Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963

Scope of Act

Premises to which this Act applies

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• (1) The premises to which this Act applies are office premises, shop premises and railway premises, being (in each case) premises in the case of which persons are employed to work therein.

• (2) In this Act—

• (a) “office premises” means a building or part of a building, being a building or part the sole or principal use of which is as an office or for office purposes;

• (b) “office purposes” includes the purposes of administration, clerical work, handling money and telephone and telegraph operating; and

• (c) “clerical work” includes writing, book-keeping, sorting papers, filing, typing, duplicating, machine calculating, drawing and the editorial preparation of matter for publication;

and for the purposes of this Act premises occupied together with office premises for the purposes of the activities there carried on shall be treated as forming part of the office premises.

• (3) In this Act—

• (a) “shop premises” means—

• (i) a shop;

• (ii) a building or part of a building, being a building or part which is not a shop but of which the sole or principal use is the carrying on there of retail trade or business;

• (iii) a building occupied by a wholesale dealer or merchant where goods are kept for sale wholesale or a part of a building so occupied where goods are so kept, but not including a warehouse belonging to the owners, trustees or conservators of a dock, wharf or quay;

• (iv) a building to which members of the public are invited to resort for the purpose of delivering there goods for repair or other treatment or of themselves there carrying out repairs to, or other treatment of, goods, or a part of a building to which members of the public are invited to resort for that purpose;

• (v) any premises (in this Act referred to as “fuel storage premises”) occupied for the purpose of a trade or business which consists of, or includes, the sale of solid fuel, being premises used for the storage of such fuel intended to be sold in the course of that trade or business, but not including dock storage premises or colliery storage premises;

• (b) “retail trade or business” includes the sale to members of the public of food or drink for immediate consumption, retail sales by auction and the business of lending books or periodicals for the purpose of gain;

• (c) “solid fuel” means coal, coke and any solid fuel derived from coal or of which coal or coke is a constituent;

• (d) “dock storage premises” means fuel storage premises which constitute or are comprised in premises to which certain provisions of the Factories Act 1961 apply by virtue of section 125(1) (docks, etc.) of that Act; and

• (e) “colliery storage premises” means fuel storage premises which form part of premises which, for the purposes of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954, form part of a mine or quarry, other than premises where persons are regularly employed to work by a person other than the owner (as defined by that Act) of the mine or quarry;

and for the purposes of this Act premises occupied together with a shop or with a building or part of a building falling within sub-paragraph (ii), (iii) or (iv) of paragraph (a) above for the purposes of the trade or business carried on in the shop or, as the case may be, the building or part of a building, shall be treated as forming part of the shop or, as the case may be, of the building or part of the building, and premises occupied together with fuel storage premises for the purposes of the activities there carried on (not being office premises) shall be treated as forming part of the fuel storage premises, but for the purposes of this Act office premises comprised in fuel storage premises shall be deemed not to form part of the last-mentioned premises.

• (4) In this Act “railway premises” means a building occupied by railway undertakers for the purposes of the railway undertaking carried on by them and situate in the immediate vicinity of the permanent way or a part (so occupied) of a building so situate, but does not include—

• (a) office or shop premises;

• (b) premises used for the provision of living accommodation for persons employed in the undertaking, or hotels; or

• (c) premises wherein are carried on such processes or operations as are mentioned in section 123(1) (electrical stations) of the Factories Act 1961 and for such supply as is therein mentioned.

• (5) For the purposes of this Act premises maintained in conjunction with office, shop or railway premises for the purpose of the sale or supply for immediate consumption of food or drink wholly or mainly to persons employed to work in the premises in conjunction with which they are maintained shall, if they neither form part of those premises nor are required by the foregoing provisions of this section to be treated as forming part of them, be treated for the purposes of this Act as premises of the class within which fall the premises in conjunction with which they are maintained.

Exception for premises in which only employer's relatives or outworkers work

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• (1) This Act shall not apply to any premises to which it would, apart from this subsection, apply, if none of the persons employed to work in the premises is other than the husband, wife , civil partner, parent, grandparent, son, daughter, grandchild, brother or sister of the person by whom they are so employed.

• (2) A dwelling shall not, for the purposes of this Act, be taken to constitute or comprise premises to which this Act applies by reason only that a person dwelling there who is employed by a person who does not so dwell does there the work that he is employed to do in compliance with a term of his contract of service that he shall do it there.

