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CHAPTER V. 
the working of railways within factories. Few factories have reached 
such a scale that railways are required to work within their premises, 
but the Tata Iron and Steel works at Jamshedpur are said to have 
over 100 miles of such railway line, and there are other factories with 
shorter lines. The Railways Act can possibly be used in such cases, 
but we think it preferable that the rule-making power in the Factories 
Act should be extended to cover the working of means of transport within 
factories. 
Danger from Buildings. 
Factory buildings themselves may constitute a grave danger to 
the safety of operatives. Tragic proof of this was afforded a few years 
ago when the collapse of part of a mill in Ahmedabad resulted in the 
loss of 26 lives. Subsequent investigations revealed sources of serious 
danger in other mills. Factory buildings may be weak from the start, 
or machinery may be introduced into buildings designed for other pur- 
poses, and insufficiently strong to withstand the strain. Again struc- 
tural alterations may be made without sufficient regard to the safety 
of the whole, or the working of a factory may result in the disintegration 
of part of the fabric. Section 18A, which was added to the Factories 
Act in 1922, gives inspectors power, in cases of danger, to require 
managers to carry out any measures necessary to remove the danger, 
and could be used to secure the strengthening or dismantling of part 
or all of the building. But it is not ordinarily possible for an inspect- 
or, who is not a structural expert and is in any case precluded from 
carrying out structural tests to detect sources of danger with cer- 
tainty. 
Control of Construction. 
(a) With a view fo safety. 
Proposals were made to control the construction of factory 
buildings, by prohibiting the use of buildings as factories before the plans 
had been passed by a responsible authority as suitable for the purpose. 
Such control would be exercised in the interests both of safety and of 
health, for factory work is too often started in buildings which are difficult 
to ventilate or are unhealthy in other respects. The Government of 
India apparently approved of the principle, but regarded the question 
as a proper one for local legislation. Though some of the local Govern- 
ments favoured and, indeed, advocated the proposal, none has as yet 
attempted to embody it in legislation. So far ag safety is concerned, 
we consider that a scheme submitted to us by the Chief Inspector of 
Factories of the Bombay Presidency would operate smoothly and 
efficiently and recommend its adoption. This involves the submission of a 
proper certificate of stability before working is commenced in larger 
factories and the grant to local Governments of power to demand such 
certificates in smaller factories as need arises. A similar procedure 
should be followed where important structural alterations are made. 
At the same time inspectors should be empowered to secure the carrying 
out of structural tests and to obtain such plans and other information as 
are necessary to measure the safety of buildings.