§ Lords Amendment: In page 8, line 45, leave out "drinking" and insert "clean".
§ Mr. WhitelawI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
As subsection 3(b) was originally drafted, facilities had to be provided for rinsing drinking vessels in drinking water. It was argued in another place that an employer might provide a sink and hot water for washing up and still have to provide further facilities for rinsing glasses in drinking water. By substituting the word "clean" for "drinking", the Amendment has made 1989 it clear that, so long as the water is clean, occupiers have the choice of providing hot or cold water for rinsing glasses.
Dr. Barnett Stress (Stoke-on-Trent, Central)How does one define the word "clean"? If one is washing up with water it is desirable that it should not be contaminated by bacteria. Does the hon. Gentleman suggest that hot water from a hot tap necessarily is clean in a surgical sense? In what way is it clean?
§ Mr. WhitelawI do not think that I would be very ready to pronounce on either hot water or cold water from a tap, even if it is described as drinking water, and claim that it is necessarily always clean. I would not like, "off the cuff", to give a definition of what it clean. Probably the truth is that water is clean when it is obviously so. It is one of those cases where we know a thing when we see it, but cannot define it.
§ Question put and agreed to.