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(2) Provided that in no case shall such underground premises if erected after the 31st
December, 1917, be certified as suitable unless they abut upon an open area, such open
area being at least four feet wide in every part thereof, and be imperviously paved. The
open area shall extend the entire frontage thereof, and upwards from six inches below
the level of the floor of such underground premises.
3. If an underground factory, workshop or workplace is not kept in conformity with this
Act the occupier thereof shall be deemed to have committed an offence against the
provisions of the principal Act and be liable to the penalties imposed by Sections 125
and 135 of that Act.
4. (1) Where it appears to any District Council that it is expedient for protecting the
health of the person or persons employed to prohibit work being carried on in any underground
factory, workshop or workplace, the District Council shall forthwith give notice
to the owner and occupier of the premises of the withdrawal of the certificate of such
underground factor}', workshop or workplace, and shall order the closing of such underground
factory, workshop or workplace within twenty-eight days of the service of the
notice upon such owner and occupier.
(2) Provided that such order shall not prevent the premises being used for the purpose
of storage.
5. In the event of a refusal or withdrawal of a certificate by the District Council, the
occupier of an underground factory, workshop or workplace may within twenty-one days
of such refusal by complaint apply to a court of summary jurisdiction, and if it appears
to the satisfaction of the court that the underground factory, workshop, or workplace is
suitable lor use as regards construction, natural light, maintenance of reasonable
temperature, ventilation, freedom from damp and in all other respects, the court shall
thereupon grant a certificate of suitability of the underground factory, workshop or
workplace, which shall have the like effect as if granted by the District Council.
6. Where any premises are occupied as an underground factory, workshop or workplace, and
the certificate required by this Act cannot be obtained, unless structural alterations are
made, and the occupier alleges that the whole or part of the expense of the alterations
ought to be borne by the owner, he may by complaint apply to a court of summary
jurisdiction, and that court may make such order concerning the expenses or their
apportionment as appears to the court to be just and equitable under the circumstances
of the case, regard being had to the terms of any contract between the parties or in the
alternative the court may at the request of the occupier determine the lease.
As respects every underground factory, workshop or workplace, the provisions o
this Act shall be enforced by the District Council of the District in which the premises
may be situated, and not by an Inspector under the principal Acts, and for the purposes
of this Act the Medical Officer of Health and the Inspector of Nuisances of the District
Council shall have and may exercise all the powers of entry, inspection, taking legal
proceedings and otherwise of an Inspector under the principal Acts.
7. The Secretary of State may by special order, and is hereby empowered to make, alter and
amend regulations as to structure, natural lighting, maintenance of reasonable temperature,
ventilation, freedom from damp, arrangements for carrying off dust and fumes, and in
all other respects, and further to extend the provisions of this Act to any underground
factory, workshop or workplace in which any class of business, manufacture or process
is carried on, but the provisions of this Act shall not apply to any underground room
used simply for the purpose of storage.
8. This Act may be cited as the Factory and Workshop Act 1912 and shall be construed as
one with the Factory and Workshop Acts of 1901 and 1907, and the Factory and Workshop
Acts 1901 and 1907, and this Act may be cited together as the Factory and
Workshops Acts 1901 to 1912.