TRADE NUISANCES.
Many occupations are the source of considerable danger to the workers
engaged in them. They are chiefly injurious by the inhalation into
the lungs of some foreign agent, which produces serious local
inconveniences and irritation, and may be also absorbed into the
circulation and produce more remote effects.
The injurious agents may be classified under four heads:—
(1) Insoluble particles or dust.
(2) Soluble or partially soluble substances.
(3) Injurious gases or vapours.
(4) Effluvia from offensive trades.
It is evident that, as regards the effluvia named under (4), they might
generally be included under the three previous heads, though it is
convenient for our present purpose to keep them separate.
The occupations in which dust and soluble substances are productive of
injurious effect have already been described, pages 107 to 109.
Injurious gases and vapours have received consideration on pages 111
and 112. The special offensive trades still require attention.
=Offensive Trades.=—The legal enactments relating to offensive trades
are contained in sect. 112 of the Public Health Act, 1875, which
states, any person who, after the passing of this Act, establishes
within the district of an urban sanitary authority, without their
consent in writing, any offensive trade, that is to say, the trade of—
Blood boiler, or
Bone boiler, or
Fellmonger, or
Soap boiler, or
Tallow melter, or
Tripe boiler, or
any other noxious or offensive trade, business, or manufacture,
shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds in respect of
the establishment thereof, and a penalty not exceeding forty shillings
for every day on which the offence is continued.
These provisions can only be enforced in rural districts with the
sanction of the Local Government Board.
The “other noxious or offensive trades,” in order to be brought within
the operation of the section, must be analogous to those which are
specially enumerated.
The most exhaustive and authoritative report on this subject is by
the late Dr. Ballard, whose report is largely quoted in the following
remarks.
We may consider (1) _the extent to which the public is inconvenienced
by various effluvium nuisances_. The majority of the nuisances arise
from trade processes in which animal matters are chiefly used. Among
the most disgusting are the effluvia from gut-scraping, and the
preparation of sausage skins and catgut, the preparation of artificial
manures from “skutch” (the refuse matter of the manufacture of glue),
the manufacture of some kinds of artificial manures, and the melting
of some kinds of fat. Manufacturing businesses dealing with vegetable
substances are often offensive, but rarely give out disgusting
effluvia. The most offensive vegetable effluvia are probably those
thrown off during the heating of vegetable oils, as in the boiling of
linseed oil, the manufacture of palmitic acid from cotton oil or palm
oil, the manufacture of some kinds of varnish, the drying of fabrics
coated with such varnishes, and the burning of painted articles, such
as disused meat-tins.
Occasionally offensive effluvia arise in connection with industries
in which neither vegetable nor animal matters are used; as in the
manufacture of sulphate or chloride of ammonia, and some other
processes in which sulphuretted hydrogen is copiously evolved; and
in the making of gas and the distillation of tar. The fumes from the
manufacture of alkali and bleaching powder are acid and irritating, and
produce very injurious effects on vegetation in the neighbourhood.
The distances to which nuisances extend vary greatly according to
circumstances—as, for instance, the elevation at which the effluvia
are discharged into the air. Discharge from a high chimney may relieve
the immediate vicinity of the works at the partial expense of those
living at a greater distance. With a damp and comparatively stagnant
atmosphere, effluvia have a much greater tendency to cling about a
neighbourhood.
(2) The industrial processes in which offensive effluvia are produced
are _classified_ by Dr. Ballard as follows:—
1. The keeping of animals.
2. The slaughtering of animals.
3. Other branches of industry in which animal matters or substances of
animal origin are chiefly dealt with.
4. Branches of industry in which vegetable matters are chiefly dealt
with.
5. Branches of industry in which mineral matters are chiefly dealt
with.
6. Branches of industry in which matters of mixed origin (animal,
vegetable, and mineral) are dealt with.
(3) It is important to inquire _to what extent offensive trade
effluvia are injurious to the public health_. It is impossible to
bring statistics to bear on the inquiry, as other influences, apart
from occupation, can scarcely be eliminated. The term “injurious to
health” is capable of a double interpretation. It might mean either
serious damage to health, or the mere production of bodily discomfort
or other functional disturbance by the offensive effluvia, leading by
its continuance to an appreciable impairment of vigour, though not to
any actual disease.
