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90
Factory and Workshops Acts.—In a memorandum issued in
March, 1912, by the Home Office as to the duties of Local Authorities
under the Factory and Workshops Acts, the Secretary of State
makes the following observations:—
"Before proceeding to describe those requirements of the
Acts in regard to which the Council are made the supervising
authority and the observance of which will in general be enforced
by periodic inspection on the part of its officials, the Secretary
of State would remind the Council that, apart, from inspection.it
will greatly facilitate the administration both of these requirements
and of any other requirements of the Act of a structural
character, if the Council and its officers when considering the
plans of any new building intended to be used as a factory or
workshop will see that all requirements of that character whether
falling to be administered by the Local Authority or by the
Factory Inspector have been met. In several cases it has
happened that the Public Health Department has not been consulted
by the Surveyor's Department of the Local Authority
before approving plans and that owners of factories have subsequently
been called upon by the Council or by the Factory
Inspector to make alterations (e.g., as to sanitary accommodation
or means of escape from fire), which have put them to considerable
expense and inconvenience. It is therefore very desirable
that the attention of persons submitting plans should be drawn
to the requirements of the Acts. These are summarised in
a Memorandum issued by the Home Office, to which persons
submitting or proposing to submit plans may be referred."
"As regards textile factories in particular the recent Departmental
Committee on Accidents in Factories have called
attention to the danger caused by crowding of machinery
(see par. 7, page 5, of the Memorandum referred to), and have
suggested that the Local Authority should inform the Factory
Inspector for the district when plans of such factories are