Police, Factories, &c. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916

7 Provisions for securing welfare of workers in factories and workshops

(1) Where it appears to the Secretary of State that the conditions and circumstances of employment or the nature of the processes carried on in any factory or workshop are such as to require special provision to be made at the factory or workshop for securing the welfare of the workers or any class of workers employed therein in relation to the matters to which this section applies, he may by Order require the occupier to make such reasonable provision therefor as may be specified in the order, and if the occupier fails to comply with the requirements of the order or any of them, the factory or workshop shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with the [1 Edw. 7. c. 22.] Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.

(2) The following shall be the matters to which this section applies:—

Arrangements for preparing or heating, and taking, meals; the supply of drinking water ; the supply of protective clothing; ambulance and first aid arrangements ; the supply and use of seats in workrooms ; facilities for washing; accommodation for clothing; arrangements for supervision of workers.

(3) Orders may—

(a) be made for a particular factory or workshop, or for factories or workshops of any class or group or description ;

(b) be made contingent in respect of particular requirements upon application being made by a specified number or proportion of the workers concerned, and may prescribe the manner in which the views of the workers are to be ascertained ;

(c) provide for the workers concerned being associated in the management of the arrangements, accommodation or other facilities for which provision is made, in any case where a portion of the cost is contributed by the workers ; but no contribution shall be required from the workers in any factory or workshop, except for the purpose of providing additional or special benefits which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, could not reasonably be required to be provided by the employer alone, and unless two-thirds at least of the workers affected in that factory or workshop, on their views being ascertained in the prescribed manner, assent.

(4) If, in the case of any order proposed to be made for a particular factory or workshop, the occupier, or, in the case of an order for factories or workshops of a particular class or group or description, the majority of the occupiers of factories or workshops of that class or group or description, dispute the reasonableness of the requirements in the proposed order or any of them, the objection shall be referred for settlement to a referee selected in accordance with rules made under this section, but the Secretary of State may so refer any objection though not made by a majority of the occupiers if he thinks desirable.

(5) Save as otherwise expressly provided in the order, the occupier of a factory or workshop shall not make any deduction from the sum contracted to be paid by him to any workman or receive am' payment from any workman in respect of any provision made in pursuance of an order under this section, and, if he makes any such deduction or receives any such payment, he shall be guilty of an offence against the [1 & 2 Will. 4. c. 37.] Truck Act, 1831, and shall be liable to the penalties imposed by section nine of that Act as if the offence were an offence mentioned in that section.

(6) The Secretary of State may make rules as to the time within which, and the manner in which, notice of-objection to any order may be made, and as to the selection of, and the procedure before, a referee and the cost of the proceedings before a referee (including the remuneration of the referee).

(7) Any order made under this section may be revoked at any time in whole or in part by the Secretary of State, without prejudice to the making of a further order.

(8) This section shall not apply to domestic factories or workshops.

(9) The Secretary of State may by a special order made in accordance with the provisions of section one hundred and twenty-six of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, extend the matters to which this section applies to matters other than those mentioned in this section.