In the latter sense offensive effluvia have a deleterious effect
on health. Such symptoms as loss of appetite, nausea, headache,
occasionally diarrhœa, and general malaise are produced by effluvia of
various kinds, but agreeing in being all offensive. “A condition of
_dis_-ease or _mal_-aise is produced.”
There is little difficulty in proving bad effects on the workmen,
though the invariable defence of manufacturers is an appeal to the
condition of health of their workmen. The workmen only remain such so
long as they are healthy, and as they become disabled they necessarily
cease to rank among workmen. The decomposition of putrefying
organic matters is unquestionably dangerous. The general doctrine
of sanitation that filth is one of the chief factors in producing
disease is certainly applicable to trade effluvia as well as to general
sanitation. It has been alleged on behalf of such effluvia as chlorine
sulphurous acid and tar vapours that they are useful disinfectants;
but modern research has shown that disinfectants, in order to be of
practical use, must be in such a concentrated condition that the air
containing them is irrespirable. Probably such septic diseases as
erysipelas are favoured by organic trade effluvia.
(4) _The means available_ to prevent or minimise the nuisances arising
from trade effluvia vary with the character of the processes. The
general principles on which treatment must be founded depend, as
Dr. Ballard points out, on a recognition of the following kinds of
effluvia:—
Effluvia dependent—
1. On the accumulation of filth on or about business premises, or on
its removal in an offensive condition.
2. On a generally filthy condition of the interior of buildings and
premises and utensils generally.
3. On an improper mode of disposal of offensive refuse, liquid or
otherwise.
4. On insufficient or careless arrangements in reception of offensive
materials of the trade, or in removal of offensive products.
5. On an improper mode of storing offensive materials or products.
6. On the escape of offensive gases or vapours given off during some
part of the trade processes.
It is evident that under the first two headings the proper remedy is
cleanliness. Filth should be removed in impervious covered vessels,
at regular intervals. Structural arrangements should be made, which
will facilitate cleansing operations. Solid refuse should, as far as
possible, be separated from liquid refuse, as thus putrefaction is
retarded.
Under the last head important remedies are applicable. In many cases
a careful selection of the materials of manufacture will form an
effective remedy. Thus much of the nuisance connected with soap or
candle works arises from the putrid condition of the fat collected
from butchers and marine store dealers, and might be obviated by more
regular and more frequent collection of the materials of manufacture.
The offensive vapours arising during processes of manufacture may be
intercepted before reaching the external air, and so treated that
they lose their obnoxious character. Various methods of interception
are adopted, according to the processes involved. Occasionally it is
necessary to have the air of the entire workshop drawn by means of
artificial ventilation in a special direction; usually the interception
of air from special chambers suffices. When thus collected, the
offensive air may be dealt with by (1) passing it through water or
some other liquid capable of absorbing the offensive materials; or (2)
passing it through some powder with which it has chemical affinity; or
(3) if its offensive materials are capable of condensation by cold,
passing them through an appropriate condensing apparatus; or (4) if the
evolved matters are organic in nature, conducting them through a fire.
(5) Occasionally it is sufficient to discharge the offensive gases into
the air from a high chimney; and this always produces a mitigation of
nuisance, as compared with discharge at a low level.
It is usually found that the adoption of one or other of these methods
is directly or indirectly profitable to the offender.
=Nuisances from the Keeping of Animals.=—The 47th section of the
Public Heath Act prohibits the _keeping of pigs_ in towns so as to
be a nuisance, and, as a general rule, it is possible to obtain a
magistrate’s order, entirely prohibiting the keeping of pigs in towns.
The excreta of the pig have a very offensive and penetrating odour, and
however carefully kept, pigs in towns form an intolerable nuisance.
Not only is there nuisance from the accumulation of manure and
dirtiness of the piggeries, but also from the storage and subsequent
preparation of food. The boiling of hog-wash is often an even greater
nuisance than the filth of the styes.
_Cow-keeping_ and _horse-keeping_ in towns are still allowed and, as
compared with pig-keeping, form a small nuisance. Mews, if kept clean
and well drained, need not be offensive, though it is objectionable for
persons to sleep over stables. The removal of manure also constitutes
a difficulty. The manure should not be allowed to accumulate in deep
wet pits, but in an iron cage-work over a cement paving at or above the
ground-level, thus allowing free drainage, and keeping the manure dry,
and reducing ammoniacal decomposition to a minimum.
