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Report on the administration of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901,
IN CONNECTION WITH
FACTORIES, WORKSHOPS, LAUNDRIES, WORKPLACES & HOMEWORK.

3.—HOME-WORK.
The number of persons in the district employed by others but
working at home, is not large. During the year lists of such
workers were received from employers engaged in umbrella making,
the furniture trade and the making of wearing apparel. Tailors
and dressmakers employ most of the home workers.
The premises occupied by the workers were frequently inspected
and their sanitary condition was generally found to be
fairly satisfactory. But of necessity, work is often done in small
rooms, sometimes quite unsuited for the purpose and frequently
used also as the common living-room for the rest of the family,
and the making of clothes in such places must be a likely means
for the spread of infection. It would be a great advantage if all
employers could provide workshops on their own premises, and home
work, particularly by those employed in tailoring or dressmaking,
done away with.
No outworkers premises were found to be in a state requiring
the serving of any notice, and no prosecutions had to be undertaken.
In one instance infectious disease was found in the house
of a home-worker (a woman employed by a tailor) and in this
case an order was made and complied with.