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Factories and workshops bill
292
F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL.
F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL. even the oysters. The cockles are mostly used for consumption in the district, but one large bed of Tins important "Bill to amend and extend the them i~s stated to be "exceptionally exposed to the law relating to Factories and Workshops," cominfluence of Grimsby and Cleethorpes sewage." prises fifty-two clauses in three principal Some of these shell-fish are not often eaten raw; divisions, of which the first (clauses i - - I 8 ) is others again, notably oysters, are largely consumed on "General Law relating to Factories and without cooking, and when so eaten the removal Worksh@s"; the second (clauses I 9 - - 3 t ) refers from the shell of the liquid in which the oysters lie to " @ e l m Rules and Requireme~zts"; and the is a thing that is generally somewhat carefully third.consists of "Miscellaneous Ame~zdmenls." avoided. The state and sources of the " waters" From a point of view totally different from that n which the oysters are grown or kept come, of mere arrangements of clauses, viz., that of therefore, to acquire importance in so far as the administration, the Bill may be regarded as publi,c are concerned; and having regard to the consisting of two parts, not structurally divided, significant indications afforded by some of the yet distinct from each other. One of these parts cholera histories of last year, I cannot avoid the concerns Sanitary Authorities and their execut!ve conviction that shell-fish from Cleethorpes and officers on whom it casts new duties and reGrimsby mustj in some cases, remain under sussponsibilities; the other is principally to be dealt picion as having contributed to the diffusion of the with by the Government Inspectors of Factories disease. and Workshops. It may be convenient to the In opposition to this view it has been alleged readers of PUBLIC I-IEALTIt to consider the Bill that, having regard to the enormous operations of on this basis. It should be premised that the the Cleethorpes oyster trade, the effects, if any, provisions relating specially to the hygiene of could hardly have been so limited as appears to certain trades (clauses 25--3 I) do not, for the have been the case last autumn, But this argument purposes of the Bill, come within the province has not much weight when it is remembered that, of the Sanitary Anthority. It is unnecessary to with regard to oysters, for example, as a channel remind ~[edical Officers of Health that recent for conveying the infection of cholera, it would be legislation in respect -of Factories and Workshops necessary that the shelt or body of the mollusc affords abundant illustration of mischievous overshould retain some portion of the sewage, which lapping of duties of distinct authorities in matters on this coast is stated to be enormously diluted relating to health, and the consequent reduplicawith sea water; that such sewage should happen tion of the work of the respective officers of these to comprise some of the cholera infection which authorities. The administration of the statutes in last autumn was passing from the sewer outfalls ; question involves greatly increased inspection ~ and, further, that this poison should be received (doubtless excellent in its way) on the part of by some susceptible person without prior destrucInspectors of the Sanitary Authority, but for the tion by a process of cooking. The concurrence of expense of which no provision appears to have been conditions such as these in regard of persons not made in the Factory Acts, and which is expected otherwise exposed to cholera infection, is by no to be defrayed out of local rates. The Bill, whilst means likely to have been habitual; and it is the on this point not differing from its predecessors, conviction that their co-existence must have been goes a great deal further than any of them in comparatively rare that prevents me from speaking proposing, so to speak, to place Sanitary Authoriin more positive terms as to the precise relation of ties under Government Inspectors of Factories, the shell-fish trade in "these Humber towns to as will presently appear (clause 3). cholera in England in I893. Tile clauses of the Bill, directly affecting SaniBut one thing is certain. Oysters and shell-fish, tary Authorities, are the following : both at the mouth of the Humber and at other Clause i defines overcrowding in Factories and points along the English coast line, are at times so Workshops, which hitherto has been undefined. grown and stored that they must of necessity be The limit is placed at 250 cubic feet, or during periodically bathed in sewage more or less dilute ; ovemme 4oo cubic feet, per person. These oysters have more than once appeared to serve as amounts are subject to modification by the the medium for communicating disease, such as Secretary of State during the use of artiJ~dal enteric fever, to man ; and so long as conditions lig~t, and to increase in particular processes or exist, such as those with which the oyster trade of handicrafts. Cleethorpes and Grimsby is shown to be associated, The clause omits to specify (a) the mininmm of conditions which may at any time involve risk of floor-space or the maximum of height, in the the fouling of such sheU-fish with the excreta of stated amount of cubic space to be provided for persons suffering from diseases of the type of each person; (3) the minimum of height of any cholera and enteric fever, so long will it be imposroom to be used as a workshop; and ( c ) t h e sible to assert that their use as an article of diet is not concerned in the production of diseases of the * E.g., in respect of the provision of Fire Escapes for Facclass in question. tories~ the sanitary requirements of Workshops, &c., &c.
