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76
SUPERVISION OF OTHER PREMISES
Routine visits are paid by the sanitary inspectors to such premises
as factories, licensed premises, cinemas and other buildings.
Factories
Sanitation. Legislation about the health of those working in
factories preceded that which led to the development of the Public Health
Service and has all along remained distinct with the result that even
to-day local sanitary authorities have very little concern with the conditions
of work of those employed in factories. Earlier legislation was
largely repealed and to a certain extent re-enacted in the Factories Act,
1937. Under this a distinction is drawn between those factories in
which mechanical power is used and those where it is not. The District
Council has responsibilities in regard to the cleanliness, overcrowding,
temperature, ventilation and drainage of floors of those factories where
mechanical power is not used. In all factories whether or not mechanical
power is used the District Council is concerned to see that sufficient and
suitable sanitary conveniences are provided, maintained and kept clean.
The standard of adequacy is set out in the Sanitary Accommodation
Order, 1903. District Councils are also concerned with fire escapes
at factories and with basement bakehouses. The Factories Act also
lays a duty on District Councils about home workers. Lists of outworkers
of those engaged in certain trades have to be kept and action
taken if the persons are employed in unwholesome premises.
Industrial Health Service. The first of the Factory Acts of general
application, that of 1833, required the appointment of factory inspectors
and prohibited the employment of children under nine years of age.
The Act of 1844 provided for the statutory medical supervision by
certifying surgeons. Later legislation was largely incorporated in the
Factories Acts of 1937 and 1948. The provisions of all these and the
orders and regulations made under them afford the control of environmental
working conditions, dangerous hazards and the employment of
juveniles. Quite apart from what has been required by legislation,
since the middle of the last century a few progressive employers have
appointed doctors to care for the health of their workers. But it was
not until the first world war that the importance of the human factor in
industry began to be recognised. The second world war emphasised
this. The conditions of work at factories are supervised by the department
of the Ministry of Labour and National Service. Under central
direction the country is divided into areas for each of which a factory
inspector is appointed. There are some 400 inspectors of whom 16 are
medical men. The office of the local inspector is 38/39, York Terrace,
Regents Park, N.W.1.
In each district there is the appointed factory doctor, previously
known as the factory surgeon. He is usually a part-time general medical
practitioner. Amongst his duties are the examination of young persons
under the age of eighteen within fourteen days of their first employment
to determine whether they are fit for work or fit only for some kinds of
work, or fit for work only under certain conditions. He also investigates