HEALTH AND SAFETY THE FACTORIES ACT 1934

THE FACTORIES ACT, 1934.

act No. XXV of 1934

20th August, 1934

An Act to consolidate and amend the law regulating labour in factories.
whereas it is expedient to consolidate and amend the law regulating labour in factories; it is hereby enacted as follows:-

1. Short title, extent and commencement. — (1) This Act may be called the Factories Act, 1934.
(2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan.
(3) It shall come into force on the 1st day of January, 1935.

2. Definitions. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, —
(a) “adolescent” means a person who has completed his fifteenth but has not completed his seventeenth year ;
(b) “adult” means a person who has completed his seven*teenth year ;
(c) “child” means a person who has not completed his fifteenth year ;
(d) “day” means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight ;
(e) “week” means a period of seven days beginning at midnight on Saturday night;
(f) “power” means electrical energy, and any other form of energy which is mechanically transmitted and is not generated by human or animal agency ;
(g) “manufacturing process” means any process —
(i) for making, altering, repairing, ornamenting, finishing or packing, or otherwise treating any article or substance with a view to its use, sale, transport, delivery or disposal, or
(ii) for pumping oil, water or sewage, or
(iii) for generating, transforming or transmitting power ;
(h) “worker” means a person employed, whether for wages or not, in any manufacturing process, or in cleaning any part of the machinery or premises used for a manufacturing process, or in any other kind of work whatsoever incidental to or connected with the manufacturing process or connected with the subject of the manufacturing process, but does not include any person solely employed in a clerical capacity in any room or place where no manufacturing process is being carried on ;
(j) “factory” means any premises including the precincts thereof whereon twenty or more workers are working, or were working on any day of the preceding twelve months, and in any part of which a manufacturing process is being carried on with the aid of power,or is ordinarily so carried on, but does not include a mine subject to the operation of the Mines Act, 1923 ;
(k) “machinery” includes all plant whereby power is generated, transformed, transmitted or applied ;
(1) “occupier” of a factory means the person who has ultimate control over the affairs of the factory :
Provided that where the affairs of a factory are entrusted to a managing agent, such agent shall be deemed to be the occupier of the factory ;
(m) where work of the same kind is carried out by two or more sets of workers working during different periods of the day, each of such sets is called a “relay”, and the period or periods for which it works is called a “shift” ; and
(n) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made by the Provincial Government under this Act.

3. References to time of day. References to time of day in this Act are references — to Indian Standard Time, which is five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
Provided that for any area in which Indian Standard Time is not ordinarily observed the Provincial Government may make rules —
(i) specifying the area,
(ii) defining the local mean time ordinarily observed therein, and
(iii) permitting such time to be observed in all or any of the factories situated in the area.

4. Seasonal factories. — (1) For the purposes of this Act, a factory which is exclusively engaged in one or more of the following manufactur*ing processes, namely, cotton ginning, cotton or jute pressing, the decortication of groundnuts, the manufacture of coffee, indigo, lac, rubber, sugar (including gur) or tea, or any manufacturing process which is incidental to or connected with any of the aforesaid processes, is a seasonal factory :
Provided that the Provincial Government may, by noti*fication in the official Gazette, declare any such factory in which manufacturing processes are ordinarily carried on for more than one hundred and eighty working days in the year, not to be a seasonal factory for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The Provincial Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare any specified factory in which manufacturing processes are ordinarily carried on for not more than one hundred and eighty working days in the year and cannot be carried on except during particular seasons or at times de*pendent on the irregular action of natural forces, to be a seasonal factory for the purposes of this Act.

5. Power to apply provisions applicable to factories to certain other places. — (1) The Provincial Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare that all or any of the provisions of this Act applicable to factories shall apply to any place wherein a manufacturing process is being carried on or is ordinarily carried on whether with or without the use of power whenever ten or more workers are working therein or have worked therein on any one day of the twelve months immediately preceding.
(2) A notification under sub-section (1) may be made in respect of any one such place or in respect of any class of such places or generally in respect of all such places.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (j) of section 2, a place, to which all or any of the provisions of this Act applicable to factories are for the time being applicable in pursuance of a declaration under sub-section (1), shall, to the extent to which such provisions are so made applicable but not otherwise, be deemed to be a factory.

6. Power to declare departments to be separate factories. The Provincial Government may, by order in writing, direct that the different departments or branches of a specified factory shall be treated as separate factories for all or any of the purposes of this Act.