F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL. precise quantity of gas, oil, candle, or other illuminant which shall count as one person in regard of vitiation of air. It is authoritatively laid down ~; that a " c o m m o n small gas-burner" will burn three cubic feet of gas per hour, and requires 4,500 cubic feet of air space, "unless the products of combustion are removed by a special channel." Again, Dr. Notterf- states that whilst man exhales from 0"56 to 0"67 cubic feet of carbonic acid per hour, one cubic foot of coal gas burnt will produce two cubic feet of carbonic acid ; that an "ordinary gas-burner" (a very vague impression) burns from three to five cubic feet of gas per hour (producing from six to ten cubic feet of carbonic acid); an "ordinary oil-laJ~$" burns 15o grains of oil per hour producing 0"5 cubic foot of carbonic acid; and a candle burning 320 grains per hour produces "4 cubic foot of carbonic acid. Therefore the vitiation of the air, by the burning of half a cubic foot of gas (or about one-sixth the amount burnt in " a n ordinary gas burner "), o r " an ordinary oil-lamp," or a candle of 320 grains, is about equal to that of one person. It has generally been accepted that three "ordinary .gas burners " are equivalent to one person in respect of air polIution--a holding which, in view of the authority just quoted, should be revised forthwith. In workshops it is usual to have large gas-burners. In such cases Inspectors not duly put on their guard by the above information, will be likely to underestimate very greatly the vitiation of air by consumed gas. The foregoing observations show the need of an accurate legal standard for artiflda! lightb,.g in Factories and Workshops, and especially the latter, which are often very close and stuffy, and more particularly during cold weather when the opening of windows (e.g., in Tailors' Workshops where the men are stripped to the waist), even if not objectionable on hygienic grounds, is always objected to by the workers themselves. This standard should be based on actual amount of illuminant burnt and not, as has hitherto been the custom, on rule-ofthumb estimate of size of flame. Clause 3 makes it " t h e duty of the Sanitary Authority to inform the Inspector" of Factories " o f the proceedings taken" in consequence of neglect or default under section 4 of the Act of 1878 (as regards effluvia from drains, closets, &c., or other, nuisances, and whitewashing or cleansing), reported by the Inspector of Factories. Hitherto, Sanitary Authorities have never been required to make a report of this kind. Doubtless, in most cases, they have approved of their Medical Officers of Health giving information freely to the Government Inspectors as to the sanitary improvements carried out in Factories and Workshops. But that * " Practical Hygiene." Drs. E. A. Parkes and. Notter. t "Treatise on Hygiene." Edited by Drs. Stevenson and Murphy.
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they shall be themselves compelled to report their action to an official is, we believe, an entirely new departure in legislation. It is certainly one ta which it behoves every Medical Officer of Health to draw the attention of his Authority so as to afford them due opportunity to oppose this clause of the Bill if they think proper. Further, the clause is an example of the overlapping of Authorities for sanitary purposes above referred to. Clause 5 fixes the penalty for employment of persons in places injurious to health at a maximum of A~2o. Under clause 6, a similar penalty is imposed for permitting the making of wearing apparel in a building any inmate of which is suffering,from scarlet fever or smallpox. No reference is made in respect of workshops, &c., infected with diseases other than those named, although, as is well known, they are not .the only ones the infection of which is communicable by means of clothing. Clause IO gives power to a court of summary jurisdiction on complaint by the Inspector of Factories to require the occupier of a factory or workshop to provide a sufficiency of moveable fireescapes for his employ6s. The Act of 1891 provides for "such means of escape in case of fire . . • . as can be reasonably required" to the satisfaction of the Sanitary Authority (whose duty it is made to see to the execution of that portion of the Act). This provision refers only tofactories of over forty workers. It seems reasonable to expect that in any works~oAO where this number of hands are engaged the same protection should be afforded. This may be secured by amending Section V I I . of the Act of 1891 (Provision against Fire) by adding the words " o r workshop" after the w o r d " factory," and making the operation of the section retrospective. Zaund~es.--Under clause 19, the Factor}, Acts are applied to public laundries, those in which "steam, water, or other mechanical power" is used being classed as non-textile factories, and the others as workshops. In the former class provision is to be made of fans for regulating temperature and carrying off steam, also for the separation of stoves for heating irons from ironing rooms, and for the good condition and drainage of the flooring. Small laundries worked only by resident members of the same family are exempt from the operation of this section. Bakeho~ses.--Seclion 24 (I) extends to every bakehouse the previous provision as to bakehouses in the larger towns (of over 5,000 inhabitants). The definition of "retail bakehouse" in the Act of 1883 (s. I8) ~ is unsatisfactory, inasmuch as it * The section reads as follows:--" The expression 'retail bakehouse' means any bakehouse or placej the bread, biscuits or coufectionerybaked in which are not sold_ wholesale, but by retail, in some shop or. place occupied together w~th such bakehouse." The Act of 1891 (section 36) provides that retail bakehouse as above defined shall not include a place which is a factory within the meaning of the Act of 1878.
