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50
FACTORIES AND OUTWORK
(Factories Act, 1937)
FACTORIES. The duty of inspecting factories is shared by H,M. Inspector of
Factories of the Factory Department of the Ministry of Labour and National
Service, and the local authority. A "factory" is defined in Section 151 of
the Factories Act, 1937, as "any premises in which or within the close or
curtilage or precincts of which persons are employed in manual labour in any
process for, or incidental to, any of the following purposes, namely:-
(a) the making of any article or part of any article, or
(b) the altering, repairing, ornamenting, finishing, cleaning or washing
or the breaking up or demolition of any article, or
(c) the adapting for sale of any article;
being premises in which or within the close or curtilage or precinct of which
the work is carried on by way of trade or for the purpose of gain, and to or
over which the employer of the persons employed therein has the right of
access or control". The definition is further extended by the inclusion in
the section of some thirteen sets of premises where persons are employed in
manual labour, which might not otherwise come within the general definition,
e.g. works in the open air, railway lines and sidings.
Factories are divided into two classes, those in which mechanical power
is used, and non-power factories. There is no definition of a "non-power
factory" but Section 152 of the Act provides that a factory shall not be
deemed to be a factory in which mechanical power is used by reason only that
mechanical power is used for the purpose of heating, ventilation or lighting
in the workrooms or other parts of the factory,
The principal duties of local authorities are, in the case of non-power
factories, the enforcement of the health provisions contained in the following: -
SECTION 1 requires every factory to be kept clean, and free from effluvia
arising from any drain, sanitary convenience or nuisance, and lays down the
frequency with which cleansing must be undertaken
SECTION 2 enacts that a factory may not be so overcrowded as to cause
risk of injury to the health of persons employed therein.
SECTION 3 deals with the provisions which must be made for securing and
maintaining reasonable temperature in each workroom.
SECTION 4 relates to the provision to be made for securing that each
workroom is adequately ventilated and for rendering harmless any fumes, dust,
and other impurities generated in the course of work carried out.
SECTION 6 requires effective means to be provided for draining the floor
of any part of a factory where any process carried on renders this necessary.
SECTION 7 enacts that sufficient and suitable sanitary conveniences for
persons employed must be provided, maintained and kept clean. They must be
properly lighted and where persons of both sexes are employed, separate
accommodation must be provided for each sex.
In the case of power factories, the local authority enforces only the
provisions of Section 7 (Sanitary Conveniences), the other health provisions
being the responsibility of H.M, Inspector of Factories, who enforces in both
types of factories the provisions of Section 5, which relate to the provision
and maintenance of suitable and sufficient lighting.
SECTIONS 101 and 102 define the responsibilities of owners, as distinct
from occupiers, with regard to contraventions of the health provisions in
tenement factories and premises where part of a building is a separate factory.
SECTION 107 deals with works of building and engineering construction
and, under the heading of "Building operations", includes building operations
undertaken by way of trade or business or for the purpose of any industrial or
commercial undertaking. Such works can, generally speaking, be described as
factories in which mechanical power is used, and the local authority is