Factories Act

The Act applies only to factories as defined by the Act, but, unless a contrary intention appears, it applies to all those factories.

The Act applies to factories belonging to or occupied by the Government and to building and engineering works undertaken by or on behalf of the Government.

In a public emergency the Minister has the power, by statutory instrument and for the extent and period named in the order, to exempt factories or classes of factory from this Act.

Defines "factory" to include premises where persons do manual labour in specified processes and lists numerous specific premises and situations that are treated as factories, while excluding certain mine-related premises and workplaces with fewer than six persons and no mechanical power.

This section supplies definitions of terms used in the Act (for example, 'authorised person', 'chief inspector', 'local authority', 'owner', 'machinery').

The chief inspector must keep a register of factories and must cause particulars about every factory required to be registered to be entered in it.

People must give the chief inspector written notice at least one month before occupying or using premises as a factory; limited exceptions and ministerial dispensations exist, and breach is an offence with fines and imprisonment.

The chief inspector may vary or delete register entries for premises when satisfied it is necessary for accuracy, and may then vary related certificates of registration.

The occupier must notify the chief inspector in writing with full particulars of mechanical power at least one month before it is first used in any factory.

Factories must be kept clean and free from noxious effluvia, with specified cleaning, washing, repainting and whitewashing intervals and daily removal of dirt and refuse.

Factories must not be overcrowded in a way that risks workers' health; workrooms must be at least ten feet high; overcrowding is defined where surface feet per person is less than forty; the chief inspector may exempt a workroom by written certificate with conditions.

Require effective and suitable provision, via circulation of fresh air, to secure and maintain adequate ventilation in each workroom.

Factories must have sufficient and suitable lighting, glazed windows and skylights used for lighting workrooms must be kept clean and free from obstruction, and whitewashing or shading for mitigating heat or glare is not affected.

If a process makes the floor liable to be wet so that liquid can be removed by drainage, effective means must be provided and maintained to drain the liquid.

Factories must provide, maintain and keep clean sufficient and suitable sanitary conveniences for persons employed in the factory, with proper separate accommodation by sex where both sexes are employed.

If an occupier or owner cannot arrange an authorised person to carry out a required periodic examination, they must notify the chief inspector by registered post with particulars; after that notification they are not guilty of the offence for thirty days while an authorised person is sought. For new boilers/receivers they must send any manufacturer certificate; the chief inspector may permit use by written notice subject to conditions, and there is a similar thirty-day non‑guilt period after that notice.

The occupier of a factory must provide inspectors with extracts from the general register when required; the Minister may, by statutory order, exempt temporary factories of a class or description from provisions of subsection (1) where the Minister considers it inappropriate or unnecessary to require compliance.

Registers and records kept under this Act must be preserved and kept available for inspection by an inspector for at least five years after the date of the last entry, or for another prescribed period for particular classes of register or record.

Employees in a factory or other applicable place must not wilfully interfere with or misuse safety or welfare equipment; if safety equipment is provided for them they must use it.

Employees must not wilfully and without reasonable cause do anything likely to endanger themselves or others.

The occupier of a factory must not deduct from wages contracted to be paid to employees, nor receive or permit employees to pay sums to the occupier in respect of matters under this Act.

Every flywheel directly connected to a prime mover and every moving part of a prime mover must be securely fenced, except prime movers mentioned in section 18; this applies whether the flywheel or prime mover is in an engine house or not.

The head and tail race of every water wheel and of every water turbine shall be securely fenced.

Every part of electric generators, motors and rotary converters, and every flywheel directly connected to them, must be securely fenced unless its position or construction already makes it as safe to workers as if it were fenced.

The chief inspector may grant, by written certificate and subject to conditions, exemptions from complying with the requirements of subsections (2) to (5) where satisfied compliance is unnecessary or impracticable.

Dangerous parts of machinery must be securely fenced unless they are positioned or constructed to be as safe as if fenced; if a fixed guard cannot secure safety, an automatic device that prevents operator contact suffices; projecting stock bar parts beyond a lathe headstock must be fenced unless they are equivalently safe.

