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Floors, Passages and Stairs (Section 16).
Space becomes more and more the crux of the problems under this heading. With
room for expansion in many successful businesses being either unavailable or prohibitive
in cost the degree of congestion in stock rooms, passages and stairs increases markedly.
Most Managers would appear to prefer these congested conditions to the obvious alternative
of lower stock levels with more frequent deliveries — no doubt on the basis of the
'bird in the hand'.
With present day standards of dependability of service this is perhaps understandable
but the problems of cleanliness and accident hazards escalate alarmingly in overstocked
and obstructed premises and the responsibilities of management for this situation
are clear and inescapable. 92 contraventions arose under this heading.
Hoists and Lifts Regulations.
The Secretary of State's report on the administration of the Act for the year 1969
contained the statement that "when reports of unsafe lifts were received authorities
ensured that the lifts were not used until the necessary repairs had been completed".
For the most part, this statement is valid but there are aspects of the problem which are
less than satisfactory. The Hoists 6? Lifts Regulations contain a built-in delay factor
which allows a period of up to 28 days from the date of the lift examination within which
the examiner should notify the Local Authority of a faulty lift (by forwarding a copy
of the report of examination). This could and often does include a lift where the repairs
required are classed as "immediate" if it is to continue to be used with safety. The Regulations
are silent as to the next step available to the Local Authority to secure either
(a) that the lift ceases to be used at once or (b) that immediate repairs are carried out.
Recourse must be had to Section 22 of the principle Act which, however, compels 3 days
notice to the Occupier before application is made to a Court for an order to prohibit its
use until repaired.
In the majority of cases, of course, responsible occupiers co-operate in adopting, on
advice, either of the courses referred to above, but the occasional recalcitrant occupier
or those anxious to postpone the evil day for reasons of expense present a day by day
hazard with which the Local Authority can deal only within the limits referred to above.
Manual service lifts (dumb waiters) still present the major problem of hoists failing
to comply with the Regulations. The practical problems involved in providing for the
liftway shutters or doors to be closed before operation of the ropes are unquestionably
proving difficult to solve.
Part III — Accidents
Accidents reported in the year totalled 28 which was lower than the previous year's
figure of 35. There is no information upon which to assess the number of accidents in
registered premises which were not reported but it seems unlikely that any serious injury
could be easily concealed.
It is a pleasure to report that in no case was a contravention of the Act found to be
a contributory factor in the accident and in consequence, the only action taken involved
the offering of informal advice by letter in 4 cases and verbally in three.
Sprains and strains, cuts and bruising were fortunately the majority of the injuries
sustained and no fatal or serious results were reported. Strains from the handling of
goods — lifting or pushing heavy loads were a recurring story and is a surprising factor
in the context of modern methods of goods handling. Falls on steps, stairs or level ground
were an equally common accident. Only 2 incidents involved power driven machinery.
By far the largest number of all accidents were reported from retail shops (21), only
3 occurring in offices, 2 in wholesale premises and 2 in catering premises. An office
accident of a somewhat unusual character occurred in which an employee was injured,
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