Exception for premises where only 21 man-hours weekly normally worked

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• (1) This Act shall not apply to any premises to which it would, apart from this subsection, apply, if the period of time worked there during each week does not normally exceed twenty-one hours.

• (2) For the purposes of this section the period of time worked in any premises shall be deemed to be—

• (a) as regards a week in which one person only is employed to work in the premises, the period of time worked by him there;

• (b) as regards a week in which two persons or more are so employed, the sum of the periods of time for which respectively those persons work there.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Health, Safety and Welfare of Employees (General Provisions)

Cleanliness

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• (1) All premises to which this Act applies, and all furniture, furnishings and fittings in such premises shall be kept in a clean state.

• (2) No dirt or refuse shall be allowed to accumulate in any part of premises to which this Act applies in which work, or through which pass, any of the persons employed to work in the premises; and the floors of, and any steps comprised in, any such part as aforesaid shall be cleaned not less than once a week by washing or, if it is effective and suitable, by sweeping or other method.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (4) Subsection (2) of this section shall not be construed as being in derogation of the general obligation imposed by subsection (1) of this section.

• (5) Nothing in this section or in regulations thereunder shall apply to fuel storage premises which are wholly in the open, and, in the case of such premises which are partly in the open, so much of them as is in the open shall, for the purposes of this section and of such regulations, be treated as not forming part of the premises.

Overcrowding

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• (1) No room comprised in, or constituting, premises to which this Act applies shall, while work is going on therein, be so overcrowded as to cause risk of injury to the health of persons working therein; and in determining, for the purposes of this subsection, whether any such room is so overcrowded as aforesaid, regard shall be had (amongst other things) not only to the number of persons who may be expected to be working in the room at any time but also to the space in the room occupied by furniture, furnishings, fittings, machinery, plant, equipment, appliances and other things (whether similar to any of those aforesaid or not).

• (2) The number of persons habitually employed at a time to work in such a room as aforesaid shall not be such that the quotient derived by dividing by that number the number which expresses in square metres the area of the surface of the floor of the room is less than 3.7 or the quotient derived by dividing by the first-mentioned number the number which expresses in cubic metres the capacity of the room is less than 11.

• (3) Subsection (2) of this section—

• (a) shall not prejudice the general obligation imposed by subsection (1) thereof;

• (b) shall not apply to a room to which members of the public are invited to resort; and

• (c) shall not, in the case of a room comprised in, or constituting, premises of any class (being a room which at the passing of this Act is comprised in, or constitutes, premises to which this Act applies), have effect until the expiration of the period of three years beginning with the day on which the said subsection (1) comes into force as respects premises of that class.

Temperature

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• (1) Effective provision shall be made for securing and maintaining a reasonable temperature in every room comprised in, or constituting, premises to which this Act applies, being a room in which persons are employed to work otherwise than for short periods, but no method shall be used which results in the escape into the air of any such room of any fume of such a character and to such extent as to be likely to be injurious or offensive to persons working therein.

• (2) Where a substantial proportion of the work done in a room to which the foregoing subsection applies does not involve severe physical effort, a temperature of less than 16 degrees Celsius shall not be deemed, after the first hour, to be a reasonable temperature while work is going on.

• (3) The foregoing subsections shall not apply—

• (a) to a room which comprises, or is comprised in or constitutes, office premises, being a room to which members of the public are invited to resort, and in which the maintenance of a reasonable temperature is not reasonably practicable; or

• (b) to a room which comprises, or is comprised in or constitutes, shop or railway premises, being a room in which the maintenance of a reasonable temperature is not reasonably practicable or would cause deterioration of goods;

but there shall be provided for persons who are employed to work in a room to which, but for the foregoing provisions of this subsection, subsection (1) of this section would apply, conveniently accessible and effective means of enabling them to warm themselves.

• (4) In premises to which this Act applies there shall, on each floor on which there is a room to which subsection (1) of this section applies, be provided in a conspicuous place and in such a position as to be easily seen by the persons employed to work in the premises on that floor a thermometer of a kind suitable for enabling the temperature in any such room on that floor to be readily determined; and a thermometer provided in pursuance of this subsection shall be kept available for use by those persons for that purpose.

• (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (6) It shall be the duty of the employer of persons for whom means of enabling them to warm themselves are provided in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section to afford them reasonable opportunities for using those means, and if he fails so to do he shall be guilty of an offence.

• (7) In this section “fume” includes gas or vapour.

