Page images
PDF
EPUB

(6.) Certificates of Fitness for Employment.

XXVII. In a factory (x) a child or a young person Sect. 27. under the age of sixteen years shall not be em- Certificate ployed for more than seven, or if the certifying of fitness for employsurgeon for the district resides more than three miles ment of from the factory thirteen, work days, unless the occupier of the factory has obtained a certificate, in the prescribed (y) form, of the fitness of such child or young person for employment in that factory.

A certificate of fitness for employment for the purposes of this Act shall be granted by the certifying surgeon for the district, and shall be to the effect that he is satisfied, by the production of a certificate of birth or other sufficient evidence, that the person named in the certificate of fitness is of the age therein specified, and has been personally examined by him, and is not incapacitated by disease or bodily infirmity for working daily for the time allowed by law in the factory named in the certificate (z).

children and young

persons under 16 in factories.

XXVIII. In order to enable occupiers of work- Sect. 28.

(x) Section 27 applies to factories only, but a Secretary of State is empowered to extend it to any class of workshops he may think expedient. S. 41. By s. 61, the provisions as to certificates of fitness for employment are to apply to "domestic " factories as if the same were workshops and not factories, p. 58.

(y) See n. (u), supra.

(2) The certificate must not be granted except upon personal examination and (as the general rule) at the place where the person is to be employed. S. 73. As to the appointment, remuneration and duties of certifying surgeons, see ss. 71-74. As to the power of an inspector to annul their certificates, s. 30.

A written declaration of the certifying surgeon that he has personally examined a person employed, and believes him to be under the age set forth, is admissible evidence of the age in summary proceedings. S. 92.

Certificate

of fitness

for employ

ment of children

and young

persons

Sect. 28. shops (a) to better secure the observance of this Act, and prevent the employment in their workshops of children and young persons under the age of sixteen years who are unfitted for that employment, an occupier of a workshop is hereby authorised to obtain, if he thinks fit, from the certifying surgeon for the district, certificates of the fitness of children and of young persons under the age of sixteen years for employment in his workshop, in like manner as if that workshop were a factory, and the certifying surgeon shall examine the children and young persons, and grant certificates accordingly.

under 16 in workshops.

Sect. 29.
Power of

inspector to

cate of

child or

young person under 16 for work.

XXIX. Where an inspector is of opinion that a child or a young person under the age of sixteen require sur years is by disease or bodily infirmity incapacitated gical certifi- for working daily for the time allowed by law in the capacity of factory or workshop in which he is employed, he may serve written notice thereof on the occupier of the factory or workshop, requiring that the employment of such child or young person be discontinued from the period named therein, not being less than one nor more than seven days after the service of such notice, and the occupier shall not continue after the period named in such notice to employ such child or young person (notwithstanding a certificate of fitness has been previously obtained for such child or young person), unless the certifying surgeon for the district has, after the service of the notice, personally examined such child or young person, and has certified that such child or young person is not so incapacitated as aforesaid.

Sect. 30.

XXX. All factories and workshops in the occu pation of the same occupier, and in the district of mental pro- the same certifying surgeon, or any of them, may

Supple

visions as

(a) The occupier of a workshop is not obliged to obtain the certificate except in the cases of workshops to which the requirements of s. 27 has been extended by order of a Secretary of State. See n. (x), supra.

be named in the certificate of fitness for employ- Sect. 30. ment, if the surgeon is of opinion that he can truly give the certificate for employment therein.

to certificate of fitness for

ment.

The certificate of birth (which may be produced employto a certifying surgeon) shall either be a certified copy of the entry in the register of births, kept in pursuance of the Acts relating to the registration of births (b), of the birth of the child or young person (whether such copy be obtained in pursuance of the Elementary Education Act, 1876, or 39 & 40 Vict. otherwise), or be a certificate from a local authority within the meaning of the Elementary Education Act, 1876 (c), to the effect that it appears from the returns transmitted to such authority in pursuance of the said Act by the registrar of births and deaths that the child was born at the date named in the certificate.

