Britain: An official handbook > 1966

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BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
Factories,
Offices, Shops
and Railway
Premises
of statutes, some of which also deal with health and welfare. The statutes
include: the Mines and Quarries Act 1954, the Agriculture (Safety, Health
and Welfare Provisions) Act 1956, the Factories Act 1961 (which consolidates
earlier Acts), and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963, which
closely follows the Factories Act 1961. Fatal and serious industrial accidents
have tended to diminish during the twentieth century and the British rates
for fatal and serious accidents are among the lowest in the world.
Over 200,000 industrial premises (factories, workshops, slaughterhouses,
shipyards and docks) and about 25,000 building and civil engineering sites
come under the Factories Act, which is administered by the Ministry of
Labour and enforced by H.M. Inspectorate of Factories, which forms part
of the Ministry. The actual strength of the Factory Inspectorate, including
medical and other specialists, was 473 in 1964, its authorised strength being
517. Over a million premises come under the Offices, Shops and Railway
Premises Act, which is also administered by the Ministry of Labour; enforce¬
ment is shared by H.M. Inspectorate of Factories and local authorities.
Under these Acts, anyone intending to employ other people in industrial
or commercial premises to which they apply has to notify the enforcing
authority of his intention before he begins to employ people and every fatal
accident and every accident causing more than three days’ incapacity must be
reported; under the Factories Act provision is also made for compulsory
notification and for investigation of certain dangerous occurrences.
In addition, a number of general and specific safety requirements are laid
down. The general requirements of the Factories Act include provisions con¬
cerning the fencing of prime movers, transmission machinery and dangerous
parts of other machinery; the sale, hire or use of power-driven machinery
without effective guards of certain parts; the cleaning of machinery in motion;
the training and supervision of young persons employed at certain machines;
the safety and examination of hoists and lifting equipment, steam boilers and
steam and air receivers; the construction of floors; precautions against falls,
against gassing, and against explosions of flammable dust or gas; fire prevention,
fire-fighting, fire alarms and means of escape in case of fire; the protection of
the eyes; precautions where dangerous substances are present; and the lifting
of heavy weights. These general requirements are supplemented or modified
by regulations providing for safeguards against special risks in particular
industries, processes, and types of machinery. There are corresponding
provisions in the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act to deal with the
hazards arising in these premises, with power to make regulations.
Safety depends, in fact, at least as much on the education and voluntary
efforts of the employers and of the workers as upon safety regulations. In
addition to regulatory functions, the Ministry of Labour since 1959 has had the
duty of promoting safety, health and welfare in factories by the collection and
dissemination of information and by investigating safety, health and welfare
problems—activities which had, in fact, long been an important part of the
Ministry’s work. The voluntary Accident Prevention Movement is strongly
supported by the Factory Inspectorate. Inspectors inquire into safety aspects
of machine design and specification, circulate expert advice by personal
exhortation, lectures and literature, and encourage the appointment of safety
officers and the formation of works safety committees. The Factory Inspec¬
torate maintains an industrial health and safety centre in London, at which
various types of machinery demonstrating the effectiveness of guards are
displayed, as well as a wide range of protective clothing and equipment. The