The Offices, shops and railway premises Act, 1963 / With introduction and annotations by Ian Fife and E. Anthony Machin. Being a reprint of Butterworths Annotated Legislative Service, Statutes Supplement no. 138.

  • United Kingdom
Date:
1963
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Offices, shops and railway premises Act, 1963 / With introduction and annotations by Ian Fife and E. Anthony Machin. Being a reprint of Butterworths Annotated Legislative Service, Statutes Supplement no. 138. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/132 (page 12)
    No. 138.—OFFICES, SHOPS AND RAILWAY PREMISES ACT 1963 (a) as regards a week in which one person only is employed to work in the premises, the period of time worked by him there; (b) as regards a week in which two persons or more are so employed, the sum of the periods of time for which respectively those persons work there. (3) The Minister may by regulations direct that, in relation to premises generally, or any class of premises, subsection (1) of this section shall have effect with the substitution, for the reference to twenty-one hours, of a reference to such lesser number of hours as may be specified in the regulations. NOTES General effect of section. This section excepts from the operation of the Act premises in which only 21 man-hours weekly are normally worked. By sub-s. (3) the Minister has power by making regulations to substitute a lesser number of hours than Sr Definitions. For ‘“‘employed’’, see s. go (1), (4), post; for ‘‘the Minister’? and “‘week’’, see s. 90 (1), post. See also as to “‘. . . work in the premises’’, s. 90 (3), post. Regulations under this section. No regulations had been made under this section up to 14th October 1963. For provisions as to regulations, see s. 80, post; and see also s. 90 (5), post. Health, Safety and Welfare of Employees (General Provisions) 4. Cleanliness.—(1) All premises to which this Act applies, and all furniture, furnishings and fittings in such premises shall be kept in a clean state. (2) No dirt or refuse shall be allowed to accumulate in any part of premises to which this Act applies in which work, or through which pass, any of the persons employed to work in the premises; and the floors of, and any steps comprised in, any such part as aforesaid shall be cleaned not less than once a week by washing or, if it is effective and suitable, by sweeping or other method. (3) The Minister may by regulations made as respects premises to which this Act applies, or any class of such premises, require that, in addition to the taking of the steps whose taking is requisite to secure compliance with the last foregoing subsection, there shall be taken, for the purpose of securing the cleanliness of premises to which the regulations apply and of the furniture, furnishings and fittings therein, such steps as may be prescribed by the regulations. (4) Neither subsection (2) of this section nor anything in regulations under the last foregoing subsection shall be construed as being in derogation of the general obligation imposed by subsection (1) of this section. (5) Nothing in this section or in regulations thereunder shall apply to fuel storage premises which are wholly in the open, and, in the case of such premises which are partly in the open, so much of them as is in the open shall, for the purposes of this section and of such regulations, be treated as not forming part of the premises. NOTES General effect of section. Sub-s. (1) imposes a general duty to keep in a clean state premises within the Act, and their furniture, furnishings and fittings. Sub-s. (2) prohibits the accumulation of dirt and refuse and requires the regular cleaning of floors and steps. By sub-s, (3) the Minister has power to make regulations which pres~ cribe the taking of additional steps to secure the cleanliness of premises; and sub-s. (5) excepts open fuel storage premises from the section and regulations made thereunder. This section may be compared with the provisions as to cleanliness in factories contained in s. 1 of the Factories Act 1961 (41 Halsbury’s Statutes (2nd Edn.) 239 and Redgrave’s Factories Acts (zoth Edn.) at pp. 10 et seq.). Although the matter is not settled beyond doubt, the preponderance of authority is strongly in favour of allowing a civil right of action for breach of a health provision of the Factories Act 1961 and hence, by parity of reasoning, for breach of a cognate provision of the present Act (see McCarthy v. Daily Mirror Newspapers, Lid., [1949] 1 All E.R. 801, C.A.; Nicholson v. Atlas Steel Foundry and Engineering Co., dj [1957] 1 ALE. R. 776, HLL.: Clarkson v. Modern Foundries, Lid., [1958] 1 All ahs xk