Hours of Employment (Conventions) Act 1936

3Hours of work in automatic sheet-glass works.

(1)The following provisions shall have effect for the purpose of carrying out the Sheet-Glass Works Convention, 1934 :—

(a)no person to whom the Convention applies shall be employed except in accordance with a system providing for at least four shifts of workers with hours of work not greater and intervals not less than those specified in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this subsection, being a system of which due notice is given in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section;

(b)the hours of work of any such person shall not exceed one hundred and sixty-eight in any continuous period of four weeks;

(c)the length of a spell of work of any such person shall not exceed eight hours;

(d)the interval between successive spells of work of any such person shall not be less than sixteen hours, except that this interval may where necessary be reduced on the occasion of the periodical change-over of shifts :

Provided that in the following cases, that is to say—

(i)in case of accident, actual or threatened, or in ease of urgent work to be done to machinery or plant, or in case of force majeure; or

(ii)in order to make good the unforeseen absence of one or more members of a shift,

the limits of hours and the intervals which would otherwise have to be observed and allowed under this subsection may be departed from, but only so far as may be necessary to avoid serious interference with the ordinary working of the undertaking.

(2)Due notice shall not be deemed to be given of a system of employment unless—

(a)a notice is kept posted in a conspicuous position in the works giving particulars of the system and in particular specifying the number of shifts and the hours on each day at which the spells of work for each shift begin and end, and a copy of that notice has been delivered to the inspector of factories for the district in which the works are situate; and

(b)in the case of a change of the system of employment, a notice specifying the change has been kept posted in the works for at least one month before the date on which the change takes effect and a copy thereof has been delivered to the inspector of factories for the district in which the works are situate before the beginning of that month.

(3)Where by virtue of the proviso to subsection (1) of this section additional hours are worked by any person to whom the Convention applies, compensation for the hours so worked shall be granted by the employer in such manner as may be agreed between the organisations of employers and workers concerned or as may, in default of such agreement, be determined by such method as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State after consulting the Minister of Labour.

Every person who employs any person to whom the Convention applies shall keep a record in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State of all hours so worked and the compensation granted in respect thereof.

(4)If any person employs another person in contravention of the provisions of this section or fails to comply with the requirements of subsection (3) of this section, he shall in respect of each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

(5)An inspector appointed under the Factory and Workshop Acts, 1901 to 1929, shall have the same powers and duties for the purpose of the execution of the provisions of this section as he would have if those provisions were provisions of the said Acts.

(6)In this section, the expression " person to whom the Convention applies " means a person to whom the Convention is expressed to apply by Article One thereof as set out in Part II of the Schedule to this Act.