6

CHAPTER VI,

it has not hitherto been customary to supply latrine accommodation.
But here, as in the allied matter of regular and efficient white-washing and
cleaning (particularly in respect of places concerned with dust-producing
processes) dependence must be placed on more regular and systematised
inspection. We make a recommendation elsewhere for the withdrawal
of the exemptions granted to the Assam and Bengal tea factories in
this connection.
Guarding of Machinery.
Passing to questions of safety, we consider that the guarding
of machinery requires more attention than it has been possible for the
present staffs to devote to it. This is especially true of cotton-ginning
factories, which are always a potential source of danger on account of
the number of belts and pulleys connecting the roller gins and the main
line shaft and the confined space in which the operator has to work.
We also consider that something might be done to assist seasonal factory
owners by means of publications. The Bengal Factory Inspection
Department recently prepared a useful booklet for distribution to managers
 of tea factories, explaining the requirements of the Factories Act in
its application to their industry and illustrating the best method of
guarding standard types of machinery. Simplified leaflets or small
pamphlets on these lines might be prepared and distributed by provincial
 factory inspection departments in respect of the seasonal, and
indeed also of the smaller perennial factories where power machinery
of a more or less standardised kind is in operation. Such literature
could usefully deal with suitable clothing for machine tenders as well as
with the adequate guarding of the machinery itself. The former is of
particular importance in country power-driven factories, where the
labourer is accustomed to wear a loose loin cloth or a pagri with
hanging ends only too liable to become entangled in belts and pulleys
as a result of the draught created by moving machinery.
Safety of Buildings.
Unfortunately many seasonal factories leave much to be desired
as regards their structural adequacy. Often little attention is given
to the matter by the owner in view of the fact that the structure is only
in use for part of the year. Sometimes the buildings are deficient from
the moment of erection, owing to efforts to cut down the initial cost of
construction and the absence of any effective central control over building
plans. We have dealt elsewhere with the necessary measures to obviate
the latter difficulty in the case of all types of factory buildings, whether
perennial or seasonal. The Cotton Ginning and Pressing Factories
Act of 1925 was especially intended to meet this and other difficulties
in these factories and, as far as we are aware, is being adequately
enforced. But this Act, useful as it is, was passed only six years ago
and all over the cotton-growing area are scattered ginneries built
before that period, often in a very unsatisfactory way. The dangers
to which such buildings are liable are accentuated in certain districts
by the pooling system which sometimes involves using in rotation