NEW YORK.

REVISED STATUTES-THIRD EDITION-1901.

Department of labor—Inspector of factories, etc.

(Page 2094.)

Commissioner

SECTION 30 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). There shall continue to be a department of labor the head of which shall be the of labor. commissioner of labor who shall be appointed by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate and who shall hold office for a term of four years beginning on the first day of January of the year in which he is appointed. He shall receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars. He shall appoint all officers, clerks and other employees in the department of labor. Wherever the title of factory inspector is used in article one of this chapter or the title of commissioner of labor statistics in article four thereof it shall be construed to mean the commissioner of labor.

SEC. 31 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The commis- Deputies. sioner of labor shall forthwith upon entering upon the duties of his office appoint and may at pleasure remove two deputy commissioners of labor, who shall receive such annual salaries, not to exceed three thousand dollars each, as may be appropriated therefor. The powers hereinafter conferred upon the first and second deputy commissioners shall not include the appointment of officers, clerks or other employees in any of the bureaus of the department of labor.

SEC. 32 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The department Bureaus. of labor shall be divided into three bureaus, as follows: Factory inspection, labor statistics and mediation and arbitration.

SEC. 33 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). Subdivision 1. The commissioner of labor, his deputies and their assistants and each special agent and deputy factory inspector may administer oaths and take affidavits in matters relating to the provisions of this chapter.

Powers.

Sub. 2. No person shall interfere with, obstruct or hinder by force Hindering or otherwise the commissioner of labor, his deputies, their assistants commissioner. or the special agents or deputy factory inspectors while in the performance of their duties, or refuse to properly answer questions asked by such officers pertaining to the provisions of this chapter, or refuse them admittance to any place where and when labor is being performed which is affected by the provisions of this chapter.

Sub. 3. All notices, orders and directions of deputies, assistants, Notices, etc. special agents and deputy factory inspectors given in accordance with this chapter are subject to the approval of the commissioner of labor. And all acts, notices, orders, permits and directions by any provisions of this chapter directed to be performed or given by the factory inspector, chairman of the board of mediation and arbitration or other officer of the department of labor may be performed or given by and in the name of the commissioner of labor and by any officer of the department thereunto duly authorized by such commissioner in the name of such commissioner.

Sub. 4. The commissioner of labor may procure and cause to be used Badges. badges for himself and his subordinates in the department of labor while in the performance of their duties.

SEC. 34 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). All necessary Expenses. expenses incurred by the commissioner of labor in the discharge of his duties shall be paid by the State treasurer upon the warrant of the comptroller issued upon proper vouchers therefor. The reasonable and necessary traveling and other expenses of the deputy commissioners, their assistants, the special agents and statisticians, the deputy factory inspectors and other field officers of the department while engaged in the performance of their duties shall be paid in like manner upon vouchers approved by the commissioner of labor and audited by the comptroller.

Suboffices.

Reports.

Counsel.

Bureau of statistics.

Reports to contain what.

Reports from owners, etc.

Bureau of inspection.

Deputy inspectors.

Districts.

SEC. 35 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The commissioner of labor may establish and maintain a suboffice in any city of the first class if in his opinion it be necessary. He may designate any one or more of his subordinates to take charge of and manage any such office, subject to his direction. The reasonable and necessary expenses of such office shall be paid as are other expenses of the commissioner of labor.

SEC. 36 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The commissioner of labor shall report annually to the legislature.

SEC. 38 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The commissioner of labor may employ counsel in the department of labor to represent the department or to assist in the prosecution of actions or proceedings brought under the provisions of this chapter. Such counsel shall receive such compensation as may otherwise be provided by law. SEC. 40 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). There shall continue to be a bureau of labor statistics, which shall be under the immediate charge of a chief statistician, but subject to the direction and supervision of the commissioner of labor.

SEC. 41 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The commissioner of labor shall collect, assort, systematize and present in annual reports to the legislature, statistical details in relation to all departments of labor in the State, especially in relation to the commercial, industrial, social and sanitary condition of workingmen and to the productive industries of the State. He may subpoena witnesses, take and hear testimony, take or cause to be taken depositions and administer oaths.

