S.I. No. 160/1958:

FACTORIES ACT, 1955 (HYGROMETERS) REGULATIONS, 1958.

FACTORIES ACT, 1955 (HYGROMETERS) REGULATIONS, 1958.

I, SEÁN F. LEMASS, Minister for Industry and Commerce, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 6, section 8 and section 63 of the Factories Act, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955), hereby make the following regulations :

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Factories Act, 1955 (Hygrometers) Regulations, 1958.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the First day of October, 1958.

2. The hygrometers to be provided and maintained in pursuance of section 63 of the Factories Act, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955), shall conform to the following conditions as regards construction and maintenance :

(a) each hygrometer shall comprise two mercurial thermometers, one of which shall be a wet bulb thermometer and the other a dry bulb thermometer, conforming to the following requirements :

(i) they shall be of similar construction and equal in dimensions, scale and divisions of scale and shall be mounted on a frame with a suitable reservoir containing water,

(ii) the bulb of the wet bulb thermometer shall be closely covered with a single layer of muslin which shall be kept wet by means of a wick attached to it and dipping into the water in the reservoir. The muslin covering and the wick shall be suitable for the purpose and shall be clean and free from size or grease,

(iii) the bulb of each thermometer shall be spherical and not less than two-fifths nor more than three-fifths of an inch in diameter,

(iv) the bore of the stem of each thermometer shall be such that the position of the top of the mercury column shall be readily distinguishable at a distance of four feet,

(v) the scale from forty-five degrees to eighty-five degrees on each thermometer shall extend over not less than five inches, beginning not less than one and one-half inches from the top of the bulb. Each degree and half-degree between forty-five degrees and eighty-five degrees shall be clearly marked on the stem by means of horizontal lines which shall be shorter for half-degrees than for whole degrees, shall be readily distinguishable at a distance of two feet and shall be of such accuracy that at no temperature between forty-five degrees and eighty-five degrees shall the indicated reading be in error by more than two-tenths of a degree,

(vi) a distinctive number shall be indelibly marked on each thermometer,

(vii) the construction of each thermometer shall be such that it may be exposed without injury to a temperature of one hundred and ten degrees ;

(b) each hygrometer shall be so mounted that--

(i) no part of the bulb of the wet bulb thermometer shall be within three and one-half inches of the bulb of the dry bulb thermometer or within three inches of the surface of the water in the reservoir, and the reservoir shall be below the bulb of the wet bulb thermometer on the side of it away from the bulb of the dry bulb thermometer,

(ii) the bulb of each thermometer shall be freely exposed on all sides to the air of the room in which the hygrometers are provided,

(iii) the corresponding points of the two thermometers shall be on the same level ;

(c) there shall be marked on the frame of each hygrometer in such manner as to be readily distinguishable at a distance of six feet--

(i) the words " Wet " and " Dry " over or near to the wet bulb and dry bulb thermometers, respectively,

(ii) the temperatures of fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty and ninety degrees by horizontal lines and figures, and

(iii) the temperatures of forty-five, fifty-five, sixty-five, seventy-five and eighty-five degrees by horizontal lines shorter than the lines marked in pursuance of subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph ;

(d) each hygrometer shall be maintained in efficient working order at all times during the period in which persons are employed in a room in which hygrometers are provided and, in particular--

(i) the wick and the muslin covering of the bulb of the wet bulb thermometer shall be renewed once a week,

(ii) the reservoir shall be filled with distilled water or pure rain water which shall be completely renewed once a day,

(iii) no water shall be placed in the reservoir or applied directly to the wick or muslin covering during the period in which persons are employed in such room ;

(e) no hygrometer shall be affixed to a wall, pillar or other surface unless protected therefrom by wood or other non-conducting material at least half an inch in thickness and distant at least one inch from the bulb of each thermometer.

3. The record on which the readings of the hygrometers shall be entered in pursuance of subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 63 of the Factories Act, 1955 , shall be in the form set out in the Schedule to these Regulations.

4. The following Regulations are hereby revoked :

(a) the Regulations dated the 26th day of February, 1906, for the spinning and weaving of flax and tow and processes incidental thereto, made under the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901,

(b) the Regulations dated the 28th day of August, 1907, for the processes of spinning and weaving hemp, or jute or hemp or jute tow, and processes incidental thereto, made under that Act, and

(c) the Regulations dated the 21st day of December, 1911, as to humidity and ventilation in cotton cloth factories, made under the Factory and Workshop (Cotton Cloth Factories) Act, 1911.

SCHEDULE

Form of Record for Entry of Readings of Hygrometers in Humid Factories in pursuance of Section 63 (2) (a) (iii) of the Factories Act, 1955 .

Name or Number of Room............................................................ .......................................

Position of Hygrometer (centre or side of room)............................................................ .

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 21st day of July, 1958.

(Signed) SEÁN F. LEMASS,

Minister for Industry and Commerce.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The purpose of this instrument is (a) to prescribe the type of hygrometer to be used for measuring humidity, and the records of hygrometer readings to be kept, in all factories in which artificial humidity is produced, and (b) to repeal out-of-date Regulations dealing with the production of artificial humidity in certain textile factories.