View report page

The need for sufficient ventilation, not merely to extract the vitiated air, but to provide
the flow of air so important to the dispersal of body heat and exhalation is all too
often not fully understood. Employees may suffer a general lack of alertness and a
tendency to 'sag' particularly during close weather conditions, but these symptoms are
seldom associated by the employer with an inefficient ventilation system until the problem
is pointed out. Co-operation is generally then forthcoming and, indeed, one shop occupier
displayed a commendable willingness to comply with our suggestion that, in order to
secure through-ventilation, he should provide a ventilation opening at the front to complement
the existing opening at the rear. He effected the improvement by taking the
metal flap off the letter box in the front door.
An unusual problem arose from the use of a reproduction machine for the copying
of large drawings, etc., in a special room in one block of offices. The difficulty occurred
when there was a build-up of ammonia fumes in the room arising from the chemicals
involved in the reproduction process. This became essentially a ventilation problem which
was eventually solved and it was also felt advisable to request the provision of rubber
gloves for the staff handling the process.
Cleanliness & Washing Facilities (Sections 4 & 10).
These sections as applied to food premises —- foodshops, restaurants, hotels, bakehouses,
etc., overlap the requirements of the Food Hygiene (General) Regulations and in
most cases it has been found more satisfactory for the latter authority to be used to obtain
satisfactory standards because of their more specific application and wider scope.
Obstruction (Section 16).
Office buildings are being built in some cases with service lines for power and telephones,
etc., built into the structure and emerging at strategically placed points in the
form of raised connection pedestals on the floor. This system has one unfortunate effect
— it imposes a rigidity upon the layout of desks and appliances in the offices which an
occupier can find very frustrating. Any movement of furniture away from the preconceived
layout exposes the junction boxes and trailing wires as potential accident hazards.
Our experience has included more than one problem of this type and one is forced to
conclude that the standard practice of providing service connections on the wall remains
the most satisfactory system.
Food Slicing Machines (Sections 17, 18 & 19).
Copies of the leaflet "The safe use of food slicing machines" issued by the Department
of Employment & Productivity were obtained by the Health Department and issued
to selected and suitable premises.
It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of this form of educational propaganda, but
the pamphlet coupled with the frequent checking on the presence of guards appears to
have had two consequences:—
(1) the relatively common practice of employees, to simplify their work, removing
the guards and storing them in cupboards appears to have become markedly
less frequent. This situation could however be attributable to employees becoming
accustomed to the presence of guards, and
(2) no notified accidents occurred during the year in the Borough involving the
use of the cleaning of food slicing machines.
Thermometers, Abstracts, First Aid Boxes (Sections 6, 50 & 24).
Under the heading of less serious contraventions are the very common ones of lost
thermometers, missing Abstracts of the Act and failure to maintain the contents of first
aid boxes up to a satisfactory standard. These occur with considerable frequency and it
is a commentary on the successful application of the Act that they form a large proportion
of the contraventions recorded.
57