SEC. 42 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The owner, operator, manager or lessee of any mine, factory, workshop, warehouse, elevator, foundry, machine shop or other manufacturing establishment, or any agent, superintendent, subordinate, or employee thereof, and any person employing or directing any labor affected by the provisions of this chapter, shall, when requested by the commissioner of labor, furnish any information in his possession or under his control which the commissioner is authorized to require, and shall admit him to any place where labor is carried on which is affected by the provisions of this chapter for the purpose of inspection. All statistics furnished to the commissioner of labor, pursuant to this article, may be destroyed by such commissioner after the expiration of two years from the time of the receipt thereof. A person refusing to admit such commissioner, or a person authorized by him, to any such establishment, or to furnish him any information requested, or who refuses to answer or untruthfully answers questions put to him by such commissioner, in a circular or otherwise, shall forfeit to the people of the State the sum of one hundred dollars for each refusal or untruthful answer given, to be sued for and recovered by the commissioner in his name of office. The amount so recovered shall be paid in to the State treasury.

SEC. 60 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). There shall continue to be a bureau of factory inspection. The first deputy commissioner of labor shall be the factory inspector of the State and in immediate charge of this bureau, but subject to the direction and supervision of the commissioner of labor.

SEC. 61 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The commissioner of labor may appoint from time to time not more than sixty persons as deputy factory inspectors, not more than ten of whom shall be women, and who may be removed by him at any time. The deputy factory inspectors may be divided into three grades, but not more than five shall be of the third grade. Each deputy inspector of the first grade shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars, each of the second grade an annual salary of one thousand two hundred dollars and each of the third grade an annual salary of one thousand five hundred dollars.

SEC. 62 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). Subdivision 1. The commissioner of labor may divide the State into districts, assign one or more deputy factory inspectors to each district, and may in his discretion transfer them from one district to another; he may assign any of them to inspect any special class or classes of factories or to enforce

any special provisions of this chapter: and he may assign any one or more of them to act as clerks in any office of the department.

Who may in

Sub. 2. The commissioner of labor may authorize any deputy commissioner or assistant and any special agent or inspector in the depart- spect. ment of labor to act as a deptuy factory inspector with the full power and authority thereof.

Sub. 3. The commissioner of labor, the first deputy commissioner of Entering labor and his assistant or assistants and every deputy or acting deputy buildings. factory inspector may in the discharge of his duties enter any place, building or room where and when any labor is being performed which is affected by the provisions of this chapter, and may enter any factory whenever he may have reasonable cause to believe that any such labor is being performed therein.

Visits to be

Sub. 4. The commissioner of labor shall visit and inspect or cause to be visited and inspected the factories, during reasonable hours, as often made. as practicable, and shall cause the provisions of this chapter to be enforced therein.

Municipal or

Sub. 5. Any lawful municipal ordinance, by-law or regulation relating to factories, in addition to the provisions of this chapter and not in dinances. conflict therewith, may be observed and enforced by the commissioner of labor.

SEC 63 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). The commissioner Reports. of labor shall make an annual report to the legislature of the operation of this bureau.

Law to be

SEC. 68 (as amended by chapter 505, Acts of 1907). A copy or abstract of the provisions of this chapter applicable thereto, to be prepared and posted. furnished by the commissioner of labor, shall be kept posted by the employer in a conspicuous place on each floor of every factory where persons are employed who are affected by the provisions thereof.

Inspection of factories and workshops.

(Page 2102.)

SECTION 79. If, in the opinion of the factory inspector, it is neces

Elevator

sary to protect the life or limbs of factory employees, the owner, agent, ways, etc., to be or lessee of such factory where an elevator, hoisting shafts, or well-guarded. hole is used, shall cause, upon written notice from the factory inspector, the same to be properly and substantially enclosed, secured or guarded, and shall provide such proper traps or automatic doors so fastened in or at all elevator ways, except passenger elevators enclosed on all sides, as to form a substantial surface when closed and so constructed as to open and close by action of the elevator in its passage either ascending or descending. The factory inspector may inspect the cable, gearing or other apparatus of elevators in factories and require them to be kept in a safe condition.

