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To briefly summarise the material points, the Factory and Workshops Acts
are now administrated partly by the Home Office, through H.M. Chief and
District Inspectors of Factories, and partly by Sanitary Authorities, through
Medical Officers of Health and Sanitary Inspectors. Factories fall entirely
under the supervision of the former; and workshops, as to their sanitary condition,
under the control of the latter. There are also a considerable number
of sections in the Acts that are impersonal, and under which legal proceedings
may be taken by persons aggrieved.
For the practical purposes of Sanitary Authorities, and without entering
into definitions of textile and non-textile factories, it is sufficient to say
broadly that the use of steam, water, or any other form of mechanical power
for manufacture in any workshop or workplace converts it into a factory under
the supervision of the Home Office. As to workshops, which may be wholesale,
retail, or sub-contracting, these are of three kinds:—
(1) Those in which protected persons are employed, i.e., a child under
fourteen years, a young person over fourteen and under eighteen years, and a
woman over eighteen years of age.
(2) Those in which protected persons are not employed; and—
(3) Domestic workshops, i.e., where members of the family are employed at
home.
The occupier of every factory and workshop, whether protected persons are
employed or not, is required to give notice within one month of the commencement
of occupation to the Factory Inspector of the district; and the occupier
of every workshop already in occupation is required to give similar notice
within the year 1896. These notices as to workshops are to be forthwith forwarded
by the Inspector of Factories to the Sanitary Authority of the district.
The lists of outworkers kept at factories and workshops afford further information,
and in addition to these, the complaints received, and a systematic
inspection of the district, will bring to light many workplaces. By means of
these forms of information registers are being compiled for permanent reference.
It is to be presumed that some widely-circulated public announcement
will issue from the Home Office, calling the attention of occupiers of workshops
to the requirement to give notice before the termination of the year 1896, and
that Sanitary Authorities will, in due course, receive the notices relating to
workshops.
It is the duty of a Sanitary Authority to see, with regard to every workshop
within its district,
1. That it is kept in a cleanly state.
2. That it is kept free from effluvia arising from any drain, closet,
urinal, &c.
3. That it is ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless any gases,
vapours, dust, or other impurities generated in the course of the work carried
on therein.
4. That it is free from overcrowdiug—that is, that at least two hundred and
fifty cubic feet of space per head are provided during ordinary working hours,
and four hundred cubic feet during overtime.