to their primary cause:
75