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(3) Out-workers' lists. —In order that the Council may be kept fully informed as to the
places in its district in which home work is being done, occupiers of factories, workshops, or
any place from which work is given out, and contractors employed by such occupiers are required,
in regard to such classes of work as may be fixed by the Secretary of State, to keep lists showing
the names and addresses of all persons employed by them, either as workmen or as contractors
outside such factory, workshop or place, and the place where they are employed, and to send to
the Council twice a year (viz., on or before the 1st February and the 1st August) copies of such
lists. The form in which the lists are to be kept is prescribed by the Secretary of State in his
Home Work Order of 11th December, 1901. Forms may be obtained from the Government
printers.
In the event of any occupier failing to keep or to send such lists he will be liable to a fine
of £2 for the first offence, and to a fine of £5 for a second or subsequent offence. Proceedings
to recover the fine may be taken by the Council.
It will be the duty of the Council to have the lists so sent to them examined, and if the
place of employment of any out-worker included in the list is in another district, to furnish his
name and place of employment to the Council of that district.
The list required to be kept by the occupier or contractor will be open to inspection by
any duly authorised officer of the Council; and the copies sent to the Council, and any
particulars furnished to it by another Council, will be open to inspection by any of the
Inspectors of Factories and Workshops.
The classes of work to which these provisions have been applied by the Secretary of State
are the same as those enumerated above under the heading "unwholesome dwellings."
Domestic Factories and Workshops.
In some cases it will be found that dwellings in which home work is done constitute a
factory or workshop, in consequence of the employment by the occupier of the dwelling, or some
part of it, of persons on work which comes within the definitions in the Act. Such places will
be subject to the ordinary provisions of the Act with regard to factories and workshops. An
important exception, however, is made for dwellings in which no mechanical power is used and
the only persons employed are members of the same family dwelling there. These places
(termed in the Act "Domestic Factories" and "Domestic Workshops") are exempted from
many of the provisions of the Act.*
Domestic Factories are exempted from the provisions in the Act as to the sanitation of
factories, and are made subject, so far as sanitary conditions are concerned, only to the
provisions in sec. 2 (1) and sec. 3; i.e., if not kept in a cleanly state, or not ventilated in such a
manner as to render harmless, as far as practicable, any gases, vapours, dust or other
impurities generated in the course of the work that are a nuisance or injurious to health, or so
overcrowded while work is carried on as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the
workers, it is liable to be dealt with as a nuisance under sec. 91 of the Public Health Act, 1875.
A domestic factory will, for the purpose of this provision, be deemed to be overcrowded unless in
each room at least 250 cubic feet of air-space (or during overtime 400) are allowed for each
person employed in the room. These provisions will be enforced by the Council.
Domestic workshops are exempted from the special provisions as to means of ventilation
and the drainage of floors, but are otherwise, so far as sanitary conditions are concerned, to be
treated as ordinary workshops.†
Any domestic factory and workshop, however, in which any work is carried on that has
been certified by the Secretary of State as dangerous, is subject to all the provisions of the Act
as though it were an ordinary factory or workshop.
Administration.
Powers of District Council.—For the purpose of their duties with respect to workshops and
workplaces under the Act, and under the Public Health Acts, the District Council and their
officers are given the same powers of entry, inspection, taking legal proceedings, or otherwise
as a Factory Inspector possesses. The powers of an inspector are contained in sec. 119 of the
Act, and include the power to enter, inspect, and examine, to take a constable in cases in which
there is reason to apprehend any serious obstruction, to examine the persons found therein, to
require the production of documents, &c. In cases where proceedings are taken under the
Factory Act, and not under the Public Health Acts, special attention should be paid to the
provisions of sec. 146 of the Act with respect to legal proceedings.
Register of Workshops.—The Act placed the new duty on every District Council to keep a
register of all workshops situate within its district (sec. 131). To assist the Council in preparing
such a register, instructions were given, after the passing of the Act, to the Factory Inspectors
to allow the District Council to make copies of the register of workshops kept by the Inspector,
and the Council will also continue to receive (sec. 127) from the Inspector any notices of
occupation of a workshop which may be sent to him. The Council should not, however, depend
exclusively on these sources of information for compiling their register, but should take steps,
through their own officers, to ascertain what workshops are situate in their district, with a view
to making the register as complete as possible.
☼ The only classes of factories which can come within the definition of "Domestic Factory" are those specified
in Part I. of the Sixth Schedule to the Act. See p. 1, above.
† Domestic workshops in which the work is only done at irregular intervals and does not furnish the whole or
principal means of living to the family, or in which certain classes of work of a light character (viz., straw-plaiting,
pillow-lace making and glove making) are carried on are wholly exempt, except so far as they come within the term
"workplace."—See sec. 114.
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