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F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL.
limits the term to the retail shop occupied together with a bukehouse, and consequently precludes its application .to other small shops to which it ought properly to apply. A great many bakehouses are owned by persons who sell elsewhere by retail the bread baked in them, If steam power is not used in these they are not "factories" under the Acts. They therefore do not come within the meaning of the Factory Acts at all. It is desirable that this omission should be met. Clause 3 of the same section extends to every bakehouse the operation of the Regulations under the Act of 1883, which dealt onIy with bakehouses not let or occupied before that year.
Dangerous or Un~eall]zy Trades. - - S~beeiaI Jv;vv:,sions for ffealtiz are dealt with in clauses 25--31 ; k.:t as these clauses appear to be placed w~thin the sphere of the Inspector of Factories rather than of the Sanitary Authority, they will be described later. Under the heading "Miscellaneous Amendmenls" the only clause directly concerning Sanitary Authorities is the 33rd, which secures the due provision of closet accommodation, &c., for factories or workshops in places which have not adopted section 22 of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 189o. The clauses of the Bill not mentioned in the above accounts come within the sphere of duty of the Inspector of Factories. Thus under the division of "GEN:ERAL LAW " (Safely), clauses 2 and 4 provide power to make orders prohibiting the use of dangerous factories or workshops or machines, under a penalty of forty shillings a day during contravention. Clauses 7 and 8 are amendments, and clause 12 is an extension of the Act of 1878 as regards the fencing of machinery, the cleansing of machinery in motion, and penal compensation for death or bodily injury through neglect of fencing. Clause 9 is a regulation for the protection of persons liable to pass near self-acting machinery. Clause 11 provides for the representation of workmen on matters in difference referred to arbitration under the Act of 1891. Then follow clauses 13 and 14 (Ea~Ioymenl), prohibiting the overtime employment of young persons and of persons generally on Saturdays, and restricting the overtime of women and male young persons and the employment of children, young persons and women inside and outside of a factory or workshop on the same day. Clause 15 relates to l[oIidays. Clauses 16 to 18 (the first of these being an amendment of section 3 i of the principal Act) treat of Notice as to Xccidents; the watching of Inquests on Accidents by the Factory Inspector or other representative of the Secretary of State ; the registration, under penalty, of Accidents; and the granting of power to the Secretary of State to direct formal investigation into Accidents in factories or workshops.
Under the Division of " SPECIAL I~.ULES A N D I~EQUIREMENTS/3 clause 2o extends to docks, &c., certain provisions of the Factory Acts relating to the fencing of machinery, notice of register of accidents, and powers of inspectorswas if such dock were a factory, the machinery a manufacturing process, and the occupier the occupier of a factory. Clauses 21 to 23 treat of "Tenement Factories" (i.e., different parts of the same building supplied with mechanical power and sublet to different persons, all buildings within the same curtilage being treated as one building). The owner of a tenement factory is made liable instead of the occupier for (a)the sanitary condition of the premises, (b) the fencing of machinery, (c) the affixing of notices, (d) limewashing of premises tor tenants in common, (e) the removal of dust by fans, &c. Certain sections of the Act of 1891 may, and the power to make orders shall, apply as if the owner were the occupier ; summonses, &c., to be served on occupiers under the Factory Acts may, under clause 21 of the Bill, be served on owners. The owner is made responsible for the observance of regulations as to grinding (fencing, &c.) under Schedule I of the Bill, where this is carried on, and (with or without the occupier) for other provisions in respect of the protection of the workers a~ainst accidents. " A certificate of the fitness of any young person or child for employment in a tenement factory shall be valid for his similar employment in any part of the same factory." Under clauses 25 and 26 (SPecial_Restrictions as
to ~mplo),men¢) (Dangerozts or Unhealtl~y Trades) the use of lead and arsenic in tinning or enamelling cooking utensils is prohibited ; and by an extension of the Act of I89i the making of special rules prohibiting or restricting employment in processes certified by the Secretary of State to be dangerous or unhealthy is authorized. The heading Special Provisions for Healtk (clauses 27 to 3 t) covers the compulsory notification to the Chief Inspector of Factories by medical practitioners of cases of poisoning in factories and workshops from lead, phosphorus, or arsenic, and of anthrax. Other diseases may be included by the Secretary of State. The fee and penalty for neglect to notify are the same as in the Infectious Diseases (Notification) Act. Written notice of the cases are also to be sent to the Inspector and the factory Surgeon. Provision is to be made for suitable washing conveniences in factories and workshops where poisonous substances, such as those above named, are used. The Cotton Cloth Factories Act, r889, is made to apply to textile factories with artifically humid atmospheres, with such modification as to maximum limits of humidity as the Secretary of State may direct. The temperature of factories and workshops* for * These workshopsare often much too hot. A temperature between 55 deg. and 65 deg. Fahrenheit is the most satisfactory for persons of different ages, sexes, &c,, to work in.
