Report.

  • South Africa. Tuberculosis Commission.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    369/396 (page 347)
    (c) eacli room and the whole of the building can be easily fumigated, if necessary; and (d) each room and the whole of the building, iucluding verandahs, can be easily screened against mosquitoes and flies without structural altera- tions. It is important that the screening everywhere, excepting on doors, should be a fixture; consequently the windows should open in- wards, so that they can be readily cleaned and opened irrespective of the fixed screens. When existing premises of a more or less dilapidated and insanitary nature are required to be put in order, it is often possible so to repair and alter them as to make them reasonably habitable. It is questionable, however, whether this course is always the wisest one, as these old buildings, sooner or later, again fall into disrepnir, and, therefore, no permanent improvement is effected. To pull down and rebuild these premises entirely is, apart from the undoubted improve- ment, frequently the more economical course in the long run. It is the owner's duty, of course, to keep premises in repair, and much expense would be saved on some mines if, instead of waiting until called upon by the Government or Local Authority to carry out this duty, repairs were effected on the j)rincip]e that a stitch in time saves nine. In addition to the ordinary upkeep of old buildings, however, it is desirable that such premises .should, so far as is reasonably practicable, be brought into conformity with modern ideas and reijuirements. II.—Native Qvarters. Assuming that all buildings are of approved construction, well lighted, ven- tilated and warmed, and provided with suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences and a plentiful supply of pure water for drinking and cooking purposes, the fol- lowing matters in connection with the nativ§ quarters call for close attention, namely : — (fl) Mine Coi7ipouTids. 1. All cleaning up and scavenging should be carried out under the close and constant supervision of a capable, energetic and conscientious man responsible to the Compoiiud Manager. 2. Daily attention should be paid to the thorough sweeping up and removal of all refuse, rubbish and dirt from rooms, kitchen, store-rooms, channel drains, catchpits and yards, and also the cleaning and disin- fection of latrines, urinals, baths, wash-houses and drains. 3. Covered galvanised iron refuse receptacles, of an approved type, with close-fitting covers, should be provided in the compound yards for the temporary storage of refuse and waste scraps of food awaiting removal by the carts. 4. All yards sliould be cleared of refuse at least once a day, and the refuse disposed of by means of a suitable destructor or incinerator. 5. The internal surfaces of walls and roofs of rooms should be thoroughly disinfected and limewashed about once a month, especially during the summer; the floors scrubbed, flushed and disinfected; the bed-boards dipped, scrubbed and disinfected in a suitable tank to Avhich steam or hot water is laid on; and the fixed supports for bunks scrubbed and disinfected. 6. Internal surfaces of walls and roofs of kitchens, store-rooms, baths, wash- houses, latrines and urinals should be thoroxighly disinfected and lime- washed at frequent and regular intervals. 7. All windows should be kept clean. 8. Windows .should be kept open whenever the state of the weather permits. 9. The rooms should be kept free from all superfluous bedsteads and drap- ings, as these tend to obstruct light and ventilation and harbour dust, dirt and vermin. 10. Closed stoves should be used in preference to open fires or braziers, in order to keep the rooms free from smoke. 11. An arrangement which promotes general tidiness in the sleeping rooms is the provision of suitable shelving for the storage of boots, boxes and other belongings of the inmates, which belongings are, in the absence of such shelving, invariably strewn over floors and below bed bunks, interfering greatly with the proper sweeping of room floors.