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Since the passing of the Act, the Minister of Labour has made several Orders
and Regulations prescribing standards for the provision of washing facilities,
sanitary accommodation, first aid equipment, etc., but the issue of Regulations for
the prescribing of standards for lighting and ventilation is still awaited.
By the end of the year 2,731 premises had been registered and this figure is
now estimated to be near the total of premises required to be registered. Systematic
surveys of these premises are continuing and 1,315 premises received a general
inspection, entailing 4,426 visits, and 495 notices were served drawing the attention
of occupiers to contraventions of the Act. These contraventions were of a minor
character, the most common being unsatisfactory lighting standards, followed by
poor decorative conditions which contribute in no small way to the lighting
standard.
Fifty accidents were reported but none was of a serious nature. It is probable
that many occupiers of premises are still unaware of their responsibility under the
Act to report accidents, and there were probably quite a number of unreported
accidents.
The majority of accidents reported were mainly the result of negligence in
handling goods and equipment. There appears to be in the majority of cases a lack
of instruction in the best methods of handling goods and maintaining equipment.
The Shops Act, 1950, is a consolidating Act, re-enacting the existing law on
hours of closing, certain conditions of employment, Sunday trading and general
matters relating to these subjects.
The Shops (Early Closing Days) Act, 1965, provides, inter alia, for an early
closing day to be selected by the occupier of the premises and to substitute the
expression “early closing day” for the expression “weekly half-holiday”.
Provisions relating to street trading are included in the Middlesex County
Council Acts and Bye-laws made thereunder.
The estimated number of shops in the Borough is 1,776 and there is one street
market with 38 licensed sites trading six days a week. A further eight licensed
street traders are situated throughout the Borough.
A privately-owned covered market trades six days a week and another private
market is held in the Enfield market square every Saturday.
During the year 2,754 visits were made to shops and stalls. Many of these
were primary inspections and any minor contraventions noted were found to have
been remedied on re-inspection.
No prosecutions were taken during the year.
(See Statistical Table 40.)
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