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The sanitary provisions, the affixing of notices and abstracts, notice of occupation,
and other provisions of the Acts, now apply to laundries of certain
public institutions, domestic laundries, and laundries where not more than two
non-residents are employed. Of a laundry there is no definition in the Acts,
but in common acceptation it is a place where clothes are washed and dressed.
Here, in addition to the necessary points applicable to all workshops, special
attention requires to be directed to prevent nuisances from excessive heat in
ironing-rooms, and from accumulation and condensation of steam in washhouses,
from noxious fumes of gas, irons, and of stoves for heating irons, and
from bad flooring and draining of the surface. By Sec. 22 (2) of the Act of
1895, in laundries which are factories, a fan or other proper appliance is compulsory
in every ironing room to regulate the temperature, and in every washhouse
to carry away the steam, but these and other compulsory powers in this
section are not given to Sanitary Authorities for the control of laundries which
are workshops.
By section 27 of the Factory and Workshop Act of 1891, it was provided
that the occupier of every factory and workshop and every contractor
employed by such occupier shall, if required by order of the Secretary of
State, keep a list of all persons employed, either as workmen or as contractor,
outside the factory or workshop, and of the places where they are employed,
such list to be open to inspection by any Factory Inspector or Officer of a
Sanitary Authority. In November, 1892, the Secretary of State made such
an order with regard to the manufacture of wearing apparel, electro-plate
and files, cabinet and furniture making, and upholstery work. By section 42
of the Factory and Workshop Act of 1895, it was further provided that the
lists described in section 27 of the Act of 1891 shall be sent, on the 1st of
March and the 1st of September in each year, to the Factory Inspector of
the District, and it was also provided that section 27 of the Act of 1891 shall
(by statute) apply to any place from which any work of making wearing
apparel for sale is given out, as if that place were a workshop. That is to
say, it now applies also to shops where no work is actually done, but where
work is given out to be done upon wearing apparel. It is to be observed that
the lists relating purely to shops, workshops, and the out-workers and
contractors employed in making wearing apparel are to be sent to the Factory
Inspector of the District, and no provision is made for sending them to the
Sanitary Authority.
With reference to the relationship of the Sanitary Authority to the
Inspector of Factories, by section 26 of the Factory and Workshop Act of
1891, notices of the opening of new workshops, and by section 41 of the
Factory and Workshop Act of 1895, notices of the occupation of existing
workshops must be sent to the Inspector of Factories, and by him forwarded
forthwith to the Sanitary Authority of the district. On the other hand, by
section 27 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, if the Medical Officer of
Health becomes aware of any child, young person, or woman, being
employed in a workshop, he must forthwith give notice of the fact to the
Factory Inspector of the District. Presumably, also, although the Acts do
not so specify, he will notify to the Factory Inspector of the District those
workshops (excepting domestic workshops) where the Abstract and Notices
prescribed by the Secretary of State are not affixed, especially the notice
specifying the number of persons who may be employed in each room of