Sets conditions allowing parts of unfenced machinery to be examined, lubricated or adjusted while in motion: the work must be done by a male person who is about twenty years old, trained, wearing specified close-fitting overalls; an emergency assistant must be immediately available; ladders must be secured; and special certificates may permit exemptions for continuous processes.

Fencing or other safeguards required by sections 16 to 21 must be of substantial construction, kept in position and constantly maintained while the parts they protect are in motion or in use, except when those parts are exposed for necessary examination or immediate lubrication/adjustment and provided the conditions in section 21(2) are met.

Selling or hiring a machine for use in a factory in Uganda that does not meet the section's requirements is an offence punishable by a fine (up to two thousand shillings); the Minister may make special rules extending these provisions with specified transitional applications.

Vessels, structures, sumps or pits whose edge is less than three feet above adjoining ground that contain scalding, corrosive or poisonous liquids and pose an immersion risk must be securely covered or fenced to that height, or otherwise protected; a warning notice must be displayed or posted nearby.

Self-acting machines must not run a traversing part within eighteen inches of any fixed structure over a space where people may pass; practicable steps, including instructing the person in charge, must be taken to ensure employees are not in the space between a traversing part of a self-acting spinning mule and a fixed part towards which it moves on the inward run except when the machine is stopped with the traversing part on the outward run.

Employment at machines or in processes that can cause bodily injury is not permitted unless the person has been fully instructed about the dangers and precautions, and has either received sufficient training or is under adequate supervision by an experienced person.

Sets safety requirements for hoists and lifts used for carrying people and gives the chief inspector powers to allow longer inspection intervals or to exempt classes of hoists or lifts in special circumstances.

Allows inspectors to test and prohibit unsafe lifting gear; authorises authorised persons or inspectors to load gear beyond safe working load for testing; chief inspector may exempt classes by statutory instrument; fibre ropes/slings exempt from the testing/certificate subsection; Government/inspectors/authorised persons not liable for damage during tests; definitions for "lifting gear" and "safe working load" included.

This section sets safety requirements for lifting appliances and lifting machines, including testing and examination, restrictions on operators (under‑18), inspector powers to test and prohibit use, and an exemption from liability for tests.

A register containing the particulars in the Third Schedule must be kept in the factory for lifting gear, lifting appliances and lifting machines to which sections 28 and 29 apply.

Requires provision and maintenance of safe means of access and safe places of employment (floors, stairs, ladders, openings, machines, excavations, tanks/reservoirs), and guarding or fencing where risk of falling or drowning exists.

Persons must not enter or remain in confined spaces where dangerous fumes may be present unless safety requirements are met; persons entering must wear a secured belt-and-rope or suitable breathing apparatus unless tests show the space is free, and sufficient employed persons must be trained in rescue and resuscitation equipment use.

The chief inspector may by certificate in writing grant exemptions from compliance with the subsection (3) requirements where satisfied compliance is unnecessary or impracticable, subject to conditions in the certificate.

Sets safety requirements for steam boilers and prohibits persons from entering a boiler that is part of a multi-boiler range; requires persons attending boilers to be properly instructed.

Requires steam receivers and containers to be properly constructed, fitted with safety devices, regularly examined and reported on, and (for new receivers) certified and marked; steam containers must keep outlet unobstructed.

Every air receiver must be thoroughly cleaned and examined regularly (at least once every twenty-six months or longer if directed by the Chief Inspector); safety fittings, markings, tests, reports and certificates are required.

The chief inspector may, by statutory instrument, except classes or types of steam boilers, steam receivers, steam containers or air receivers from the provisions of sections 34, 35 and 36 when satisfied the provision cannot reasonably be applied.

The Minister may make rules about the nature of gas plants, fittings and pipes, and may provide for inspection and prohibit use of non-compliant gas plants.