EPIDEMIC
SKIN
the manufacture of wearing apparel is to be kept up to not less than 60 deg. Fahrenheit. Section 36 of the principal Act, which provides for fans for dust-causing processes, is to "be extended to processes by which gas, vapour, or other impurity is generated and inhaled by the workers to an injurious extent. The renaaining clauses (Miscellaneous Amendments) deal with returns of persons employed, time of employment, overtime in Turkey red dyeing, employment in shifts, particulars respecting the computation of wages in certain eases, notice to Inspector of occupation of workshops, and lists of workers whether in the factory or workshop or outside of it, evidence as to failure to limewash, powers of the Inspector, re-examination of young persons and children by Certifying Surgeons, service of documents on owners, payment of costs by actual offender in lieu of occupier under Section 87 of the principal Act, right of Inspector to prosecute, &c., the application of the Factory Acts to Ireland, interpretations, the repeal of certain sections of the Acts of ~878 and I89I, etc. The amendment of greatest interest and importance to Sanitary Authorities and their officers is perhaps that in clause 47, authorising the Factory Inspector to conduct any proceedings under the Factory Acts before the magistrates. This clause goes further than section I of the Act of ~89~, which gives the Inspector power to prosecute fbr breach of sanitary provisions in respect of workshops. F6r such procedure it is proposed that the Inspector need not be a counsel or solicitor. In the section in question and its intended extension we have both a striking example of centralization and a probable cause of friction from duplication of officers under different authorities to do the same duty. Of course, this means increase in cost of execution. No wonder the Bill was lately spoken of in, the House of Commons as a case ol "too many cooks" ! The schedules, three in number, specify the protective regulations proposed for adoption in certain factories, scales of fees for Certifying Surgeons, and certain enactments repealed. April, i895. X. " E P I D E M I C SKIN DISEASE." T~E epidemic skin disease which was first recognised and accurately described by Dr. Savill, has now been made the subject of an exhaustive inquiry (so far as the necessary data were available) by Dr. Copeman, on behalf of the Medical Department of the Local Government Board. He first describes an outbreak of the disease occurring at the Bethnal Green Zn/irmary, altogether eighty-five cases occurring in this institution. A. Predisposing Causes. - - With very few exceptions the patients were advanced in years; and the tabular statement shows that the predis.
DISEASE.
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position gradually increases up to eighty years of age. i7"8 per cent. of the total patients were attacked, there being only a slight preponderance in the male sex. Previous ill health appears to have had an important influence, I7"8 per cent. of the inmates of the infirmary, and only o"4 per cent. of the inmates of the workhouse being attacked. The particular disease for which patients were being treated appears to have had little influence in determining invasions. The sanitary condition and cleanliness of the infirmary and the patients were defective. B. £xdting Causes.--The fact that the special symptom, loss of appetite, was observed simultaneously in a number of persons, and that the characteristic symptom of the disease appeared on the same day in seven of these persons, distributed in six wards, suggested a common cause, and led to the suspicion that this was some article of food. An analysis of the diet in the eighty-five patients attacked with this disease showed that milk was the only article taken by all, with the exception of bread, which is all baked on the premises. In the early part of I893, and more especially on one particular day rather less than a fortnight prior to the appearance of the first case of this disease at Bethnal Green, there had been grave reason for complaint as to the quality of the milk supplied to the inmates of the workhouse and infirmary. As bearing on this point some cases, probably originating from personal infection, apparently had an incubation period of twelve to fourteen days. The fact that the oId and infirm in the workhouse (who are specially predisposed to the disease)escaped~ appears to be explicable on the ground that from their dietary mitk was altogether excluded, even as an extra ; while every patient attacked with the disease had had a dietary containing'milk. Unfortunately, owing to admixture by the contractor of the milk from various sources, no trustworthy evidence could be obtained as to the actual sources of the milk supply, consequently the means by which the milk may have acquired infectivity could not be ascertained. At the Bow Znfirmary a similar analysis was impossible, as in this place all the patients were supplied with a certain amount of milk daiIy ; but there did not appear to be any possibility of patients having brought the disease into this infirmary, the duration of *heir previous stay in the infirmary precluding this. Pa#zology afire Disease.--Previous investigations made by Drs. Savill and B. Russell led them to the conclusion that a particular micro-organism was found in the skin, and the skin exudations of patients suffering from this disease. Dr. Andrewes, whose report is included with that of Dr. Copeman, after a careful examination in eight cases, has arrived at merely negative conclusions. He has been unable to recognise, as regards histological characters, any essential differences between the
F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL.
