[Report 1965] / Medical Officer of Health, Bebington Borough.

  • Bebington (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1965
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1965] / Medical Officer of Health, Bebington Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/68 (page 5)
    Some people are anxious about a growing menace from sulphur dioxide, but the sulphur content of a given weight of solid smokeless fuel is less than that contained in the same weight of coal. Industry using coal and the heavier fuel oils is responsible for discharging into the atmosphere nearly seven times as much sulphur dioxide as domestic heating appliances. The Warren Spring Laboratory of the Ministry of Technology is investigating the problem of desulphurizing flue gases and directing at the present time particular attention to the removal of sulphuric acid mist. But even if a suitable process can be made available it is only likely, for economic and technical reasons, to have a limited application. Industry at present relies mainly on four processes for rendering its effluent gases as harmless and inoffensive as possible - absorbtion, (e.g. by water scrubbing or activated carbon), dispersal from high chimneys, combustion by furnace, and chemical treatment. An account in the body of the report tells how an industrial process broke down on two occasions and reacting chemicals of quite phenomenal pungency were exposed to the atmosphere. Consultation with the Liverpool University Organic chemistry department, and a study of the available literature, made it quite clear that the concentrations of gas in the atmosphere were harmless and infinitesimal. Nevertheless, the odour was quite appalling and some more sensitive than others, claimed to be nauseated. Evil smells can also be psychologically bad for the community (and the department!) giving rise to a sort of obsessional annoyance whenever the faintest whiff is detected or imagined. Mr. Townson’s 1965 report on the first full year's work under the Offices, Shops and Railways Premises Act contains a wealth of interesting detail and deserves careful perusal. This statute is concerned with health, welfare and, safety provisions for something like ten million workers for whom no specific legislation had hitherto existed (cf. Factories, Mines, and Quarries Acts safeguarding industrial employees). In many cases the state of cleanliness of lavatories left something to be desired. So far as ventilation was concerned, although provision for ample fresh air might be available, it was often found that employees did not take advantage of it. I cite these two particular short- comings because of their close association with the spread of infectious, com- municable illness - especially in the relatively crowded conditions which exist in some offices. The Housing Act of 1964 gave local authorities powers to compel the improvement of tenanted houses under certain circumstances. The motive five