Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907

PART IV Infectious Diseases

52 Infected person not to carry on occupation

(1) If any person knows that he is suffering from an infectious disease, he shall not engage in any occupation or carry on any trade or business unless he can do so without risk of spreading the infectious disease.

(2) If any person acts in contravention of this section, he-shall be liable in respect of each offence to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

53 Power to require dairymen to furnish list of sources of supply

(1) If the medical officer certifies to the local authority that any person in the district is suffering from infectious disease which the medical officer has reason to suspect is attributable to milk supplied within the district, the local authority may require the dairyman supplying the milk to furnish to the medical officer within a reasonable time fixed by them a complete list of all the farms, dairies, or places from which his supply of milk is derived or has been derived during the last six weeks, and, if the supply, or any part of it, is obtained through any other dairyman, may make a similar requisition upon that dairyman.

(2) The local authority shall pay to the dairyman for every list furnished by him under this section the sum of sixpence, and, if the list contains not less than twenty-five names, a further sum of sixpence for every twenty-five names contained in the list.

(3) Every dairyman shall comply with the requisition of the local authority under this section, and, if he fails to do so, shall be liable in respect of each offence to a penalty not exceeding five pounds and a daily penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

54 Dairymen to notify infectious, diseases resisting among their servants

(1) Every dairyman supplying milk within the district of the local authority from premises whether within or beyond the district aforesaid shall notify to the medical officer all cases of infectious disease among persons engaged in or in connection with his dairy as soon as he becomes aware or has reason to suspect that such infectious disease exists.

(2) Any dairyman who shall fail to comply with this section shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

55 Infected clothes not to be sent to laundry

(1) A person shall not take or send to any public washhouse or to any laundry, for the purpose of being washed, any bedding, clothes, or other things which he knows to have been exposed to infection from any infectious disease, unless they have been disinfected by or to the satisfaction of the local authority or their medical officer, or of a legally qualified medical practitioner, or are sent to a laundry with proper precautions for the purpose of disinfection, with notice that they have been exposed to infection.

(2) If any person acts in contravention of the foregoing provision of this section he shah be liable in respect of each offence to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

(3) The local authority may, on the application of any person, pay the expenses of the disinfection of any such bedding, clothes, or other things, if carried out by them or under their direction.

56 Filthy and dangerous articles to be purified

Where the local authority on the certificate of the medical officer are satisfied that the cleansing, purification, or destruction of any article in a dwelling-house is, by reason of the filthy condition of the article, necessary to prevent injury or to remove or obviate risk of injury to the health of any person in the dwelling-house, the local authority may cause the article to be cleansed, purified, or destroyed at their expense.

Where a person sustains damage in consequence of the exercise by the local authority of their powers under this section, and the condition of the article with respect to which those powers have been exercised is not 'attributable to his act or default, the local authority shall make reasonable compensation to that person.

57 Child suffering from infectious disease not to attend school

(1) No person being the parent or having the care or charge of a child within the district of the local authority who is or has been suffering from infectious disease or has been exposed to infection shall, after a notice from the medical officer that the child is not to be sent to school, permit such child to attend school without having procured from the medical officer a certificate (which shall be granted free of charge upon application) that in his opinion such child may attend without undue risk of communicating stich disease to others.

(2) Any person who shall offend against this section shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

58 List of scholars to be furnished where scholar in a school is suffering, from an infectious disease

(1) The principal of a school in which any scholar is suffering from an infectious disease shall, if required by the local authority, furnish to them within a reasonable time fixed by them a complete list of the names and addresses of the scholars in or attending at the school or any specified department thereof other than boarders.

(2) The local authority of the district shall pay to the principal of the school for every list furnished by him under this section the sum of sixpence, and, if the list contains not less than twenty-five names, a further sum of sixpence for every twenty-five names contained in the list.

(3) If the principal of a school fails to comply with any of the provisions of this section he shall be liable in respect of each offence to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

(4) In this section the expression "the principal" used in relation to a school means the person in charge of the school, and includes, where the school is divided into departments and there is no single person at the head of the whole school, as respects each department the head of that department.

59 Provisions as to library books

(1) If any person knows that he is suffering from an infectious disease he shall not take any book or use or cause any book to be taken for his use from any public or circulating library.

(2) A person shall not permit any book which has been taken from a public or circulating library, and is under his control, to be used by any person whom he knows to be suffering from an infectious disease.

(3) A person shall not return to any public or circulating library any book which he knows to have been exposed to infection from any infectious disease, or permit any such book which is under his control to be so returned, but shall give notice to the local authority that the book has been so exposed to infection, and the local authority shall cause the book to be disinfected and returned to the library, Or to be destroyed.

(4) The local authority shall pay to the proprietor of the library from which the book is procured the value of any book destroyed under the power given by this section.

(5) If any person acts in contravention of or fails to comply with this section, he shall be liable in respect of each offence to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

60 Local authority may pay expenses of person in hospital

Nothing in section one hundred and thirty-two of the Public Health Act, 1875, with respect to the recovery of the cost of maintenance in a hospital shall require the local authority to recover the cost of maintenance from a patient who is not a pauper where the local authority have satisfied themselves that the circumstances of the case are such as to justify the remission of the debt.

61 Removal of person from infected premises

(1) The local authority may exercise the powers of section fifteen of the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890, whether that section has or has not been adopted in the district, and, where the local authority so determine, those powers may be exercised for providing temporary shelter or house accommodation with any necessary attendants for any person who, in any case to which this section applies, leaves a house after any infectious, disease has appeared therein, and the local authority may borrow, subject to the provisions of the Public Health Acts, for the purpose of providing shelter or house accommodation under section fifteen of the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890, or under this section.