F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL. even the oysters. The cockles are mostly used for consumption in the district, but one large bed of Tins important "Bill to amend and extend the them i~s stated to be "exceptionally exposed to the law relating to Factories and Workshops," cominfluence of Grimsby and Cleethorpes sewage." prises fifty-two clauses in three principal Some of these shell-fish are not often eaten raw; divisions, of which the first (clauses i - - I 8 ) is others again, notably oysters, are largely consumed on "General Law relating to Factories and without cooking, and when so eaten the removal Worksh@s"; the second (clauses I 9 - - 3 t ) refers from the shell of the liquid in which the oysters lie to " @ e l m Rules and Requireme~zts"; and the is a thing that is generally somewhat carefully third.consists of "Miscellaneous Ame~zdmenls." avoided. The state and sources of the " waters" From a point of view totally different from that n which the oysters are grown or kept come, of mere arrangements of clauses, viz., that of therefore, to acquire importance in so far as the administration, the Bill may be regarded as publi,c are concerned; and having regard to the consisting of two parts, not structurally divided, significant indications afforded by some of the yet distinct from each other. One of these parts cholera histories of last year, I cannot avoid the concerns Sanitary Authorities and their execut!ve conviction that shell-fish from Cleethorpes and officers on whom it casts new duties and reGrimsby mustj in some cases, remain under sussponsibilities; the other is principally to be dealt picion as having contributed to the diffusion of the with by the Government Inspectors of Factories disease. and Workshops. It may be convenient to the In opposition to this view it has been alleged readers of PUBLIC I-IEALTIt to consider the Bill that, having regard to the enormous operations of on this basis. It should be premised that the the Cleethorpes oyster trade, the effects, if any, provisions relating specially to the hygiene of could hardly have been so limited as appears to certain trades (clauses 25--3 I) do not, for the have been the case last autumn, But this argument purposes of the Bill, come within the province has not much weight when it is remembered that, of the Sanitary Anthority. It is unnecessary to with regard to oysters, for example, as a channel remind ~[edical Officers of Health that recent for conveying the infection of cholera, it would be legislation in respect -of Factories and Workshops necessary that the shelt or body of the mollusc affords abundant illustration of mischievous overshould retain some portion of the sewage, which lapping of duties of distinct authorities in matters on this coast is stated to be enormously diluted relating to health, and the consequent reduplicawith sea water; that such sewage should happen tion of the work of the respective officers of these to comprise some of the cholera infection which authorities. The administration of the statutes in last autumn was passing from the sewer outfalls ; question involves greatly increased inspection ~ and, further, that this poison should be received (doubtless excellent in its way) on the part of by some susceptible person without prior destrucInspectors of the Sanitary Authority, but for the tion by a process of cooking. The concurrence of expense of which no provision appears to have been conditions such as these in regard of persons not made in the Factory Acts, and which is expected otherwise exposed to cholera infection, is by no to be defrayed out of local rates. The Bill, whilst means likely to have been habitual; and it is the on this point not differing from its predecessors, conviction that their co-existence must have been goes a great deal further than any of them in comparatively rare that prevents me from speaking proposing, so to speak, to place Sanitary Authoriin more positive terms as to the precise relation of ties under Government Inspectors of Factories, the shell-fish trade in "these Humber towns to as will presently appear (clause 3). cholera in England in I893. Tile clauses of the Bill, directly affecting SaniBut one thing is certain. Oysters and shell-fish, tary Authorities, are the following : both at the mouth of the Humber and at other Clause i defines overcrowding in Factories and points along the English coast line, are at times so Workshops, which hitherto has been undefined. grown and stored that they must of necessity be The limit is placed at 250 cubic feet, or during periodically bathed in sewage more or less dilute ; ovemme 4oo cubic feet, per person. These oysters have more than once appeared to serve as amounts are subject to modification by the the medium for communicating disease, such as Secretary of State during the use of artiJ~dal enteric fever, to man ; and so long as conditions lig~t, and to increase in particular processes or exist, such as those with which the oyster trade of handicrafts. Cleethorpes and Grimsby is shown to be associated, The clause omits to specify (a) the mininmm of conditions which may at any time involve risk of floor-space or the maximum of height, in the the fouling of such sheU-fish with the excreta of stated amount of cubic space to be provided for persons suffering from diseases of the type of each person; (3) the minimum of height of any cholera and enteric fever, so long will it be imposroom to be used as a workshop; and ( c ) t h e sible to assert that their use as an article of diet is not concerned in the production of diseases of the * E.g., in respect of the provision of Fire Escapes for Facclass in question. tories~ the sanitary requirements of Workshops, &c., &c.
