SMOKING IN OFFICES.

Shannon News, 4 January 1924, Page 3

SMOKING IN OFFICES.

DANGEROUS WAR HABIT. COMMISSION AND PERIL OP CIGARETTE ENDS. The report of the Royal Commission on Fire Brigades and Fire Prevention, issued as a Blue-book, states that the average annual direct loss from lire in Great Britain is r about £12,000,000. The Commission recommended: — Instruction in Are drill and elementary first aid in schools. A higher standard of precaution In Government offices, arid other establishments where promiscuous smoking is.allowed, and in dockyards, smolting, if allowed, to be strictly conftn«d to defined safe places and stated times.

I Investigation of the means of proventing the emission of sparks from I locomotives and the use of spark arI restors on steam driven road vehiclea I using solid fuel. I Compulsory lire drills in factorleu 1 where more than 20 persons are employed above the ground floor and in all factories where any explosives o* highly inflammable material is handled or stored, irrespective of the number of persons employed. The provision of adequate means of escape in places of public worship ana in hotels, boardinghouses and boarding schools, with sleeping accommodation for more than 50 persons, ana in the case of those with accommodation for more than 20 persons, if exceeding two storeys in height. Alter a reference to the cigaretteend danger, the report alludes to the danger arising from promiscuous smoking in offices and similar establishments, which has greatly increased during and since the war.

Though smoking t is now allowed in Government offices to ait extent whlcn we apprehend far exceeds what is tolerated in most banks, insurance offices or other business concerns, the danger is not, of course, confined to Government buildings. We cannot help feeling that in this matter a somewhat * higher standard of precaution ana somewhat less self-indulgence might be displayed. The Commission urge the institution of inquiries in appropriate cases into the causes of fires by persons with technical qualifications, selected from a panel to be drawn up by the Secretary of State.