BRITISH FACTORY LAWS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19240, 4 February 1937, Page 5

BRITISH FACTORY LAWS

NEW MEASURE ISSUED

DT ST 1 Nf'TTO N S RE M OVED

CONDITIONS FOR WORKERS

(British Official Wireless.) Reed. 10 a.m. RUGBY, Feb. 3. The Government’s, Factories Bill, issued to-day, consists of 14 parts and a total of 152 clauses. The various distinctions which exist in the present law between factories and workshops, and between textile and 11011textile factories, are abolished and only one term, “factories,”• is. employed.

The part of the bill dealing with the general provisions as to health strengthens the existing provisions and introduces new proposals. The latter provide for securing in every factory sufficient and suitable lighting and power and require reasonable arrangements to be made for the medical supervision of workers in certain circumstances, as, for example, in cases of outbreaks of disease in particular factories.

In the part dealing willi (he general provisions -ns to safety, (he provisions of the- existing law have been largely recast, and the bill contains a number of new proposals requiring, or giving power to require, the adoption of various safety devices or arrangements for the protection of workers, particularly in work involving special risks. General and special provisions as to the welfare of workers are set out, and new proposals are made for the notification and investigation of industrial accidents and diseases.

In the part of the bill dealing with conditions of work for women and young persons, greatly reduced hours are proposed.