F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL. precise quantity of gas, oil, candle, or other illuminant which shall count as one person in regard of vitiation of air. It is authoritatively laid down ~; that a " c o m m o n small gas-burner" will burn three cubic feet of gas per hour, and requires 4,500 cubic feet of air space, "unless the products of combustion are removed by a special channel." Again, Dr. Notterf- states that whilst man exhales from 0"56 to 0"67 cubic feet of carbonic acid per hour, one cubic foot of coal gas burnt will produce two cubic feet of carbonic acid ; that an "ordinary gas-burner" (a very vague impression) burns from three to five cubic feet of gas per hour (producing from six to ten cubic feet of carbonic acid); an "ordinary oil-laJ~$" burns 15o grains of oil per hour producing 0"5 cubic foot of carbonic acid; and a candle burning 320 grains per hour produces "4 cubic foot of carbonic acid. Therefore the vitiation of the air, by the burning of half a cubic foot of gas (or about one-sixth the amount burnt in " a n ordinary gas burner "), o r " an ordinary oil-lamp," or a candle of 320 grains, is about equal to that of one person. It has generally been accepted that three "ordinary .gas burners " are equivalent to one person in respect of air polIution--a holding which, in view of the authority just quoted, should be revised forthwith. In workshops it is usual to have large gas-burners. In such cases Inspectors not duly put on their guard by the above information, will be likely to underestimate very greatly the vitiation of air by consumed gas. The foregoing observations show the need of an accurate legal standard for artiflda! lightb,.g in Factories and Workshops, and especially the latter, which are often very close and stuffy, and more particularly during cold weather when the opening of windows (e.g., in Tailors' Workshops where the men are stripped to the waist), even if not objectionable on hygienic grounds, is always objected to by the workers themselves. This standard should be based on actual amount of illuminant burnt and not, as has hitherto been the custom, on rule-ofthumb estimate of size of flame. Clause 3 makes it " t h e duty of the Sanitary Authority to inform the Inspector" of Factories " o f the proceedings taken" in consequence of neglect or default under section 4 of the Act of 1878 (as regards effluvia from drains, closets, &c., or other, nuisances, and whitewashing or cleansing), reported by the Inspector of Factories. Hitherto, Sanitary Authorities have never been required to make a report of this kind. Doubtless, in most cases, they have approved of their Medical Officers of Health giving information freely to the Government Inspectors as to the sanitary improvements carried out in Factories and Workshops. But that * " Practical Hygiene." Drs. E. A. Parkes and. Notter. t "Treatise on Hygiene." Edited by Drs. Stevenson and Murphy.
293
they shall be themselves compelled to report their action to an official is, we believe, an entirely new departure in legislation. It is certainly one ta which it behoves every Medical Officer of Health to draw the attention of his Authority so as to afford them due opportunity to oppose this clause of the Bill if they think proper. Further, the clause is an example of the overlapping of Authorities for sanitary purposes above referred to. Clause 5 fixes the penalty for employment of persons in places injurious to health at a maximum of A~2o. Under clause 6, a similar penalty is imposed for permitting the making of wearing apparel in a building any inmate of which is suffering,from scarlet fever or smallpox. No reference is made in respect of workshops, &c., infected with diseases other than those named, although, as is well known, they are not .the only ones the infection of which is communicable by means of clothing. Clause IO gives power to a court of summary jurisdiction on complaint by the Inspector of Factories to require the occupier of a factory or workshop to provide a sufficiency of moveable fireescapes for his employ6s. The Act of 1891 provides for "such means of escape in case of fire . . • . as can be reasonably required" to the satisfaction of the Sanitary Authority (whose duty it is made to see to the execution of that portion of the Act). This provision refers only tofactories of over forty workers. It seems reasonable to expect that in any works~oAO where this number of hands are engaged the same protection should be afforded. This may be secured by amending Section V I I . of the Act of 1891 (Provision against Fire) by adding the words " o r workshop" after the w o r d " factory," and making the operation of the section retrospective. Zaund~es.--Under clause 19, the Factor}, Acts are applied to public laundries, those in which "steam, water, or other mechanical power" is used being classed as non-textile factories, and the others as workshops. In the former class provision is to be made of fans for regulating temperature and carrying off steam, also for the separation of stoves for heating irons from ironing rooms, and for the good condition and drainage of the flooring. Small laundries worked only by resident members of the same family are exempt from the operation of this section. Bakeho~ses.--Seclion 24 (I) extends to every bakehouse the previous provision as to bakehouses in the larger towns (of over 5,000 inhabitants). The definition of "retail bakehouse" in the Act of 1883 (s. I8) ~ is unsatisfactory, inasmuch as it * The section reads as follows:--" The expression 'retail bakehouse' means any bakehouse or placej the bread, biscuits or coufectionerybaked in which are not sold_ wholesale, but by retail, in some shop or. place occupied together w~th such bakehouse." The Act of 1891 (section 36) provides that retail bakehouse as above defined shall not include a place which is a factory within the meaning of the Act of 1878.