Factories must have readily accessible means for extinguishing fire; stocks of highly inflammable substances must be kept in a fire‑resisting store or in a safe place outside any occupied building; such stores must not be situated so as to endanger escape routes for persons employed in the factory if a fire occurs in the store.

Factories must have adequate means of escape in case of fire that are maintained and unobstructed; doors and exits must be operable from the inside and clearly marked; some exit doors must open outwards.

An inspector may issue a written order prohibiting use of a factory (or parts/equipment) when, in the inspector's opinion, its use creates imminent danger; the occupier must remove the danger to the inspector's satisfaction and failure to comply is an offence punishable by fines or imprisonment; the inspector is entitled to be heard if the order is challenged in magistrate's court.

A magistrate’s court, on an inspector’s complaint and if satisfied of unsafe conditions or risky processes in a factory, may order stoppage of the process or require the occupier to remedy the danger; breach of such an order by the occupier is an offence punishable by fines or imprisonment, with continuing breaches attracting daily penalties.

Any person aggrieved by a magistrate’s court order on a complaint under sections 41 and 42 may appeal to the High Court within thirty days; the High Court may extend time in the interests of justice; the Chief Justice may make rules about such appeals including fees and procedure.

An adequate supply of wholesome drinking water shall be provided and maintained at suitable points conveniently accessible to all persons employed.

Employed persons must be provided with adequate and suitable washing facilities that are conveniently accessible and kept clean and orderly.

The chief inspector may, by certificate in writing, exempt any factory from the provisions of section 45.

The chief inspector may exempt a factory from the section's requirements if an ambulance and immediate-treatment arrangements are provided.

Factories must take all practicable measures to protect workers from inhalation and accumulation of dust, fumes or other impurities and, where practicable, provide and maintain exhaust appliances; stationary internal combustion engines must not be used unless their exhaust gases are conducted into the open air.

People must not be allowed to eat or drink in a room where poisonous or injurious substances create dust or fumes.

Where factory workers are exposed to wet or injurious/offensive substances, suitable protective clothing and appliances must be made available and kept for their use.

Provide suitable goggles or effective screens to protect the eyes of persons employed in the listed processes; in factories where electric arc welding risks exposing other workers to the arc flash, make effective provision (by screening or otherwise) to prevent such exposure.

The Minister may make rules and special rules on health, safety and welfare matters in factories, including rules that prohibit or limit employment and control materials or machinery, subject in some cases to the Sixth Schedule.

The Minister may make special rules requiring medical supervision or examinations of factory workers if illness or risk to health appears linked to processes or substances used, and may instead use an order in writing (orders expire after up to three months and can be extended but lapse one month after an occupier objects).

The Minister may make rules about notification of accidents, occupational disease, explosions, fires, building collapses, machinery accidents or other factory occurrences, whether or not death or disablement results.

Inspectors may take samples after informing the occupier or foreman; occupiers or foremen may require samples to be divided into three parts; publishing analysis results is prohibited except for investigation or prosecution purposes and is punishable by a fine up to one thousand shillings.

When part of a building is let as a separate factory, the owner of the building (rather than the occupier) is made responsible for certain statutory contraventions (cleanliness of sanitary conveniences in common use; specified Part V safety provisions), while occupiers remain responsible for contraventions related to machinery or plant they own or supply.

Selected provisions of this Act apply to docks, wharves and quays as if they were factories; persons using or occupying them and persons carrying on loading/unloading/coaling are to be treated as occupiers, and the owner of a boiler is responsible for contraventions relating to steam boilers. "Plant" is defined to include gangways and ladders used in those processes.

Occupiers must notify the chief inspector within one month when a steam boiler, gas plant, hoist or lift is newly taken into use; owners may be treated as occupiers and owners of equipment are responsible for certain contraventions.

The Minister may make special rules regarding health, safety and welfare for specified classes of premises, building operations and engineering construction, and rules made may apply provisions of this Act to those classes and associated machinery, processes and manual labour.

The labour commissioner is responsible for administering this Act.