No child under the age of fifteen years shall be employed or per- Operation mitted to have the care, custody or management of or to operate an eleva- by children. tor in a factory, nor shall any person under the age of eighteen years be employed or permitted to have the care, custody or management of or to operate an elevator therein, running at a speed of over two hundred feet a minute.

No absolute duty devolves upon the owner to provide safeguards until directed so to do in the discretion of the inspector. 28 Abb. New Cases 138.

In the absence of such protection an employee aware of the facts is charged with the duty of avoiding the consequent dangers and a failure to do so makes him guilty of contributory negligence. 72 Hun 403.

The omission to provide the safeguards mentioned in the statute is evidence for the jury on the question of negligence. 81 Hun 195.

This section does not relieve the plaintiff of the burden of showing that there was no contributory negligence. Accepting service in the known absence of the automatic door prescribed is an assumption of risk and waives the benefit of the statute. 70 Hun 530.

SEC. 80. Proper and substantial hand rails shall be provided on Stairways. all stairways in factories. The steps of such stairs shall be covered with rubber, securely fastened thereon, if in the opinion of the factory inspector the safety of employees would be promoted thereby. The stairs shall be properly screened at the sides and bottom. All doors

Doors to open leading in or to any such factory shall be so constructed as to open outwardly. outwardly where practicable, and shall not be locked, bolted or fastened during working hours.

Belt shifters, guards, etc.

Fans.

Lights.

Fire escapes.

SEC. 81 (as amended by chapter 366, Acts of 1906). The owner or person in charge of a factory where machinery is used, shall provide, in the discretion of the commissioner of labor, belt shifters or other mechanical contrivances for the purpose of throwing on or off belts on pulleys. Whenever practicable, all machinery shall be provided with loose pulleys. All vats, pans, saws, planers, cogs, gearing, belting, shafting, set-screws, and machinery, of every description, shall be properly guarded. No person shall remove or make ineffective any safeguard around or attached to machinery, vats or pans, while the same are in use, unless for the purpose of immediately making repairs thereto, and all such safeguards so removed shall be promptly replaced. Exhaust fans of sufficient power shall be provided for the purpose of carrying off dust from emery wheels, grindstones and other machinery creating dust; except where in case of woodworking machinery, the commissioner of labor after first making and filing in the public records of his office a written statement of the reasons therefor shall decide that it is unneccessary for the health and welfare of the operatives. If a machine or any part thereof is in a dangerous condition or is not properly guarded, the use thereof may be prohibited by the commissioner of labor and a notice to that effect shall be attached thereto. Such notice shall not be removed until the machine is made safe and the required safeguards are provided, and in the meantime such unsafe or dangerous machinery shall not be used. When in the opinion of the commissioner of labor it is necessary, the workrooms, halls and stairs leading to the workrooms shall be properly lighted, and in cities of the first class, if deemed necessary by the commissioner of labor, a proper light shall be kept burning by the owner or lessee in the public hallways near the stairs upon the entrance floor and upon the other floors on every workday in the year, from the time when the building is opened for use in the morning until the time it is closed in the evening, except at times when the influx of natural light shall make artificial light unnecessary. Such lights to be independent of the motive power of such factory. No male person under eighteen years or woman under twenty-one years of age shall be permitted or directed to clean machinery while in motion. Children under sixteen years of age shall not be permitted to operate or assist in operating dangerous machines of any kind.

The absence of guards imposes no liability on the owner where an employee, knowing their absence, is injured while outside the line of his duty. 131 N. Y. 631.

The proprietor is not hereby made an insurer. His duty is performed when he furnishes a guard sufficient to protect employees from such accidents as may reasonably be apprehended as likely to occur. 75 Hun 283.

Providing guards for dangerous machinery is mandatory. Failure to do so, resulting in injury, is evidence of neglect. 75 Hun 323.

The employee does not waive the provisions of the statute, nor does he assume the risks incident to the use of machinery for which the required safeguards have not been provided by continuing to work, knowing that the machinery is not guarded. 80 Hun 415. (See also notes to section 79, above.)

An employee can waive the provision requiring guards and does so by accepting employment at an unguarded machine. 79 Fed. Rep. 900.

It is error to admit proof of noncompliance with the statute requiring shafts to be inclosed when the failure to comply was not pleaded. 45 N. Y. St. 285.