294
F A C T O R I E S AND W O R K S H O P S BILL.
limits the term to the retail shop occupied together with a bukehouse, and consequently precludes its application .to other small shops to which it ought properly to apply. A great many bakehouses are owned by persons who sell elsewhere by retail the bread baked in them, If steam power is not used in these they are not "factories" under the Acts. They therefore do not come within the meaning of the Factory Acts at all. It is desirable that this omission should be met. Clause 3 of the same section extends to every bakehouse the operation of the Regulations under the Act of 1883, which dealt onIy with bakehouses not let or occupied before that year.
Dangerous or Un~eall]zy Trades. - - S~beeiaI Jv;vv:,sions for ffealtiz are dealt with in clauses 25--31 ; k.:t as these clauses appear to be placed w~thin the sphere of the Inspector of Factories rather than of the Sanitary Authority, they will be described later. Under the heading "Miscellaneous Amendmenls" the only clause directly concerning Sanitary Authorities is the 33rd, which secures the due provision of closet accommodation, &c., for factories or workshops in places which have not adopted section 22 of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 189o. The clauses of the Bill not mentioned in the above accounts come within the sphere of duty of the Inspector of Factories. Thus under the division of "GEN:ERAL LAW " (Safely), clauses 2 and 4 provide power to make orders prohibiting the use of dangerous factories or workshops or machines, under a penalty of forty shillings a day during contravention. Clauses 7 and 8 are amendments, and clause 12 is an extension of the Act of 1878 as regards the fencing of machinery, the cleansing of machinery in motion, and penal compensation for death or bodily injury through neglect of fencing. Clause 9 is a regulation for the protection of persons liable to pass near self-acting machinery. Clause 11 provides for the representation of workmen on matters in difference referred to arbitration under the Act of 1891. Then follow clauses 13 and 14 (Ea~Ioymenl), prohibiting the overtime employment of young persons and of persons generally on Saturdays, and restricting the overtime of women and male young persons and the employment of children, young persons and women inside and outside of a factory or workshop on the same day. Clause 15 relates to l[oIidays. Clauses 16 to 18 (the first of these being an amendment of section 3 i of the principal Act) treat of Notice as to Xccidents; the watching of Inquests on Accidents by the Factory Inspector or other representative of the Secretary of State ; the registration, under penalty, of Accidents; and the granting of power to the Secretary of State to direct formal investigation into Accidents in factories or workshops.
Under the Division of " SPECIAL I~.ULES A N D I~EQUIREMENTS/3 clause 2o extends to docks, &c., certain provisions of the Factory Acts relating to the fencing of machinery, notice of register of accidents, and powers of inspectorswas if such dock were a factory, the machinery a manufacturing process, and the occupier the occupier of a factory. Clauses 21 to 23 treat of "Tenement Factories" (i.e., different parts of the same building supplied with mechanical power and sublet to different persons, all buildings within the same curtilage being treated as one building). The owner of a tenement factory is made liable instead of the occupier for (a)the sanitary condition of the premises, (b) the fencing of machinery, (c) the affixing of notices, (d) limewashing of premises tor tenants in common, (e) the removal of dust by fans, &c. Certain sections of the Act of 1891 may, and the power to make orders shall, apply as if the owner were the occupier ; summonses, &c., to be served on occupiers under the Factory Acts may, under clause 21 of the Bill, be served on owners. The owner is made responsible for the observance of regulations as to grinding (fencing, &c.) under Schedule I of the Bill, where this is carried on, and (with or without the occupier) for other provisions in respect of the protection of the workers a~ainst accidents. " A certificate of the fitness of any young person or child for employment in a tenement factory shall be valid for his similar employment in any part of the same factory." Under clauses 25 and 26 (SPecial_Restrictions as
to ~mplo),men¢) (Dangerozts or Unhealtl~y Trades) the use of lead and arsenic in tinning or enamelling cooking utensils is prohibited ; and by an extension of the Act of I89i the making of special rules prohibiting or restricting employment in processes certified by the Secretary of State to be dangerous or unhealthy is authorized. The heading Special Provisions for Healtk (clauses 27 to 3 t) covers the compulsory notification to the Chief Inspector of Factories by medical practitioners of cases of poisoning in factories and workshops from lead, phosphorus, or arsenic, and of anthrax. Other diseases may be included by the Secretary of State. The fee and penalty for neglect to notify are the same as in the Infectious Diseases (Notification) Act. Written notice of the cases are also to be sent to the Inspector and the factory Surgeon. Provision is to be made for suitable washing conveniences in factories and workshops where poisonous substances, such as those above named, are used. The Cotton Cloth Factories Act, r889, is made to apply to textile factories with artifically humid atmospheres, with such modification as to maximum limits of humidity as the Secretary of State may direct. The temperature of factories and workshops* for * These workshopsare often much too hot. A temperature between 55 deg. and 65 deg. Fahrenheit is the most satisfactory for persons of different ages, sexes, &c,, to work in.
