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Briefly, the provisions which are to be enforced by District Councils are now as follows:—
(1) Every factory of which the construction was commenced after 1st January, 1892, and
every workshop of which the construction was commenced on or after 1st January, 1896, must,
if more than 40 persons are employed, be furnished with a certificate from the District Council
that it is provided with such means of escape in case of fire for the persons employed therein as
can reasonably be required in the circumstances of the case. (The provision in the previous
Acts which limited the requirements to the storeys above the ground floor is now repealed.)
Before giving the certificate the Council must have the factory or workshop examined, and must
satisfy itself that means of escape are provided as required by the Act. Any such factory or
workshop not furnished with a certificate will be deemed not to be kept in conformity* with the
Act. If a case come to the knowledge of the Council in which any such factory or workshop
is being used as a factory or workshop without the Council's certificate, it will be open to the
Council either to take proceedings itself against the occupier or to report the matter to the
District Inspector of Factories with a view to proceedings being taken by him.
As questions sometimes arose under the previous Acts as to what were the means of
escape which had been passed by a Council as satisfactory, the Act now requires that the
certificates given by the Council must specify in detail the means of escape provided. It also
requires that the means of escape provided shall be maintained in good condition and free from
obstruction.
It will doubtless be convenient for the Council when considering the plans of any new
building which is intended to be used as a factory or workshop to examine the means of escape
proposed to be provided, and also to see that doors are made to open outwards, where required
by section 16 (2).
(2) In the case of all other factories and workshops in which more than 40 persons are
employed, the District Council is charged with the duty of ascertaining from time to time
whether they are provided will such means of escape from fire as can reasonably be required.
In the case of a factory or workshop not so provided, the Council is required to serve on the
† owner a notice specifying the measures necessary to be taken for providing such means of
escape, and requiring him to carry them out within a specified time. If the owner disagrees
with the Council as to the measures required, the dispute is to be determined by arbitration in
the manner provided by the Act (sec. 14 (3); Sch. I.).
For the purposes of the fire provisions the whole of a tenement factory‡ or workshop is
to be counted as a single factory or workshop, and the owner is to be substituted for the
occupier.
(3) In addition to these powers, a new and important power is given to District Councils
by sec. 15 of the Act to make bye-laws providing for means of escape from fire in the case of
any factory or workshop. The provisions of the Public Health Act, 1875, with regard to the
making of bye-laws, are to apply to the making of these bye-laws, and they will accordingly
require to be confirmed by the Local Government Board before they can come into operation.
(iii.) Bakehouses. (Secs. 97-102.)
Bakehouses are either factories or workshops within the meaning of the Act according as
mechanical power is or is not used in aid of the processes carried on. They are, therefore,
subject to the general provisions of the Act; and the same powers will be exercised by District
Councils in regard to bakehouses that are exercised by them in regard to factories and workshops.
A general power is also given (sec. 98) to the Council in the case of any bakehouse
which is in such a state as to be on sanitary grounds unfit for use or occupation as a bakehouse
to bring the case before a court of summary jurisdiction; and the Court may thereupon impose
a fine and order means to be adopted for the purpose of removing the ground of complaint.
In addition to the general regulations of the Act, special sanitary regulations for bakehouses
are contained in the Act. These regulations require that—
(1) A bakehouse must not contain or communicate directly with a water-closet, earthcloset,
privy or ashpit; a cistern supplying water to a bakehouse must be separate from any
cistern supplying water to a water-closet; and a sewage pipe or drain must not have any
opening in the bakehouse.
(2) All inside walls and ceilings of rooms and all passages and staircases must be limewashed
every six months, or coated with three coats of paint or varnish every seven years and
washed with hot water and soap every six months.
(3) Places on the same level with a bakehouse and forming part of the same building
must not be used as sleeping places unless effectually separated from the bakehouse by a
partition from floor to ceiling and provided with an external glazed window 9 square feet, of
which 4½ feet must be made to open.
These regulations will in the case of all retail bakehouses § be enforced by the District
Council (sec. 102); a "retail bakehouse" meaning any bakehouse or place in which no
mechanical power is used and the bread, biscuits, or confectionery baked in which are sold not
☼ The penalty in the case of a factory or workshop not kept in conformity with the Act is a fine not exceeding
£10, and in the case of a second or subsequent offence within two years from the last conviction for the same
offence, not less than £1. The Court may order means to be adopted to bring the factory or workshop into
conformity with the Act.
† "Owner" has the same meaning as under the Public Health Act, 1875, sec. 4.
‡ Where several factories are situated in the same building and are supplied with power by the owner, they
constitute a "tenement factory."
§ In London, these provisions will be enforced by the Borough Councils in every bakehouse (whether retail or
not) which is a workshop:— Public Health (London) Act, 1891, sec. 26.