SEC. 82. Such fire escapes as may be deemed necessary by the factory inspector shall be provided on the outside of every factory in this State consisting of three or more stories in height. Each escape shall connect with each floor above the first, and shall be of sufficient strength, well fastened and secured, and shall have landings or balconies not less than six feet in length and three feet in width, guarded by iron railings not less than three feet in height, embracing at least two windows at each story and connected with the interior by easily accessible and unobstructed openings. The balconies or landings shall be connected by iron stairs, not less than eighteen inches wide, with steps of not less than six inches tread, placed at a proper slant and protected by a well secured hand rail on both sides, and shall have a drop ladder not less than twelve inches wide reaching from the lower platform to the ground.

The windows or doors to the landing or balcony of each fire escape shall be of sufficient size and located as far as possible, consistent with accessibility from the stairways and elevator hatchways or openings, and a ladder from such fire escape shall extend to the roof. Stationary stairs or ladders shall be provided on the inside of every factory from the upper story to the roof, as a means of escape in case of fire.

A safe landing place is an essential part of a fire escape. 72 Hun 535. Keeping windows screwed down is not a violation of the provision requiring openIngs to be easily accessible and unobstructed" if the frames are so light as to be easily broken and the processes of manufacture require the windows to remain closed. 48 N. E. Rep. 897.

SEC. 83. Any other plan or style of fire escape shall be sufficient Power of inif approved in writing by the factory inspector. If there is no fire spector. escape, or the fire escape in use is not approved by the factory inspector, he may, by a written order served upon the owner, proprietor or lessee of any factory, or the agent or superintendent thereof, or either of them, require one or more fire escapes to be provided therefor, at such locations and of such plan and style as shall be specified in such order.

Within twenty days after the service of such order, the number of fire escapes required therein shall be provided, each of which shall be of the plan and style specified in the order, or of the plan and style described in the preceding section.

Where the statutory fire escape has not been provided, if the jury finds that an escape equally safe and convenient has been provided, the employer has performed his duty under the statute. 51 N. Y. St. 248.

SEC. 84. The walls and ceilings of each workroom in a factory shall be limewashed or painted, when in the opinion of the factory inspector, it will be conducive to the health or cleanliness of the persons working therein.

SEC. 85. No more employees shall be required or permitted to work in a room in a factory between the hours of six o'clock in the morning and six o'clock in the evening than will allow to each of such employees, not less than two hundred and fifty cubic feet of air space; and, unless by a written permit of the factory inspector not less than four hundred cubic feet for each employee, so employed between the hours of six o'clock in the evening and six o'clock in the morning, provided such room is lighted by electricity at all times during such hours, while persons are employed therein.

SEC. 86 (as amended by chapter 490, Acts of 1907). The owner, agent or lessee of a factory shall provide, in each workroom thereof, proper and sufficient means of ventilation, and shall maintain proper and sufficient ventilation; if excessive heat be created or if steam, gases, vapors, dust or other impurities that may be injurious to health be generated in the course of the manufacturing process carried on therein the room must be ventilated in such a manner as to render them harmless, so far as is practicable; in case of failure the commissioner of labor shall order such ventilation to be provided. Such owner, agent or lessee shall provide such ventilation within twenty days after the service upon him of such order, and in case of failure, shall forfeit to the people of the State, ten dollars for each day after the expiration of such twenty days, to be recovered by the commissioner of labor.

SEC. 87 (as amended by chapter 216, Acts of 1906). The person in charge of any factory shall report in writing to the commissioner of labor all deaths, accidents, or injuries sustained by any person therein or on the premises, within forty-eight hours after the time of the accident, death or injury, stating as fully as possible the cause of the death or the extent and cause of the injury, and the place where the injured person has been sent, with such other or further information relative thereto as may be required by the said commissioner, who may investigate the causes thereof and require such precautions to be taken as will prevent the recurrence of similar happenings. No statement contained in any such report shall be admissible in evidence in any action arising out of the death or accident therein reported.

Walls, etc.

Air space.

Ventilation.

Accidents.

SEC. 88 (as amended by chapter 485, Acts of 1907). Every factory Water closets, shall contain a suitable, convenient and separate water-closet or water- wash rooms, etc.