Cowsheds are generally very badly ventilated, as the cowkeeper finds
that more milk is produced by the cows when the temperature of the
shed is maintained at 65° or higher; and he does not see the necessity
for providing artificial means of warmth. The grains which are used
so largely for food are stored in a wet condition, and speedily give
rise to nuisance. Cowsheds and stables should be well paved and well
drained. At least 800 cubic feet should be allowed for each cow in the
shed.
Cowsheds are regulated under the Dairies’, Cowsheds’, and Milkshops’
Order of the Local Government Board. This order provides for and
insists on the registration of cowkeepers, dairymen, and purveyors
of milk, by the local authority. It also provides that no cowshed
or dairy shall be occupied as such, unless provision is made to the
satisfaction of the local authority, for the lighting and ventilation,
including air-space, and the cleansing, drainage, and water-supply
of the same; and for the protection of the milk against infection or
contamination. With the view of preventing contamination of milk, no
person suffering from an infectious disorder, or having recently been
in contact with a person so suffering, is allowed to milk cows or take
any part in any stage of the business of a milk-seller. The milk of a
cow suffering from cattle plague, pleuro-pneumonia, or foot and mouth
disease must not be mixed with other milk, must not be sold or used
for human food, nor for food for swine or other animals, unless it has
been boiled. By the order of 1899 this regulation is made to extend to
tubercular disease of the udder.
_Slaughtering of Animals._—Nuisance may arise in slaughter-houses from
various causes:—(1) the uncleanly way in which animals are kept in the
pound or lair before being killed; (2) the insanitary condition, bad
paving, lack of lime-whiting of walls, etc., of the slaughter-house;
(3) the accumulation of hides, blood, fat, offal, dung, or garbage on
the premises; (4) the uncleanly condition of the blood-pits, or the
receptacles for garbage; (5) the flowing of blood or offal into the
drains and thence into the public sewer.
Private slaughter-houses ought to be abolished, and all animals
intended for human food slaughtered in public abattoirs under efficient
supervision. When a large number of private slaughter-houses exist in
different parts of a large town, it is impossible for the sanitary
officials to properly supervise the slaughtering, or to ensure that
diseased meat shall not enter the market. The inspector may only have
the opportunity of examining the flesh, the internal organs which more
particularly show the presence of a diseased condition having been
concealed. Such concealment and the consequent foisting of diseased
meat upon the public, can only be efficiently prevented by forbidding
the slaughtering of any animal intended for food in a private
slaughter-house.
Most local authorities have bye-laws regulating the slaughtering of
animals. These provide for a cleanly condition of the lairs, and
prevent keeping the animals longer in the lairs than is necessary for
the purpose of preparation for slaughtering. They also insist on the
provision of proper covered receptacles of iron or other non-absorbent
material for the reception of garbage, and similar receptacles for
blood; for cleansing of the floor, etc. after slaughtering; for
lime-whiting of the walls four times a year; and for other matters of
detail.
For _knackers’ yards_ similar regulations are applicable. The flesh
should not be kept until it becomes putrid before being boiled, and
the boiling of the flesh and fat should be so arranged as to avoid the
escape of offensive vapours into the external air.
In _smoking bacon_, the singeing has formed a serious nuisance.
_Fish-frying_ in small shops is often a most troublesome nuisance.
A hopper over the pan in which the frying is conducted has not been
always successful in carrying the fumes up the chimney. The frying
should preferably be done in a closed outhouse, close to a chimney with
a good up-draught.
The _fellmonger_ prepares skins for the leather-dresser, the chief
operations being taking off the wool, liming the skins, etc. The skins
deprived of wool are called “pelts.” The pelts are thrown into a pit
containing milk of lime, and thence sent direct to the leather-dresser.
Nuisance may arise from (1) the odour of the raw skins; (2) the
ammoniacal odour from the lime-painted skins hanging in the yard; (3)
the emptying and cleansing of the “poke” or tank in which the hides
are washed; (4) the foul condition of the waste lime taken from the
exhausted lime pits; (5) the odour from the dirty unpaved yards.
The _leather-dresser_ only deals with “pelts,” derived from
sheep-skins; the tanner with bullocks’-hides. The skins brought from
the fellmonger to the leather-dresser are first deprived of lime,
and then soaked in a solution of dog’s dung, called “pure,” until
they become soft. In winter this “pure” solution is warmed for use.
