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
Shoreditch 1927
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch]
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26
Forty-seven written intimations were received from the factory inspector relating
to insanitary conditions and infringements of the law as to public health in connection
with 14 factories and 33 workshops. The chief insanitary conditions to which the
factory inspector directed attention were : dirty conditions of walls and ceilings in 18,
defective and insufficient w.c. accommodation in 27, defective roofs in 5, foul urinal
in 1, obstructed drain in 1 and in one instance there was a defective ceiling.
Including those brought under the notice of the department by the factory inspector 282 workshops were dealt with, 294 sanitary notices being served upon the parties responsible for their proper sanitary upkeep. In eight instances sanitary notices were not required. The following is an abstract of the sanitary work carried out to comply with these notices :—
| Premises cleansed throughout | 122 | Soil and vent pipes dealt with | 3 |
| „ „ partially | 58 | Water-closets newly constructed | 4 |
| Number of rooms cleansed | 213 | ,, repaired, etc. | 227 |
| Walls, floors, sashes, etc., repaired | 72 | ,, obstructions removed | 50 |
| Light and ventilation improved | 3 | Sinks, etc., cleansed and repaired | 14 |
| Roofs, guttering, etc., repaired | 119 | ||
| Overcrowding abated | — | Sink traps provided | 6 |
| Water reinstated or improved | 3 | Sculleries, yards, etc., paving repaired | 7 |
| Drains newly constructed | 2 | ||
| ,, reconstructed | 6 | Sculleries, yards, etc., cleansed or limewashed | 94 |
| repaired, etc. | 25 | ||
| ,, obstructions removed | 15 | Dust receptacles provided | 21 |
| Urinals cleansed, etc. | 17 | Foul accumulations removed | 27 |
The number of factories under observation for insanitary conditions during the
year was 93, and in connection with them some 93 sanitary notices were served.
The work carried out to comply with these notices included the cleansing and repairing
of water-closets in 27 instances, the removal of obstructions from drains and waterclosets
in 24 instances, besides several other matters. Limewashing of factories can
only legally be dealt with by the Factory Inspector, but defects in connection with the
sanitary arrangements in factories are matters within the province of the sanitary
authority.
During the year 80 lists of out-workers were received from employers in the
Borough, 40 in the first and 40 in the second half-year. Those for the first halfyear
are due in February, for the second in August. These lists contained the names
of 959 out-workers, of whom 691 were not residents in Shoreditch. The addresses
of those non-resident were forwarded to the sanitary authorities of the districts to
which they belonged. Communications were received from various sanitary authorrities
relating to some 1,568 out-workers, and of these 2 were residents in other Boroughs,
and their addresses were duly forwarded to the authorities concerned. A table is
given in the Appendix showing the numbers of addresses of out-workers received from
the sanitary authorities referred to during 1927.