Ventilation

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• (1) Effective and suitable provision shall be made for securing and maintaining, by the circulation of adequate supplies of fresh or artificially purified air, the ventilation of every room comprised in, or constituting, premises to which this Act applies, being a room in which persons are employed to work.

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lighting

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• (1) Effective provision shall be made for securing and maintaining, in every part of premises to which this Act applies in which persons are working or passing, sufficient and suitable lighting, whether natural or artificial.

• (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (3) All glazed windows and skylights used for the lighting of any part of premises to which this Act applies in which work, or through which pass, any of the persons employed to work in the premises shall, so far as reasonably practicable, be kept clean on both the inner and outer surfaces and free from obstruction; but this subsection shall not affect the white-washing or shading of windows or skylights for the purpose of mitigating heat or glare.

• (4) All apparatus installed at premises to which this Act applies for producing artificial lighting thereat in parts in which the securing of lighting is required by this section to be provided for shall be properly maintained.

Sanitary conveniences

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• (1) There shall, in the case of premises to which this Act applies, be provided, at places conveniently accessible to the persons employed to work in the premises, suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences for their use.

• (2) Conveniences provided in pursuance of the foregoing subsection shall be kept clean and properly maintained and effective provision shall be made for lighting and ventilating them.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) Subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed to be complied with in relation to any premises as regards any period during which there are in operation arrangements for enabling the persons employed to work in the premises to have the use of sanitary conveniences provided for the use of others, being conveniences whose provision would have constituted compliance with that subsection had they been provided in pursuance thereof for the first-mentioned persons and with respect to which the requirements of subsection (2) of this section are satisfied.

• (6) ... section 45 of the Public Health Act 1936 ... ... (which relates to the provision and repair of sanitary conveniences for factories, &c.) shall not apply to premises to which this Act applies.

Washing facilities

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• (1) There shall, in the case of premises to which this Act applies, be provided, at places conveniently accessible to the persons employed to work in the premises, suitable and sufficient washing facilities, including a supply of clean, running hot and cold or warm water and, in addition, soap and clean towels or other suitable means of cleaning or drying.

• (2) Every place where facilities are provided in pursuance of this section shall be provided with effective means of lighting it and be kept clean and in orderly condition, and all apparatus therein for the purpose of washing or drying shall be kept clean and be properly maintained.

• (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (5) Subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed to be complied with in relation to any premises as regards any period during which there are in operation arrangements for enabling the persons employed to work in the premises to have the use of washing facilities provided for the use of others, being facilities whose provision would have constituted compliance with that subsection had they been provided in pursuance thereof for the first-mentioned persons and which are provided at a place with respect to which the requirements of subsection (2) of this section are satisfied.

Supply of drinking water

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• (1) There shall, in the case of premises to which this Act applies, be provided and maintained, at suitable places conveniently accessible to the persons employed to work in the premises, an adequate supply of wholesome drinking water.

• (2) Where a supply of water provided at a place in pursuance of the foregoing subsection is not piped, it must be contained in suitable vessels and must be renewed at least daily; and all practicable steps must be taken to preserve it and the vessels in which it is contained from contamination.

• (3) Where water a supply of which is provided in pursuance of this section is delivered otherwise than in a jet from which persons can conveniently drink, there shall either—

• (a) be provided, and be renewed so often as occasion requires, a supply of drinking vessels of a kind designed to be discarded after use; or

• (b) be provided a sufficient number of drinking vessels of a kind other than as aforesaid, together with facilities for rinsing them in clean water.

• (4) Subsection (1) of this section shall be deemed to be complied with in relation to any premises as regards any period during which there are in operation arrangements for enabling the persons employed to work in the premises to avail themselves of a supply of drinking water provided and maintained for the use of others, being a supply whose provision and maintenance would have constituted compliance with that subsection had it been provided and maintained for the use of the first-mentioned persons, and—

• (a) where the supply provided is not piped, the requirements of subsection (2) of this section are satisfied as respects it and the vessels in which it is contained; and

• (b) where the water supplied is delivered as mentioned in subsection (3) of this section, the requirements of that subsection are satisfied.

Accommodation for clothing

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• (1) There shall, in the case of premises to which this Act applies,—

• (a) be made, at suitable places, suitable and sufficient provision for enabling such of the clothing of the persons employed to work in the premises as is not worn by them during working hours to be hung up or otherwise accommodated; and

• (b) be made, for drying that clothing, such arrangements as are reasonably practicable or, if a standard of arrangements for drying that clothing is prescribed, such arrangements as conform to that standard.