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Part VIII of the ACT
Outworkers
The law in relation to outworkers is contained in the Factories Act, 1937,
Sections 110 and 111.
Section 110 requires the occupier of every factory and every contractor
employed by him to send to the Borough Council during the months of February
and August in each year, lists showing the names and addresses of all outworkers
employed by him outside the factory, and the places where they are employed.
Failure to comply with this requirement renders the occupier liable to a fine
not exceeding £10. The Council is required to forward the name and address of
any outworker in this list whose address is not in St. Pancras to the local
authority concerned.
Section 111 applies to premises where work is carried on which, in the
Council's opinion, is injurious or dangerous to the health of the persons employed
therein and in such cases the Council is empowered to give notice of the
circumstances, in writing, to the occupier of the factory. If, after the expiration of
ten days, the occupier continues to give out work to those premises, he is guilty
of an offence.
A Schedule to the Act states that if the occupier of a factory knowingly
allows a woman or girl to be employed therein within four weeks after she has
given birth to a child, he shall be liable to a fine.
If the occupier of a factory or his contractor allows wearing apparel to be
made, cleaned or repaired in any place where an inmate is suffering from scarlet
fever or smallpox, and cannot prove that he was unaware of the existence of the
disease, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £10. The Council has power
to forbid work being given out to premises where an inmate is suffering from an
infectious disease, and an occupier or contractor upon whom such an order has
been served shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £10 if he contravenes such
order.
The industries contained in the list of trades in connection with outworkers
are as follows:-
(1) Making, cleaning, washing, altering, ornamenting, finishing
and repairing of wearing apparel;
(2) Making up, ornamenting finishing and repairing of table linen,
bed linen, or other household linen (including in the term
linen, articles of cotton or cotton and linen mixtures);
(3) Making, ornamenting, mending, and finishing of lace and of lace
curtains and nets;
(4) Making of curtains and furniture hangings;
(5) Cabinet and furniture making and upholstery work;
(6) Making of Electro plate;
(7) Making of files;
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