7. Power to exempt on a change in the factory. Where the Provincial Government is satisfied that, : following upon a change of occupier of a factory or in the manufacturing processes carried on therein, the number of workers for the time being working in the factory is less than twenty and is not likely to be twenty or more on any day during the ensuing twelve months, it may, by order in writing, exempt such factory from the operation of this Act :
Provided that any exemption so granted shall cease to have effect on and after any day on which twenty or more workers work in the factory.

8. Power to exempt during public emergency. In any case of public emergency the Provincial Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, ; exempt any factory from any or all of the provisions of this Act for such period as it may think fit.

9. Notice to inspector before commencement of work. — (1) Before work is begun in any factory after the commencement of this Act, or before work is begun in any seasonal b factory each season, the occupier shall send to the Inspector a written notice containing —
(a) the name of the factory and its situation,
(b) the address to which communications relating to the factory should be sent,
(c) the nature of the manufacturing processes to be carried on in the factory,
(d) the nature and amount of the power to be used,
(e) the name of the person who shall be the manager of the factory for the purposes of this Act, End
(f) such other particulars as may be prescribed for the purposes of this Act.
(2) Whenever another person is appointed as manager, the occupier shall send to the Inspector a written notice of the change, within seven days from the date in which the new manager assumes charge.
(3) During any period for which no person has been designated as manager of a factory under this section, or during which the person designated does not manage the factory, any person found acting as manager, or, if no such person is found, the occupier himself, shall be deemed to be the manager of the factory for the purposes of this Act.

HEALTH AND SAFETY.

Act has general provisions on health and safety at the workplace. Provincial governments are allowed to make rules under this Act and inspectors under this Act also have discretion in defining the rules. Chapter 3 talks about various safety arrangements. This list is being provided just to show how meticulously labor law covers these issues.

• Cleanliness
• Disposal of wastes and effluents
• Ventilation and temperature
• Dust and fume
• Artificial humidification.
• Overcrowding
• Lighting
• Drinking water
• Latrines and urinals
• Spittoons
• Precautions against contagious or infectious disease
• Compulsory vaccination and inoculation
• Power to make rules for the provision of canteens
• Welfare officer
• Precautions in case of fire
• Fencing of machinery
• Work on or near machinery in motion
• Employment of young persons on dangerous machines
• Striking gear and devices for cutting off power
• Self-acting machines
• Casing of new machinery
• Prohibition of employment of women and children near cotton openers
• Cranes and other lifting machinery
• Hoists and lifts
• Revolving machinery
• Pressure plant
• Floors, stairs and means of access
• Pits, sumps, opening in floors, etc.
• Excessive weights
• Protection of eyes
• Power to require specifications of defective parts or tests of stability
• Safety of building, machinery and manufacturing process
• Precautions against dangerous fumes
• Explosive or inflammable dust, gas, etc.
• Notice of certain accidents

Various government agencies like National Institute of Labor Administration and Training, Directorate of Workers Education provide training to workers on these issues. Directorate of Dock Workers Safety (DDWS) and Central Inspectorate of Mines provide training to dock workers and mine workers respectively. The Centre for Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment (CIWCE) is a pioneering institution in Pakistan (working under the Directorate of Labor Welfare, Punjab) which provides training, information and research facilities for promotion of safety, health and better work environment in the industries and businesses. You can also find training materials, safety posters and different safety signs from this CentrPakistan has ratified the following two ILO conventions relating to the special treatment for women and adolescents in the occupational safety and health context.

• C45 Underground Work (Women) Convention, 1935
• C89 Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948
• C90 Night Work of Young Persons (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1948

Article 2 of the C45 requires that no women should be employed in on underground work in any mine. In accordance with the provision of this convention, article 23-C (1) of Mines Act prohibits the employment of women in any underground mine.

As for young persons, who are not seventeen years of age yet, they can’t also be employed in any part of a mine unless they present a certificate of fitness on a prescribed form by a qualified medical practitioner (sSimilarly, section 33-M authorizes the provincial government to make rules prohibiting the employment of children (above the age of fourteen) to any specified class of factories or to any specified parts thereof. It also allows a factories inspector, if it appears to him that children can’t be legally employed in a part of the factory or in a factory, he may serve on the factory manager an order to prevent such admission.

Section 28 of the Factories Act also requires that no young person (child or adolescent) shall operate a machine until he has received sufficient training for operating it and is under adequate supervision by some other person with thorough knowledge and experience of machine. Moreover, these requirements should also be met before employing young persons on machines that are notified as dangerous by Provincial governments.

Note: the term young person has been used collectively for children and adolescents. The Employment of Children Act 1991 defines a child as the one who has not completed fourteen years of age while an adolescent is defined as the one whose age is greater than 14 years but less than 18 years.

(Section 26-A of Mines Act).

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