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93
FACTORIES
The Factories Act, 1937, the principal sections of which came
into operation on 1st July, 1938, is probably the most important
of the many measures adopted in recent years to bring about
improved standards and conditions for the protection of the health
and welfare of persons employed in establishments where work of
an industrial nature is carried on.
The Act is both a consolidating and revising Act, and is divided
into fourteen parts, with a total of 160 sections.
The distinction which existed in previous Acts between
"factories" and "workshops" and textile and non-textile factories
is now abolished and the Act employs only one term "factory,"
which is defined at length in Section 151.
Part I of the Act, which is headed "Health—General Provisions,'
' is, with the exception of one section dealing with lighting,
enforced by the local authority in factories where mechanical power
power is not used, and the matters dealt with are:—
the enforcement of cleanliness in the workrooms, benches,
staircases and passages, etc., removal of refuse and
freedom from effluvia;
overcrowding (according to prescribed standards);
securing effective provision for the maintenance of a reasonable
temperature and effective ventilation with fresh
air and for rendering harmless, as far as practicable,
all dust, fumes and other impurities;
securing adequate drainage of floors where processes are
carried on which render floors liable to wetness.
The section dealing with the provision of suitable and sufficient
sanitary conveniences is to be enforced by the local authority in
all factories whether or not mechanical power is used. The law
concerning this matter has hitherto been somewhat complex. The
Sanitary Accommodation Order, 1903, made under Section 9 of
the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, did not apply to London,
and in the event of a factory or workshop being without suitable
or sufficient sanitary conveniences it was the practice to serve a
notice upon the owner of the premises under the Public Health
(London) Act. In this way an attempt was made to put into
operation the standards of the Sanitary Accommodation Order,
1903, but the requirements of such notices could not be enforced
in the Courts, and in consequence difficulty was experienced in
some instances. The Sanitary Accommodation Regulations, 1938,