Factories Act 1961

48 Safety provisions in case of fire

(1) While any person is within a factory for the purpose of employment or meals, the doors of the factory, and of any room therein in which he is, and any doors which afford a means of exit for persons employed in the factory from any building or from any enclosure in which the factory is situated, shall not be locked or fastened in such manner that they cannot be easily and immediately opened from the inside.

(2) Any doors opening on to any staircase or corridor from any room in which more than ten persons are employed, and in the case of any factory constructed or converted for use as a factory after the end of June, nineteen hundred and thirty-eight, all other doors affording a means of exit from the factory for persons employed therein, shall, except in the case of sliding doors, be constructed to open outwards.

(3) In any factory constructed or converted for use as a factory before July, nineteen hundred and thirty-eight, in which more than ten persons are employed in the same building above the ground floor, any door which is not kept continuously open, at the foot of a staircase affording a means of exit from the building, shall, except in the case of sliding doors, be constructed to open outwards.

(4) Every hoistway or liftway inside a building constructed after the end of June, nineteen hundred and thirty-eight, shall be completely enclosed with, fire-resisting materials, and all means of access to the hoist or lift shall be fitted with doors of fire-resisting materials; except that any such hoistway or liftway which is not provided with a vent at the top shall at the top be enclosed only by some material easily broken by fire.

(5) The chief inspector may by certificate grant, subject to any conditions specified in the certificate, exemption from compliance with any of the requirements of subsections (2) to (4) of this section in any case where he is satisfied that compliance with those requirements is inappropriate or undesirable.

(6) Every window, door or other exit affording means of escape in case of fire or giving access thereto, other than the means of exit in ordinary use, shall be distinctively and conspicuously marked by a notice printed in letters of adequate size.

(7) In every building which is, forms part of or comprises a factory to which section forty of this Act applies, effective means, capable of being operated without exposing any person to undue risk, shall be provided and maintained for giving warning in case of fire, which shall be clearly audible throughout the building or, where the factory is part only of the building, in every part of the building which is used for the purposes of the factory.

(8) The Minister may by regulations apply the provisions of subsection (7) of this section to any class or description of factory.

(9) The Minister may by order grant exemption from or modify the requirements of subsection (7) of this section in any case where it appears to him that those requirements are unnecessary or, as the case may be, would, unless modified, be unreasonable; and any such order may apply to any particular factory or part of a factory or any class or description of factory.

(10) The contents of any room in which persons are employed shall be so arranged or disposed that there is a free passage-way for all persons employed in the room to a means of escape in case of fire.