ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES. Clause. 1. Sanitary condition of offices. 2. Overcrowding in offices. 3. Underground offices. 4. Sanitary conveniences and lavatories. 5. Rest rooms. 6. Provision of means of escape in case of fire. 7. Byelaws for means of escape from fire. 8. 9. Doors of offices to open from inside. Restriction of period of employment. 10. Notice of occupation of office. 11. Affixing of abstract and notice. 12. General registers. 13. Periodical return of persons employed. 14. Local sanitary authority to carry out Act. 15. Appointment of inspectors and other persons for the performance of duties under this Act. 16. Complaints. 17. Fine for not keeping office in conformity with Act. 18. Limit to cumulative fines. 19. Prosecution of offences and recovery and applica. tion of fines. 20. General definitions. 21. Application of Act to Scotland. 22. Application of Act to London. 23. Offices occupied or used for employment by or under the Crown or in a police force. 24. Short title and commencement. Regulate offices and the employment of young A.D. 1928. persons therein, and for other purposes connected therewith. BE by and with the advice and consent of the Lords E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, 5 as follows: 10 15 20 1. (1) The following provisions shall apply to Sanitary every office as defined by this Act: (a) It shall be kept in a cleanly state; (b) It shall be kept free from effluvia arising from (c) It shall not be so overcrowded while work is (f) It shall be provided with an adequate supply of (9) Adequate measures shall be taken both by day condition of offices. A.D. 1928. Overcrowding in offices. (2) For the purpose of securing the observance of the requirements in this section as to cleanliness in offices, all the inside walls of the rooms of an office and all the ceilings or tops of those rooms (whether those walls, ceilings or tops are plastered or not), and all the 5 passages and staircases of an office unless they are tiled, if they have not been painted with oil or distemper or varnished once at least within seven years, shall be limewashed within every fourteen months, or if they have been papered, shall be repapered once at least 10 within every three years, to date from the time when they were last limewashed or papered, as the case may be, or if they are tiled or have been so painted, distempered or varnished, shall be washed with hot water and soap once at least within every fourteen months, to date 15 from the time when they were last washed. The floors and windows of an office shall be cleaned thoroughly once at least within every seven and twenty-eight days respectively. (3) An office in which there is a contravention of 20 this section shall be deemed not to be kept in conformity with this Act. 2.-(1) An office shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be so overcrowded as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the persons employed therein 25 if the number of cubic feet of space in any room bears to the number of persons employed at one time in the room a proportion less than five hundred cubic feet of space to every person. (2) Where an office is occupied continuously by 30 day and night or with intervals not exceeding nine hours in any twenty-four hours, the figure one thousand shall be substituted for the said figure five hundred in the first subsection of this section. (3) Where an office is so situate that the surface 35 of the floor thereof is more than five feet below the surface of the footway of the adjoining street, or of the ground adjoining or nearest to the office, the figure one thousand shall be substituted for the said figure five hundred in the first subsection of this section. (4) For the purpose of calculating the number of cubic feet of space required by this section no space 40 which is more than twelve feet above the floor of any A.D. 1928. room shall be taken into account. (5) There shall be exhibited in a conspicuous place in every office a notice specifying the number of persons 5 who may be employed in each room of the office by virtue of this section. 3.-(1) No underground room shall be used as an Underoffice unless it was so used at the passing of this Act. (2) Subject to the foregoing provision, after three 10 years from the passing of this Act an underground room shall not be used as an office unless certified by the local sanitary authority to be suitable for that purpose. (3) For the purpose of this Act, an underground room shall mean any room which is so situate that the 15 surface of the floor is more than five feet below the surface of the footway of the adjoining street, or of the ground adjoining or nearest to the room. (4) An underground room shall not be certified as suitable unless the local sanitary authority is satisfied 20 that it is suitable as regards construction, light, ventilation, and all other respects. 25 (5) If any room is used in contravention of this section, it shall be deemed to be an office not kept in conformity with this Act. (6) In the event of a refusal of a certificate by the local sanitary authority, the occupier of the room may, within twenty-one days from the refusal, by complaint apply to a court of summary jurisdiction, and if it appears to the satisfaction of the court that the room 30 is suitable for use as an office as regards construction, light, ventilation, and all other respects, the court shall thereupon grant a certificate of suitability of the room for use as an office, which shall have effect as if it had been granted by the local sanitary authority. 35 (7) Where any room has been let for use as an office, and the certificate required by this section cannot be obtained unless structural alterations are made, and the occupier alleges that the whole or part of the expenses of the alterations ought to be borne by the 40 owner, he may by complaint apply to a court of summary jurisdiction, and that court may make such order ground offices. |