Where a certificate of fitness for employment is to the effect that the certifying surgeon has been satisfied of the age of a child or young person by evidence other than the production of a certificate of birth, an inspector may, by notice in writing, annul the surgeon's certificate, if he has reasonable cause to believe that the real age of the child or young person named in it is less than that mentioned in the certificate, and thereupon that certificate shall be of no avail for the purposes of this Act. When a child becomes a young person a fresh certificate of fitness must be obtained.

The occupier shall, when required, produce to an inspector at the factory or workshop in which a child or young person is employed, the certificate of fitness of such child or young person for employment, which he is required to obtain under this Act.

c. 79.

(b) See the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. c. 88).

(c) 39 & 40 Vict. c. 79, ss. 7, 25. See s. 104 as to the modes of proving ages in Scotland and Ireland respectively.

Sect. 31.

Notice of accidents causing death or

bodily injury.

(7.) Accidents.

XXXI. Where there occurs in a factory or a workshop any accident (d) which either

(a.) causes loss of life to a person employed in
the factory or in the workshop, or
(b.) causes bodily injury to a person employed in
the factory or in the workshop, and is
produced either by machinery moved by
steam, water, or other mechanical power,
or through a vat, pan, or other structure
filled with hot liquid or molten metal or
other substance, or by explosion, or by
escape of gas, steam, or metal, and is of
such a nature as to prevent (e) the
injured by it from returning to his work
in the factory or workshop within forty-
eight hours after the occurrence of the
accident,

person

written notice of the accident shall forthwith be sent to the inspector and to the certifying surgeon for the district, stating the residence of the person killed or injured, or the place to which he may have been removed, and if any such notice is not sent the occupier of the factory or workshop shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

(d) As to the duties of the occupier in respect of protecting persons employed from dangerous machinery, &c., see pp. 5, ante, et seq.; ss. 6, et seq.

The requirements of this section do not apply to domestic factories and workshops, nor to workshops where children and young persons are not employed. S. 61; p. 58, post.

(e) An injured person will be held to have been "prevented from "returning to his work" if he returns within the limited time with the intention of working, but without the ability to continue at his ordinary work; for his return with the intention of resuming work but without being in a state to fulfil it, is not sufficient. Lakeman V. Stephenson, L. R. 3 Q. B. 92; 37 L. J. M. C. 57; 9 B. & S. 54; 16 W. R. 509; 17 L. T. N. S. 539.

If any such accident as aforesaid occurs to a Sect. 31. person employed in an iron mill or blast furnace, or other factory or workshop where the occupier is not the actual employer of the person killed or injured, the actual employer shall immediately report the same to the occupier, and in default shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds.

A notice of an accident, of which notice is required by section sixty-three of the Explosives Act, 38 & 39 Vict 1875 (ƒ), to be sent to a government inspector, need c. 17. not be sent to the certifying surgeon in pursuance of this section.

tion of and

XXXII. Where a certifying surgeon receives in Sect. 32. pursuance of this Act notice of an accident in a Investigafactory or a workshop, he shall with the least report on possible delay proceed to the factory or workshop, accidents by and make a full investigation as to the nature and cause of the death or injury caused by that accident, and within the next twenty-four hours send to the inspector a report thereof.

The certifying surgeon, for the purpose only of an investigation under this section, shall have the same powers as an inspector (g), and shall also have power to enter any room in a building to which the person killed or injured has been removed.

There shall be paid to the said surgeon for the investigation such fee, not exceeding ten nor less than three shillings, as a Secretary of State considers reasonable, which fee shall be paid as expenses incurred by a Secretary of State in the execution of this Act.

(f) 38 & 39 Vict. c. 17, s. 63.
(g) S. 68 (power of inspector).

certifying

surgeon.

« EelmineJätka »