The odour is very abominable, both from the “pure” tub, and from the
discharge of the exhausted “pure” liquid into the drain.
At each stage of _tanning_ nuisance may arise unless great precautions
are taken, as when the hides are soaked in lime and water, when the
hair is being removed, when the loose inner skin of the hide is being
removed, and especially when the hides are soaked in pits containing
pigeons’ or other dung. Nuisance may arise again during the passage of
offensive hides through the street. Cleanliness is the great rule. If
every process is carried on with due precaution, including frequent
washing out of receptacles and the free use of disinfectants, little
complaint need arise.
The manufacturers of _glue_ and _size_ boil out the gelatine from
bits of hides and “fleshings” from leather dressers and tanners,
from damaged “pelts,” ox or calves’ feet, horns, and other similar
substances. The raw material is apt to be offensive in collection or
while accumulating on the premises. The process of boiling causes
offence by the effluvia from the steam. The residue remaining after the
process is known as “scutch,” and this, unless frequently removed, is a
most serious source of nuisance.
_Prussiate of Potass_ is manufactured by heating carbonate of potass
with refuse animal matters. In order to avoid nuisance the pot in which
the boiling is done should have a pipe to conduct away the steam, first
running horizontally and then vertically down to the back part of the
fire.
_Fat-melting_ and _Dip-candle-making_, as usually carried on, give rise
to nuisance. The fat which is melted down usually comes from butchers
and marine-store dealers in a rancid or even putrid condition, and
it may be stored on the premises for some time before it is boiled.
The vapours from the melting-vat are very offensive. They should
be carried by means of a pipe down until they discharge just under
the boiler-fire. The residue from the fat-melting process (known as
“greaves”) requires frequent removal to avoid nuisance.
_Bone-boiling_, in order to extract the fat and gelatine, is most
offensive, and most difficult to deal with. After boiling, the bones
are apt to give off offensive smells. The vapours from the closed
boiler should be condensed as far as possible in a worm condenser, and
the remainder passed through a furnace fire.
In the manufacture of _artificial manures_ nuisance is apt to arise (1)
from the reception and accumulation of the raw materials, as putrid
fish, putrid blood, scutch (the residue from the manufacture of glue),
recently boiled bones, etc.; (2) from the preparation of the raw
material for use. Thus the drying of condemned fish or meat on open
kilns is very offensive; similarly the drying of sewage sludge. (3)
From the process of mixing the materials of manufacture, irritant and
offensive vapours being evolved, as for instance in the manufacture of
manure by crushing bones, and converting into super-phosphate by the
addition of sulphuric acid. (4) From the removal of the manure from the
hot den, after it has been dried. When sulphuric acid is mixed with
coprolites or other mineral phosphates, most irritant and offensive
vapours are produced, which may be perceived in some cases at the
distance of a mile.
_Blood-boiling_ is now almost obsolete, having been replaced by
albumen-making and clot-drying. Nuisance may arise from the blood
collected from slaughter-houses being in a putrid state; and from the
effluvia evolved during the drying process.
_Gutscraping_, _gut-spinning_, and the _preparation of sausage-skins_
are very closely akin. In gut-scraping the putrid intestines are
deprived of their interior soft parts by scraping with pieces of
wood, and are then, after being cleansed, ready for sausage-skins.
In gut-spinning the prepared gut is twisted into a cord. The small
intestines of hogs and sheep are used for this purpose. The stench from
these establishments is indescribably horrible. Extreme cleanliness is
desirable. Immersion of the guts in common salt is useful; so also the
use of impervious vessels, early removal of all refuse material, etc.
Brick and ballast burning are a frequent source of complaint in the
neighbourhood of towns. _Brick burning_ is conducted either in kilns
or clamps. When bricks are burnt in closed kilns comparatively little
nuisance arises; but when they are burnt in open clamps the effluvia
are very irritating, partly owing to the fact that very commonly
house refuse, containing vegetable and animal matters, is burnt with
the bricks. Clamp burning should be absolutely prohibited in the
neighbourhood of large towns.
In _Ballast burning_ stiff clay is converted by the agency of heat
into a brick-like material, which is of use in road-making. The clay
is usually burnt in heaps, mixed with ashes and breeze from dust-bins.
The process is offensive unless carried on with precautions similar to
those for brick-burning.