Factory inspectors

Mr. Randall (factory inspector) said he was surprised at the system of work, as he knew the company s safety documents were very impressive. Unfortunately they were not acted upon. 

If the incident constitutes a reportable accident as defined in legislation the plant engineer will also ensure that the incident is immediately reported to the Factory Inspectorate. The Inspectorate will decide whether they wish to carry out an enquiry and, particularly if there has been loss of life, the accident site may be compulsorily isolated. Unless this is so, investigation by the insurer or a loss adjuster acting on his behalf may proceed. 

HM Factory Inspectorate Manufacturing and heavy industrial premises and processes, as well as construction activities, local authority undertakings, hospitals, schools, universities and fairgrounds ... 

The big boost for reform came, in fact, with the Factory Acts in England. Three such acts were passed between 1833 and 1867, and they did much to improve working conditions and, in particular, initiated the training and use of Factory Inspectors to ensure that the provisions of the acts were implemented. These factory inspectors grew into the labor inspectors, safety officers, and occupational hygienists of today. 

HM Factory Inspectorate, "The Fire and Explosions at Broehead Container Depot, Renfrew, 4 January 197T, HSE (1977)... 

We mentioned in Chap. 4 that Ruth Drummond, a Demonstrator at Bedford, became a Factory Inspector. Becoming a Lady Factory Inspector was one path of employment for women graduates — particularly those with a scientific background. 

The first Lady Factory Inspectors had been appointed by the Home Secretary in 1893.88 It was a tough task for a middle-class woman, requiring her to venture alone into unsavoury neighbourhoods, cope with aggressive plant managers, and attempt to offer some specific recommendations to alleviate the plight of the working poor. As Adelaide Anderson,89 Head of the Lady Inspectors, wrote in 1905 to the Chief Inspector ... 

A woman, as a Factory Inspector, in an Industrial district away from her own family and social surroundings, as well as her women colleagues, can find no normal associates in, or through, her work. Her work compels her to lead a life that is quite different from that of other women, and the slightest deviation from extreme caution and prudence may subject her to injurious criticism.90... 

Fox returned to Bedford, where she undertook research with Eustace Turner, completing a Ph.D. in 1930 on diaryl ethers. Having heard from her father about Lady Factory Inspectors, she obtained a position as Factory Inspector in Reading. She continued as a Factory Inspector until 1939, being the first woman to inspect large chemical works such as the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). 

H. M. Factory Inspectorate, Ministry of Labour, Methods for the Detection of Toxic Substances in Air, No. 9, Arsine, 2nd ed., H. M. Stationery Office, London. 

UK/DOE. 1974. Carbon disulfide vapor. Methods for the detection of toxic substances in air. London, England United Kingdom, Department of Employment, Her Majesty s Factory Inspectorate. Booklet No. 6. 

It is The Watt Committee on Energy s understanding that the powers of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate under the Nuclear Installations Act, are very similar to those of the Factory Inspectorate under the Factories Act/Health and Safety at Work Act. 

In 1833 the Factory Act was introduced in Britain. It empowered the government to appoint paid factory inspectors and the four divisions into which Britain was divided each had its own inspector. This act only applied to textile mUls, and some 12 inspectors had to inspect in excess of 3000 mills. 

This act also dealt with hours of work and environmental conditions. Little reference was made to safety, but it did make provision for factory children to receive 12 hours of schooling per week. The first factory inspectors under this act also became the first school inspectors, and their task was soon made clear to than as a result of the severe injuries that led to suffering among the working people. 

Pressure from one of the first national labor unions in the United States, the Knights of St. Crispin, forced the United States to join the movement of reform. Massachusetts was the first American state to establish a State Bureau of Labor. It was the first state to pass a law requiring the appointment of factory inspectors, and it also enforced the 10-hour day for women and the guarding of dangerous moving equipment. 

Pressure vessels, boilers and steam lines, fuel and gas lines, electrical equipments, and plant layout are inspected by Factory Inspectors from safety point of view. 

Modify/change wherever necessary and implemented after approval by factory inspectors, electrical inspectors, etc. 

Implement instmctions from factory inspectorate always. 

All such inspections shall be regularly done in-house or by appointing licensed engineers and offered for inspection by statutory authorities (factory inspector, electrical inspectors, boiler inspector, etc.) on the scheduled dates. 

After discussions and two night time visits from the factory inspector, the improvement notice was lifted when the port operator agreed to invest in high luminosity paint which does provide a benefit for the untrained eye, but as only appropriately trained people are allowed onto the dolphins it is of limited use. The port operator also undertook a trial using photoluminescent strips but this was ineffective, as there was so much background light in blackout conditions that it was impossible to see the strips glowing. 

The paradox here is that Factory Inspectors were pressing for the removal of formal mens rea requirements at the same time as they were instituting informal ones via their enforcement practices prosecution under the strict liability offences occurred only where there was felt to be a significant level of moral wrongdoing that might suggest mens rea, such as where employers deliberately flouted the law in such a way as... 

S. Field (1990) Without the Law Professor Arthurs and the Early Factory Inspectorate, Journal of Law and Society, 17/4 445-468. 

S. Lloyd-Bostock (1992) The Psychology of Routine Discretion Accident Screening by British Factory Inspectors, Law and Policy, 14/1 45-60. 

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