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The Secretary of State may also provide by regulations for restricting the
employment of women in offices after childbirth, and such regulations may -
(a) impose obligations, restrictions and prohibitions on employers
of persons employed in offices, on such persons themselves, and
on others
(b) make different provision to meet different circumstances;
(c) provide for any incidental, supplementary or consequential matters
for which it appears to the Secretary of State requisite or expedient
to provide for the purposes of the regulations.
Before making any regulations under this section, the Secretary of State
shall consult such organisations as appear to him to represent the interests
concerned.
SECTION 2 (Explanation of term "office") defines the expression "office" as
including any room of which the substantial use is for clerical work, including
book-keeping, filing, typing, duplicating, machine calculating, drawing, the
editorial preparation of matter for publication in print, the sorting and
carrying of papers, telephone operating, and the handling of money, except any
room in premises of which the substantial use is as a private residence or for
private domestic purposes.
SECTION 5 (Notification of accidents) requires, subject to certain exemptions,
an occupier of any office in which an accident occurs which either -
(a) causes loss of life to a person employed in the premises, or
(b) disables any such person for more than three days from earning full
wages at the work at which he was employed,
to give written notice of such accident to the local authority in whose area
the office is situated.
SECTION 6 (Enforcement of Act by local authorities) imposes upon local
authorities the duty of enforcing the provisions of the Act, and empowers
them to institute proceedings for offences.
SECTION 7 (Enforcement of Act as respects offices in factories) enacts
that as regards any office which is situated within the close, curtilage or
precincts of premises constituting a factory, the provisions of the Act and of
any regulations, except insofar as they relate to sanitary conveniences or to
the employment of women after childbirth, shall be enforced by inspectors
appointed by the Minister of Labour
SECTION 8 (Enforcement of Act as respects offices at mines and quarries)
places responsibility for the enforcement of the Act and regulations upon
inspectors appointed by the Minister of Power.
SECTION 11 (Offences) deals with offences and penalties therefor.
It is under s tood that the Minister of Labour proposes to introduce
a new bill relating to health, welfare and safety in shops, offices and
railway premises before the Offices Act, 1960 comes into force.