4. Have pigeon-holes or other arrangement in which each person can deposit his food separate from that of others.
5. Have means of warming and cooking food.
6. Be kept properly clean and dry.
No part of a factory becomes so unsightly in the absence of daily cleaning as a mess-room, especially where provision has only to be made for five or six workers.
Reid[1] has suggested the following scale of floor-space per person in mess-rooms:
| 6 persons and under | 10 | ¹⁄₂ | square | feet per | person. | |||
| Over | 6 | and up to | 12 | 7 | ¹⁄₂ | „ | „ | „ |
| „ | 12 | „ | 20 | 6 | „ | „ | „ | |
| „ | 20 | „ | 28 | 5 | ¹⁄₂ | „ | „ | „ |
| „ | 28 | and any number | 5 | „ | „ | „ | ||
In a factory well known to us for manufacture of white lead there is a restaurant originally started in connection with the sick club of the factory. For fivepence the workman obtains a hot meal of meat, bread, and vegetables. Any profits go to the sick fund. Since this has been started improvement in the physical condition of the men has been marked; several cases of anæmia and malnutrition have entirely cleared up. No workman, as has already been emphasized, should commence work in a lead factory unless he has had a good meal—that is, unless there is some food at least in the stomach—particularly albuminous food, such as milk, cocoa made with milk, or café au lait. The most suitable foods generally for lead-workers are those containing proteids—meat, eggs, milk, cheese, and fatty foods. Acids—vinegar, pickles, and the like—are especially to be avoided.
Section 75 (2) of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, requires that, where lead or other poisonous substance is used so as to give rise to dust or fumes, meal-room accommodation shall be provided. The question, as a rule, is easily decided, but there are border-line cases where doubt may arise, as, for example, in letterpress printing factories in regard to dust, and in soldering operations in regard to fume. Operations in the composing-room undoubtedly give rise to dust, and in stereotyping and casting the débris trodden underfoot causes dust to rise. In linotype rooms, however, in the present state of knowledge, a difficult burden of proof would rest on the person who sought to show that dust or fumes were present to such an extent as to justify action under the section. And the same view holds, in our opinion, in regard to soldering.
Lavatories.
—The usual requirement for this in nearly all regulations is: