QUESTION 1

State some laws and regulations known to you for factories that produce goods under
the following aspects:

 Non-discriminatory practices
 Labour coercion
 Under-age labour
 Wages and hours
 Freedom of association

LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF NON-DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES

 All factories shall issue employment exercises without regard to race, colour,
gender, nationality, religion, age, maternity or mental status.
 All factories shall structure wages, remunerations and decisions on benefits
without regard to race, colour, gender, nationality, religion, age, maternity or
marital status.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF LABOUR COERCION

 Factories shall not make use of involuntary labour of any kind including prison
labour, debt bondage or forced labour.
 Factories must recognize the right of workers to terminate their employment at
will and pay the required agency recruitment commission in an event of
recruiting foreign workers on contract.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF UNDER-AGE LABOUR

1. NO CHILD SHALL
 Be employed or work in any capacity except where he is employed by a
member of his faintly on light work of an agricultural, horticultural or
domestic character approved by the Minister; or,
 Be required in any case to lift, carry or move anything so heavy as to be
likely to injure his physical development.

2. A YOUNG PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF FOURTEEN YEARS MAY BE

EMPLOYED ONLY
 on a daily wage;
 on a day-to-day basis; and
 so long as he returns each night to the place of residence of his parents or
 guardian or a person approved by his parents or guardian
LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF WAGES AND HOURS

1. MANNER OF PAYMENT
 The wages of a worker shall in all contracts be made payable in legal
tender and not otherwise; and
 If in any contract the whole or any part of the wages of a worker is made
payable in any other manner the contract shall be illegal, null and void.

2. AGREEMENT AS TO MANNER OF SPENDING WAGES ILLEGALLY

No employer shall impose in any contract for the employment of any worker any
terms as to the place at which, or the manner in which, or the person with whom any
wages paid to the worker are to be expended; and every contract between an
employer and a worker containing any such terms shall be illegal, null and void.

LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

 Factory workers must be given the liberty to make decisions as regards joining
lawful organization and associations in workplaces.
 There shall be no threats, penalties, restrictions, or interference with workers
wishing to join useful organizations or associations of their choice.

QUESTION 2
Define the word “Factory” and state five factory laws under each of the following
sections:

 Health (General provisions)

 Safety (General provisions)
 Welfare (General and special provisions)
DEFINITION OF FACTORY
A factory can be defined as an industrial site, often a complex consisting of several
buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines
which process each item into another.

It also refers to any building or group of buildings or premises in which an individual or

persons are employed for specific purposes, reasons or objects (in accordance with
Factory Acts of 1990).

FACTORY LAWS FOR HEALTH (GENERAL PROVISIONS)

An employer is required to protect the health and safety of workers at the workplace in
accordance with the provisions of Factories Act and Labour Law.
1. CLEANLINESS
a. accumulations of dirt and refuse shall be removed daily by a suitable
method from the floors and benches of workrooms, and from the
staircases and passages;
b. The floor of every workroom shall be cleaned at least once in every week
by washing or, if it is effective and suitable, by sweeping or other method;
c. All inside walls and partitions, and all ceilings or tops of rooms; and all
walls, sides and tops of passages and staircases shall;
 where they have a smooth impervious surface, at least once in
every period of twelve months be washed with hot water and soap
or cleaned by other suitable method,
 where they are kept painted with oil paint or varnished, be
repainted or re-varnished at least once in every period of five years,
and at least once in every period of twelve months be washed with
hot water and soap or cleaned by other suitable method,
 in the other cases, be kept whitewashed or colour washed, and the
whitewashing or colour washing shall be repeated at least once in
every period of twelve months

2. OVERCROWDING
a. A factory shall not, while work is carried on therein, be so overcrowded as
to cause risk or injury to the health of the persons employed therein.
b. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, a factory
shall be deemed to be so overcrowded as aforesaid if the number of
persons employed at a time in any workroom is such that the amount of
cubic space allowed for every person employed is less than four hundred
cubic feet.
c. Every workroom shall not be less than nine feet in height, measured from
the floor to the lowest point of the ceiling or, where there is no ceiling, to
the lowest point of the roofing material.

3. VENTILATION
a. Effective and suitable provision shall be made for securing and
maintaining by the circulation of fresh air in each workroom the adequate
ventilation of the room.
b. The Minister may make regulations specifying a standard of adequate
ventilation for factories or for any class or description of factory or parts
thereof.

4. DRAINAGE OF FLOORS
Where any process is carried on which renders the floor liable to be wet to such
an extent that the wet is capable of being removed by drainage, effective means
shall be provided and maintained for draining off the wet.

5. SANITARY CONVENIENCES
a. Sufficient and suitable sanitary conveniences for the persons employed in
the factory shall be provided, maintained and kept clean, and effective
 provision shall be made for lighting the conveniences and, where persons
of both sexes are or are intended to be employed (except in the case of
factories where the only persons employed are members of the same
family dwelling there), such conveniences shall afford proper separate
accommodation for persons of each sex.
b. The Minister may make regulations determining for factories or for any
class or description of factory what is sufficient and suitable provision for
the purposes of this section.

FACTORY LAWS FOR SAFETY (GENERAL PROVISIONS)

1. PRIME MOVERS
a. Every flywheel directly connected to any prime mover and every moving
part of any prime mover, except any prime mover mentioned in subsection
(3) of this section, shall be securely fenced, whether the flywheel or prime
mover is situated in an engine-house or not.
b. The head and tail race of every water wheel and of every water turbine
shall be securely fenced.
c. Every part of any electric generator, motor or rotary converter, and every
flywheel directly connected thereto, shall be securely fenced unless it is in
such a position or of such construction as to be as safe to every person
employed or working on the premises as it would be if securely fenced.

2. TRANSMISSION MACHINERY
a. Every part of any transmission machinery shall be securely fenced unless
it is in such position or of such construction as to be as safe to every
person employed or working on the premises as it would be if securely
fenced.
b. Efficient devices or appliances shall be provided and maintained in every
room or place where work is carried on by which the power can promptly
be cut off from the transmission machinery in that room or place.

3. POWERED MACHINERY
a. Every power-driven machine having its individual sources of power shall
be provided with an efficient starting and stopping appliance or control.
b. Every electrical equipment or appliance intended for use in a factory shall
be of such construction as to be safe for use by all persons required to
use same or who come into contact with same and shall be maintained at
all times in a safe condition.

4. OTHER MACHINERY
a. Every dangerous part of any machinery, other than prime movers and
transmission machinery, shall be securely fenced unless it is in such a
position or of such construction as to be as safe to every person employed
or working on the premises as it would be if securely fenced, provided
that, in so far as the safety of a dangerous part of any machinery cannot
by reason of the nature of the operation be secured by means of a fixed
 guard, the requirements of this subsection shall be deemed to have been
complied with if a device is provided which in the opinion of the Director of
Factories satisfactorily protects the operator or other persons from coming
into contact with that part.
b. Any part of a stock-bar which projects beyond the headstock of a lathe
shall be securely fenced unless it is in such a position as to be as safe to
every person employed or working on the premises as it would be if
securely fenced.

5. CONSTRUCTION OF MAINTENANCE OF FENCING

All fencing or other safeguards provided in pursuance of the foregoing provisions
of this Part of this Act shall be of substantial construction, and constantly
maintained and kept in position while the parts required to be fenced or
safeguarded are in motion or in use, except when any such parts are necessarily
exposed for examination and for any lubrication or adjustment shown by such
examination to be immediately necessary, and all the conditions specified in
section 18(2) of this Act are complied with.

FACTORY LAWS FOR WELFARE (GENERAL AND SPECIAL PROVISIONS)

1. SUPPLY OF DRINKING WATER

a. An adequate supply of drinking water shall be provided and maintained at
suitable points conveniently accessible to all persons employed.
b. A supply of drinking water which is not laid on shall be contained in
suitable vessels, and shall be renewed at least daily, and all practicable
steps shall be taken to preserve the water and vessels from
contamination; and a drinking water supply (whether laid on or not) shall,
in such cases as an inspector may direct, be clearly indicated by a notice
in English and in such Nigerian languages as the inspector may require.
c. The location of drinking water shall be set apart from the location of water
for washing up.

2. ACOMMODATION FOR CLOTHING

There shall be provided and maintained for the use of all persons employed
adequate and suitable accommodation for clothing not worn during working
hours.

3. PROTECTIVE CLOTHING AND APPLIANCES

Where in any factory workers are employed in any process involving excessive
exposure too wet or too injurious or offensive substance, suitable protective
clothing and appliances, including, where necessary, suitable gloves, footwear,
goggles and head coverings, shall be provided and maintained for the use of
such workers.

4. PROTECTION OF EYES IN CERTAIN PROCESSES

a. In the case of any of the processes specified in the Fourth Schedule to
this Act, suitable goggles or effective screens shall be provided to protect
 the eyes of the persons employed in the process;
b. Where in any factory electric arc welding is carried on effective provisions
shall be made, by screening or otherwise, to prevent persons employed
(other than persons employed in the welding process) from being exposed
to the electric arc flash.

5. FIRST AID
a. There shall be provided and maintained so as to be readily accessible a
first-aid box or cupboard of the prescribed standard, and where more than
one hundred and fifty persons are employed an additional box or
cupboard for every additional one hundred and fifty persons.
b. For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section the number of persons
employed in a factory shall be taken to be the largest number of persons
employed therein at any one time, and any fraction of one hundred and
fifty shall be reckoned as one hundred and fifty, so however, that where
the persons employed are employed in shifts the calculation of the number
employed should be according to the largest number at work at any given
shift.
c. Nothing except appliances or requisites for first-aid shall be kept in a first-
aid box or cupboard.