Where the local authority in pursuance of the aforesaid powers have provided a temporary shelter or house accommodation, they may, on the appearance' of any infectious disease in a house, and on the certificate of the medical officer, cause any person who is not himself sick and who consents to leave the house, or whose parent or guardian (where the person is a child) consents to his leaving the house, to be removed therefrom to any such temporary shelter or house accommodation, and in the like case on the like certificate may cause any such person who does not consent to leave the house to be removed therefrom to any such temporary shelter or house accommodation, where two justices, on the application of the local authority and on being satisfied of the necessity of the removal, make an order for the removal, subject to such conditions (if any) as are imposed by the

The local authority shall in every case cause the removal to be effected and the conditions of any order to be satisfied without charge to the person removed or to the parent or guardian of that person.

(2) Any person who wilfully disobeys or obstructs the execution of an order under this section, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.

(3) For the purpose of this section the word "house" includes any tent, van, shed, or similar structure used for human habitation or any boat lying in any canal or other water within the district of the local authority and used for the like purpose.

62 Amendment of section 126 of 38 & 39 Vict. c.55

Paragraph two of section one hundred and twenty-six of the Public Health Act, 1875 (which imposes a penalty on the exposure of infected persons and things), shall be read as if the words " or causes or permits such sufferer to be so exposed " were added after the word " sufferer. "

63 Prohibiting conveyance of infected persons in public vehicles

The owner or driver of a public vehicle within the district of the local authority used for the carrying of passengers at separate fares shall not knowingly convey or any other person shall not knowingly place in any such public vehicle a person suffering from any infectious disease, or a person suffering from any such disease shall not enter any such vehicle, and every person who shall offend against this section shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

64 Driver, &c, of infected person to give notice

(1) If any person suffering from any infectious disease is conveyed in any public vehicle within, the district of the local authority the owner or driver thereof as soon as it conies to his knowledge shall give notice to the medical officer, and- shall cause such vehicle to be disinfected, and, if he fails so to do, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and the owner or driver of such vehicle shall be entitled to recover in a summary manner from the person so conveyed, or from the person causing that person to be so conveyed, a sufficient sum to cover any loss and expense incurred by him in connection with such disinfection.

(2) It shall be the duty of the local authority when so requested by the owner or driver of such public vehicle to provide for the disinfection of the same free of charge, except in cases where the owner or driver conveyed a person knowing that he was suffering from infectious disease.

65 Section 124 of 38 & 39 Vict. c.55 to apply to persons who cannot be isolated

Section one hundred and twenty-four of the Public Health Act, 1875, shall extend and apply to all cases of persons-suffering from any dangerous infectious disease, and being in or upon any house or premises where such persons cannot be effectually isolated so as to prevent the spread of the disease.

66 Cleansing and disinfecting of premises

(1) If the medical officer, or any other legally qualified medical practitioner certifies that the cleansing and disinfecting-of any. house, or part of a house, and of any articles therein likely to retain infection, or the destruction of those articles would tend to prevent or check any dangerous infectious disease the local authority shall serve notice on the master, or, where the house or part is unoccupied, on the owner of the house or part, that the house or part, and any such articles therein, will be cleansed and disinfected or (as regards the articles) destroyed, by the local authority unless he informs the local authority within twenty-four hours from the receipt of the notice that he will cleanse and disinfect the house or part and any such articles, or destroy the articles to the satisfaction of the medical officer or of any other legally qualified medical practitioner within a time fixed in the notice.

(2) If either—

(a) Within twenty-four hours from the receipt of the notice the person on whom the notice is served does not inform the local authority as aforesaid ; or

(b) Having so informed the local authority, he fails to have the house or part thereof and any such articles disinfected, or the articles destroyed as aforesaid, within the time fixed in. the notice ; or

(c) The master or owner without any such notice gives his consent;

the house or part and articles shall be cleansed and disinfected, or the articles destroyed by the officers and at the cost of the local authority under the superintendence of the medical officer.

(3) For the purpose of carrying into effect this section the local authority may enter by day on any premises.

(4) When the local authority have disinfected any house, part of a house, or article, under the provisions of this section, they shall compensate the master or owner of the house, or part of a house, or the owner of the article, for any unnecessary damage thereby caused to the house, part of a house, or article; and when the local authority destroy any article under this section they shall compensate the owner thereof, and the amount of any such compensation shall be recoverable in a summary manner.

(5) The expression "master" means the person in occupation of or having the charge, management, or control of the house or part of a house, and where the house is wholly let out in separate tenements, or is a lodging-house wholly let to lodgers, includes the person receiving the rent payable by the tenants or lodgers either on his own account, or as the agent of another person; and the expression "by day" means during the period between six o'clock in the morning and the succeeding nine o'clock in the evening.

67 Provision of nursing attendance by local authority

(1) The local authority may provide nurses for attendance on patients suffering from any infectious disease in their district who, owing to want of accommodation at the hospital or danger of infection, cannot be removed to the hospital, or in cases where removal to the hospital is likely to endanger the patients' health.

(2) The local authority may charge such reasonable sums for the services of nurses provided by them as they think fit.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to take away or diminish the necessity of providing proper hospital accommodation for persons suffering from infectious disease.

68 Wake not to be held over body of person dying of infectious disease

It shall not be lawful to hold any wake over the body of any person who has died of infectious disease, and the occupier of any house or premises or part of a house or premises who permits or suffers any such wake to take place in such house or premises, or part of a house or premises, and every person who attends to take part in such wake shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.