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Industrial and Construction Camps Regulations

made under Section 74 of the
Health Protection Act
S.N.S. 2004, c. 4
N.S. Reg. 40/42 (March 9, 1942)

Definitions
"industrial or construction camp" - any camp, hut, house or tent or any collection of them not intended for permanent occupation, in which during a period of time persons engaged in industry live, eat and sleep, and the area within one hundred feet of any such structure.

"foreman" - the individual representing the operator or operators engaged in the industry, and under whose direction the construction or other industrial occupation is being carried on.

"bunkhouse" - that building or buildings of the camp in which are bunks or sleeping places and in which the operatives sleep.

"cookhouse" - that portion of the camp where meals for the operatives are prepared and served.

1 These regulations shall apply to all industrial or construction camps in which provision is made for the housing and feeding of laborers, or employees numbering ten or more for a period of time of one month or more.

2 Bunkhouses, tents, or other suitable sleeping places, in fit condition and so constructed as to shelter the inmates in an adequate way, shall be provided for all employees.

3 Every sleeping place shall contain 400 cubic feet air space for each regular occupant thereof and there shall be provision for adequate ventilation and for light on the basis of at least one foot of glass to each twenty feet of floor surface. At least one-half the windows shall be capable of being opened for ventilation purposes.

4 The location of any such camp shall be selected with due regard to the health of its inmates and the health of the inmates of other camps or habitations. No building which is a portion of the camp shall be located nearer than 100 feet from any lake or stream.

5 The ground within the area occupied by such a camp and its outbuildings, stables, etc., shall be kept clean, and no rubbish or garbage or refuse material of any description shall be permitted to collect.

6 No stable, privy or closet shall be within 150 feet of any building used as a cookhouse, nor shall it be so located that it shall contaminate any water supply. Stable manure shall be collected and so disposed of by burning or removal to a distance from the camp that it shall not be or become a nuisance.

7 Bunks shall be single bunks but these may be in two decks or tiers. A passageway of at least 18 inches shall separate the bunks and there shall be at least three and one-half feet between two bunks in a tier. Ticks or mattresses and clean blankets shall be provided for each occupant.

8 There shall be facilities for ablution on a scale of at least one basin for each person in the camp. A common towel or roller shall not be used. All drainage from the ablution room shall be disposed of in a sanitary way by connection with a cesspool.

9 There shall be privy seats provided on a scale of one for each ten of the number of occupants or of any part thereof. They shall be of some approved pattern, shall be screened against flies, shall not be so situated that drainage therefrom shall constitute a nuisance and must be maintained at all times in a sanitary condition. Night urinal buckets shall not be allowed at any time in the cookhouse or between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the bunkhouse. They shall be emptied, scalded and disinfected daily.

10 The building intended as a bunkhouse and that intended for the cookhouse and the serving of meals shall be separate and distinct, where the number of men regularly occupying the camp exceed thirty in number. If the number is less than thirty, one building so divided by a permanent partition and suitable doors that communication between the two portions can be closed when necessary, may be used.

11 There shall be facilities for the washing of clothing and blankets and for the drying of wet clothing.

12 Water shall be obtained from a source not liable to be contaminated. The watering place shall be marked, and there shall be separate watering places for procuring water for ablution and drinking purposes and for the use of animals.

13 Waste water from ablution tables and from the cookhouse shall be disposed of in a covered cesspool, constructed in accordance with sanitary principles and so placed that any overflow cannot contaminate the drinking water or constitute a nuisance.

14 Refuse material shall be burned or passed through an incinerator, being collected regularly and at frequent intervals.

15 The cookhouse shall be provided with fly screens and the room in which food is stored either before or after cooking shall be kept clean of all vermin. All dishes and cooking utensils shall be kept clean and in a sanitary condition, being passed through boiling water, after use.

16 Provision shall be made which will permit the bathing of all employees at least once a week and, if necessary, for the disinfestation of clothing.

17 There shall be arrangements under which there shall be provision that ten percent of the sleeping accommodations can be so separated from the rest that it can be used as isolation quarters or for the use of the sick or for the use of persons joining the camp and whom it is not desirable to permit to sleep in the regular sleeping quarters.

18 Before being assigned to his own sleeping quarters the clothing and bedding of all employees shall be disinfected if necessary. No individual joining the camp, after the same has been in operation, shall be assigned sleeping quarters until this has been done.

19 In the event of an outbreak of infectious or notifiable disease the foreman of the camp shall be responsible for the notification of the same to the medical health officer of the County or Municipality, and the prompt reporting to the physician who may be employed to attend to the employees.

20 All the sanitary arrangements shall be inspected at least once a month by the physician who has been employed to attend the employees, and the employees of the camp may have a certain proportion stopped from their wages for the purpose of employing a physician for this purpose and for the purpose of attending them if sick or injured.

21 Every employee shall, if so required by the Provincial Health Officer, furnish or show to the foreman prior to employment or later if necessary, a certificate of successful vaccination or revaccination within seven years. Failing this and the outbreak of smallpox in the camp, the camp shall be placed under quarantine for such period as is necessary for the public protection.

22 Any individual or corporation who contravenes any of the provisions of this regulation or who neglects or refuses to comply with or obstructs in the compliance of the provisions here made, shall be liable to a penalty of $25.00 for each such offence or for a fine of $5.00 per day for each day during which after due notification such offence is permitted to continue.