asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that there are many factories and laundries where steam boilers are installed; that persons having no experience of the operation or application of steam are employed and given charge of boilers and whether having regard to the dangers involved it is his intention to amend the regulations of the Factory Act to provide that only competent persons are engaged at such skilled employment.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Factory Act Regulations.
I am aware that steam boilers are used in many factories for the purpose of generating steam. The existing Factory and Workshops Acts oblige the "occupiers" of such factories to comply with certain safety requirements. Such boilers must be examined thoroughly by a competent person at least once in every fourteen months and must be provided with proper safety valves and steam and water gauges.
In the forthcoming Factories Bill it is proposed to include more detailed safety provisions and consideration will be given to the Deputy's suggestion in the drafting of these provisions.
Might I also draw the Minister's attention to the fact, as giving an idea of the position with regard to the people who are so employed, that a few weeks ago a boy of 16½ years applied for employment to a Dublin firm and was asked if he knew anything about boilers, and the fact that there are many instances of women being employed to attend boilers?
Under the existing law there is no requirement that a person in charge of a boiler should have any particular competence for that class of work. Consideration of the embodying of a provision in the new Factories Bill requiring that only competent persons shall be employed in that capacity is being undertaken at the moment.
Does the Minister propose in the forthcoming factory legislation to insist on more rigid inspection of factories, and is he aware that the inspection of factories in Cork City is almost a dead letter?
That is quite a separate question.
Wait and see.