EPIDEMIC
SKIN
the manufacture of wearing apparel is to be kept up to not less than 60 deg. Fahrenheit. Section 36 of the principal Act, which provides for fans for dust-causing processes, is to "be extended to processes by which gas, vapour, or other impurity is generated and inhaled by the workers to an injurious extent. The renaaining clauses (Miscellaneous Amendments) deal with returns of persons employed, time of employment, overtime in Turkey red dyeing, employment in shifts, particulars respecting the computation of wages in certain eases, notice to Inspector of occupation of workshops, and lists of workers whether in the factory or workshop or outside of it, evidence as to failure to limewash, powers of the Inspector, re-examination of young persons and children by Certifying Surgeons, service of documents on owners, payment of costs by actual offender in lieu of occupier under Section 87 of the principal Act, right of Inspector to prosecute, &c., the application of the Factory Acts to Ireland, interpretations, the repeal of certain sections of the Acts of ~878 and I89I, etc. The amendment of greatest interest and importance to Sanitary Authorities and their officers is perhaps that in clause 47, authorising the Factory Inspector to conduct any proceedings under the Factory Acts before the magistrates. This clause goes further than section I of the Act of ~89~, which gives the Inspector power to prosecute fbr breach of sanitary provisions in respect of workshops. F6r such procedure it is proposed that the Inspector need not be a counsel or solicitor. In the section in question and its intended extension we have both a striking example of centralization and a probable cause of friction from duplication of officers under different authorities to do the same duty. Of course, this means increase in cost of execution. No wonder the Bill was lately spoken of in, the House of Commons as a case ol "too many cooks" ! The schedules, three in number, specify the protective regulations proposed for adoption in certain factories, scales of fees for Certifying Surgeons, and certain enactments repealed. April, i895. X. " E P I D E M I C SKIN DISEASE." T~E epidemic skin disease which was first recognised and accurately described by Dr. Savill, has now been made the subject of an exhaustive inquiry (so far as the necessary data were available) by Dr. Copeman, on behalf of the Medical Department of the Local Government Board. He first describes an outbreak of the disease occurring at the Bethnal Green Zn/irmary, altogether eighty-five cases occurring in this institution. A. Predisposing Causes. - - With very few exceptions the patients were advanced in years; and the tabular statement shows that the predis.
DISEASE.
295
position gradually increases up to eighty years of age. i7"8 per cent. of the total patients were attacked, there being only a slight preponderance in the male sex. Previous ill health appears to have had an important influence, I7"8 per cent. of the inmates of the infirmary, and only o"4 per cent. of the inmates of the workhouse being attacked. The particular disease for which patients were being treated appears to have had little influence in determining invasions. The sanitary condition and cleanliness of the infirmary and the patients were defective. B. £xdting Causes.--The fact that the special symptom, loss of appetite, was observed simultaneously in a number of persons, and that the characteristic symptom of the disease appeared on the same day in seven of these persons, distributed in six wards, suggested a common cause, and led to the suspicion that this was some article of food. An analysis of the diet in the eighty-five patients attacked with this disease showed that milk was the only article taken by all, with the exception of bread, which is all baked on the premises. In the early part of I893, and more especially on one particular day rather less than a fortnight prior to the appearance of the first case of this disease at Bethnal Green, there had been grave reason for complaint as to the quality of the milk supplied to the inmates of the workhouse and infirmary. As bearing on this point some cases, probably originating from personal infection, apparently had an incubation period of twelve to fourteen days. The fact that the oId and infirm in the workhouse (who are specially predisposed to the disease)escaped~ appears to be explicable on the ground that from their dietary mitk was altogether excluded, even as an extra ; while every patient attacked with the disease had had a dietary containing'milk. Unfortunately, owing to admixture by the contractor of the milk from various sources, no trustworthy evidence could be obtained as to the actual sources of the milk supply, consequently the means by which the milk may have acquired infectivity could not be ascertained. At the Bow Znfirmary a similar analysis was impossible, as in this place all the patients were supplied with a certain amount of milk daiIy ; but there did not appear to be any possibility of patients having brought the disease into this infirmary, the duration of *heir previous stay in the infirmary precluding this. Pa#zology afire Disease.--Previous investigations made by Drs. Savill and B. Russell led them to the conclusion that a particular micro-organism was found in the skin, and the skin exudations of patients suffering from this disease. Dr. Andrewes, whose report is included with that of Dr. Copeman, after a careful examination in eight cases, has arrived at merely negative conclusions. He has been unable to recognise, as regards histological characters, any essential differences between the