Establishes appointment of a chief inspector and other inspectors (subject to written public service law); requires inspectors to have and, when required during inspections, produce a certificate; requires inspectors to keep confidential the source of complaints and not to inform occupiers that an inspection followed a complaint; non‑compliance with the confidentiality rule is an offence.

Inspectors have wide powers to enter and examine factories and to examine persons; occupiers and their agents and servants must provide inspectors the means to carry out inspections; obstructing an inspector is an offence punishable by a fine or imprisonment.

An inspector may prosecute or conduct proceedings before a magistrate’s court arising under the Act; an inspector giving evidence in such prosecutions cannot be objected to on the basis that they initiated or conducted the prosecution.

All rules made under this Act must have the same force and effect as if they had been enacted in the Act.

Occupiers or owners of factories, and employed persons, may commit offences for contraventions of this Act; occupiers/owners must take reasonable steps to prevent contraventions and must comply with conditions of any special exception; company officers can be held liable where an offence is committed with their consent, connivance or neglect.

Where no express penalty is provided by the Act, a person guilty of such an offence is liable to a fine up to six hundred shillings or, if unpaid, imprisonment up to three months (or both); continued contraventions after conviction attract an additional fine not exceeding one hundred shillings per day, subject to section 73.

If the occupier or owner of a factory is convicted, the court may order them to remedy the contravention within a time; the court may enlarge the time on application; the occupier or owner is not liable during the allowed time but if they fail to comply after that time they are liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred shillings for each day of noncompliance.

If a person is killed, dies or suffers bodily injury because a factory occupier or owner contravened the Act, that occupier or owner may be fined up to two thousand shillings or imprisoned up to three months or both; the fine (or part) may be applied for the injured person by the court; exceptions apply for injury to health caused indirectly and where a prior charge was heard and dismissed.

Any person who forges, counterfeits, signs, utters, makes false entries or declarations, personates, pretends to be an inspector, or connives at such acts in relation to certificates, registers or documents required under this Act commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years.

Public officials and persons employed in administering this Act must keep any manufacturing or commercial secret that they learn in the course of their duty confidential.

If an act or default for which a factory occupier or owner is liable is actually done by an agent, servant, worker or other person, that person commits an offence and is liable to the same penalty as the occupier or owner.

If, in a factory, a person (not the occupier or an employee) uses a machine, appliance, equipment or plant owned or hired by them for construction, repair, installation or other work, that person shall be deemed to be the occupier for any contravention of this Act relating to that machine, appliance, equipment or plant.

An occupier or owner of a factory will be acquitted if they prove they used all due diligence and that the offence was committed by another person without their consent, connivance or wilful default.

If a person is substituted for the occupier or owner of a factory, orders, summonses, notices or proceedings that would be served on the occupier or owner must instead be served on that substituted person.

The burden of proving that premises are not a factory, or that the occupier named in the charge is not the occupier, lies on the person alleging that fact.

Entries the occupier makes (or fails to make) in registers required by this Act may be used as evidence; reports from prescribed institutions and certain calibration certificates are admissible and the court may presume signatures or certificates genuine.

Describes permitted methods for serving or sending documents under the Act to persons, firms, and factory occupiers or owners, and permits addressing documents to "the occupier" with a descriptive identification.

If an agreement prevents the owner or occupier of a factory from making alterations necessary to comply with this Act or its standards, the owner or occupier may apply to a judge in chambers to set aside or modify the agreement; the judge may, after hearing parties and witnesses, order such setting aside or modification.

If the owner or occupier of leased factory premises disputes who should pay for required alterations, the owner or occupier may apply to a judge in chambers for the expenses to be apportioned; the judge may order apportionment or, on request, determine the lease.

Creates a Factories Advisory Board; the Minister appoints its composition and constitution by statutory instrument, may appoint other advisory panels, and appointed persons hold office for periods the Minister specifies.

Instruments that continued in force under this Act may be varied or revoked by the Minister by statutory order to bring them into conformity with the Act as amended.