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FACTORIES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1965 - SECT 48

Safety provisions in case of fire.

48.(1) While any person is within a factory for the purpose of employment or
meals, the doors of the factory, and of any room therein in which he is, and
any doors which afford a means of exit for persons employed in the factory
from any building or from any enclosure in which the factory is situated,
shall not be locked or fastened in such manner that they cannot be easily and
immediately opened from the inside.

(2) Any doors opening on to any staircase or corridor from any room in which
more than ten persons are employed, and in the case of any factory constructed
or converted for use as a factory after the 30th June 1939, all other doors
affording a means of exit from the factory for persons employed therein,
shall, except in the case of sliding doors, be constructed to open outwards.

(3) In any factory constructed or converted for use as a factory before the
1st July 1939, in which more than ten persons are employed in the same
building above the ground floor, any door which is not kept continuously open,
at the foot of a staircase affording a means of exit from the building, shall,
except in the case of sliding doors, be constructed to open outwards.

(4) Every hoistway or liftway inside a building constructed after the 30th
June 1939, shall be completely enclosed with fire-resisting materials, and all
means of access to the hoist or lift shall be fitted with doors of
fire-resisting materials; except that any such hoistway or liftway which is
not provided with a vent at the top shall at the top be enclosed only by some
material easily broken by fire.

(5) The chief inspector may, after consultation with the fire authority, by
certificate grant, subject to any conditions specified in the certificate,
exemption from compliance with any of the requirements of subsections (2) to
(4) in any case where he is satisfied that compliance with those requirements
is inappropriate or undesirable.

(6) Every window, door or other exit affording means of escape in case of fire
or giving access thereto, other than the means of exit in ordinary use, shall
be distinctively and conspicuously marked by a notice printed in letters of
adequate size.

(7) In every building which is, forms part of or comprises a factory to which
section 41 applies, effective means, capable of being operated without
exposing any person to undue risk, shall be provided and maintained for giving
warning in case of fire, which shall be clearly audible throughout the
building or, where the factory is part only of the building, in every part of
the building which is used for the purposes of the factory.

(8) The Ministry may by regulations apply the provisions of subsection (7) to
any class or description of factory.

(9) The Ministry may by order grant exemption from or modify the requirements
of subsection (7) in any case where it appears to the Ministry that those
requirements are unnecessary or, as the case may be, would, unless modified,
be unreasonable.

(10) The contents of any room in which persons are employed shall be so
arranged or disposed that there is a free passage-way for all persons employed
in the room to a means of escape in case of fire.

© 1965 Crown Copyright

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