349.
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91
Each factory and Workshop is visited at least once each year for the purpose of re-registration and during 1950 as many as 14,000 visits of inspection were made. Night inspections in order to check on the employ- ment of women and young persons on night work were by no means infrequent.
350. A total of 629 accidents (45 fatal) involving in- juries to 625 persons were reported during the year: 414 of these accidents (22 fatal) involving 431 persons occurred an registered factories or workshop premises.
351.
There is no doubt that this toll of accidents would have been appreciably higher were it not for the very effective activities of the Factory Inspectorate.
352.
That the Factories and Workshops Ordinance 1937 is administered with firmness is demonstrated by the following record of prosecution, particularly when it is appreciated that prosecution action is only taken as a last resort.
SUMMARY OF PROSECUTIONS UNDER THE
FACTORIES & WORKSHOPS ORDINANCE 1937
FROM 1ST JANUARY 1950 TO 31ST DECEMBER 1950
Unfenced Machinery
27
Employing women in prohibited hours
Employing Young Persons in prohibited hours 35
Failing to keep a Young Persons Register.
7
Failure to register
Employing children in an
industrial undertaking
Obstructing fire exists
52
6
1
Failing to report an accident
1
Locked exists
3
No Certificate of Fitness for steam
Steam Boilers
Total
2
222
353.
It is suggested that, as the staffing arrangements of the Department of Labour permit, the scope of the definition "factory"and" workshop" (see Appendix 12 for present definitions) be progressively widened so that those numerous small industries whero conditions of employment are often both unsatisfactory and dangerous are required to observe reasonable standards of safety and hygiene.. As a first stop towards this desirable end I suggest that, when cir cumstances permit, the definition of "workshop" be amended to read "Any premisos
where at least ten persons are employed. At present the figure quoted in the definition in the Ordinance is twenty.
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