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56
FACTORIES AND OUTWORK
(Factories Act, 1937)
Factories. Responsibility for general health and welfare provisions in 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 of 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 precincts 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, book binding, bottle washing or filling.
Factories fall into two classes, those in which mechanical power is used,
and those in which mechanical power is not used. 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, ventilating or lighting 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
sections:-
SECTION l (Cleanliness) 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 (Overcrowding) enacts that a factory may not be so overcrowded as to
cause risk of injury to the health of persons employed therein.
SECTION 3 (Temperature) deals with the provisions which must be made for securing
and maintaining reasonable temperature in each workroom.
SECTION 4 (Ventilation) 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 the work carried out.
SECTION 6 (Drainage of flpors) 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 (Sanitary conveniences) 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 factory the requirements of Section 5, which relate to the provision
and maintenance of suitable and sufficient lighting.
SECTIONS 101 (Tenement factories) AND 102 (Premises where part of building is
separate factory) 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.
SECTIONS 107 (Building operations) AND 108 (works of engineering construction)
apply the provisions of SECTION 7 (sanitary conveniences) to building operations
and works of engineering construction undertaken by way of trade or