INTRODUCTION

The complexities of the industrial evolution of Nigeria were not

adequately catered for by the provisions of the then existing Labour

Code Ordinance, and the need for an individual item of protective

legislation was obvious if Nigeria was to avoid the bad working

conditions which accompanied industrialisation in some other

countries. The Department of Labour was charged with the

responsibility of producing a Bill which would set out the basic

principles and standards required in order to regulate certain

conditions in factories and conform broadly with international

standards as reflected in International Labour Conventions,

particularly Convention No. 62.

The Factories Ordinance was passed in 1955 and came into

operation on 1 September 1956. It is known as the Factories Act by

virtue of the Designation of Ordinance Act 1961. Generally the Act

lays down a number of simple but important health rules regarding

cleanliness, overcrowding, ventilation, lighting, drainage of floors

and of sanitary conveniences.

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The law concerning employment in factories is contained in the

factories Act 2004. Sec 87 (1) of the Act contains both a general

definition of a factory and an enumeration of concern premises

which are to be treated as factories for the purposes of Act. 1

DEFINITION

The factory as it is defined in the Act as any premises in which or

within which the close or cartilage or precincts of which one person

is or more persons are, employed in any process for or incidental to

any of the following purposes,

Viz

a. The making of any article or of part of any article; or

b. The altering, repairing, or namenting finishing, cleaning or

washing, or the breaking cleaning or washing or the breaking

up or demolition of any articles. Or

c. The adoption for sale of any articles, being premises in which

or within which the work is carried on by way of trade for the

purpose of gain and to cover which the employer of the

persons employed therein has the right of access or control. 2

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Labour Law in Nigeria by O.V.C Okene (3rd edition 2012) pg. 137
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Section 87 (1) of the factories Act 2004

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AIMS OF THE ACT

The Act is playing a role by way of reducing or arresting completely

the number of accidents in the industry. The role that is been

played by the Act can be seen as protective.

According to Lord Pearson in the case of Stone V. Hygarth 3 in

connection with the equivalent English statues “the Act … The Act

should be seen as beneficial rather than penal statue. Its objective

is to secure adequate working environment for persons employed to

do manual labour in certain operations and the penalties for failure

to provide such conditions are merely incidental to that object.”

The factory Acts as a protective Act helps to warn or create

awareness about the dangers associated or can be found in the

factory as a result of the use of equipments.

The factories Acts set out the following provisions:

General provisions in the factory, General safety provisions, general

welfare provisions, special health, safety, and welfare provisions,

notification and investigation of Accidents and industrial Disease.

Consequently, however there are some loopholes in the provisions

of this statue, which include…

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Centralization Of Power:- Most of the decision that is been given

in the factory is been ordered by the minister. This mode of

operation is centralized and in some cases, it makes things difficult.

For instance to have access to the minister might not be possible

sometimes especially in cases of emergency and emergency

situation require urgent attention.

Therefore, there should be a way of decentralizing the power in

other for decisions to be reached in case of emergency.

Low Amount Of Fines: The fines as stipulated should be in high

amount as such, low amount fines can be paid easily by workers or

whosoever that violate it. Such amount after been paid, it will not

be felt by the convict because of its cheap amount especially in our

present day. Therefore, fines as stipulated in this Act should be

amended.

PROVISIONS OF THE FACTORIES ACT IN NIGERIA

The object of the Factories Act is to regulate the conditions of work

in manufacturing establishments coming within the definition of

the term "factory" as used in the Act.

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This Act is the primary legislation for the protection of the safety,

health and welfare of workers. It provides for the health, safety and

welfare of the workers exposed to occupational hazards by taking

measures to prevent accidents and injuries.

The Act includes the following:

 Part II which includes issues such as cleanliness, overcrowding,

ventilation, lighting, drainage, sanitary conveniences and the duty

of inspectors as to sanitary defects;

 Part III comprises of general safety provisions for workers working

with machines and other equipment;

 Part V deals with special provisions and regulations on health,

safety and welfare;

Part VI provides for notification, investigation of accidents and

industrial diseases;

 Part X states provisions that deal with offences, penalties and

legal proceedings.

Specifically, with reference to Part III of the Factory Act 2004, which

comprise Sections 14 – 39, the regulation stipulated safety

precautions that must be adhered to regarding the interaction

between employees and work facilities. These areas require keen

process require certain degree of mastery before attaining a given

level of efficiency.

Additionally, it is worthy of note that attainment of mastery in the

use of certain work facility does not guarantee absolute exoneration

of injury at work place. So employers should give routine updates of

risk prone work facilities to their employees to reduce hazard that

might occur by common avoidable mistakes.

Employers should provide fire extinguishers and fire alarms at

strategic locations and train personnel on how to fight fire incidents

in case of eventuality.

Unfortunately, as good as Part IV of the Factories Act appear, they

are insufficient as there is no provision compelling employers to

make full medical insurance available to workers. Employers should

be made to provide different degrees of HMOs covering workers as

this is in accordance with Section 17 (3) (d) of the 1999

Constitution which states that the employer must provide adequate

medical and health facilities to her employees

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Furthermore, Sections 51, 52 and 53 (Part VI) of the Factories Act,

stipulate that employers should notify institutional agency of

accidents within a period of three days from the day of occurrence.

And any employer who fails to report an accident under this section

shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a

fine not exceeding N1000. This fine is grossly inadequate because it

reduces the value of the employee whose life is at the frontline. This

implies that a firm with worrisome incident might deliberately flout

these laws because the consequence of violation is trivial. This fine

should be repealed with a greater penalty capable of discouraging

trivial handling of accidents at workplace.

The following are the exact provisions of the Factories Act in

Nigeria

PART I - REGISTRATION OF FACTORIES

 1. Register of factories.

 2. Registration of existing factories.

 3. Registration of new factories.

 4. Notification of change in particulars furnished.

 6. Appeal to Board from decision of Director of Factories.

PART II - HEALTH (GENERAL PROVISIONS)

 7. Cleanliness.

 8. Overcrowding.

 9. Ventilation.

 10. Lighting.

 11. Drainage of floors.

 12. Sanitary conveniences.

 13. Duty of inspector as to sanitary defects remediable by local

authority.

PART III - SAFETY (GENERAL PROVISIONS)

 14. Prime movers.

 15. Transmission machinery.

 16. Powered machinery.

 17. Other machinery.

 18. Provisions as to unfenced machinery.

 19. Construction and maintenance of fencing.

 20. Construction and disposal of new machinery.

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 21. Vessels containing dangerous liquids.

 22. Self-acting machines.

 23. Training and supervision of inexperienced workers.

 24. Hoists and lifts.

 25. Chains, ropes and lifting tackle.

 26. Cranes and other lifting machines.

 27. Register of chains, etc. and other lifting machines.

 28. Safe means of access and safe place of employment.

 29. Precautions in places where dangerous fumes are likely to

be present.

 30. Precautions with respect to explosives or other

inflammable dust, gas, vapour or substance.

 31. Steam boilers.

 32. Steam receivers and steam containers.

 33. Air receivers.

 34. Exception as to steam boilers, steam receivers and steam

containers and air receivers.

 35. Prevention of fire.

 36. Safety provisions in case of fire.

 37. Power of inspector to issue improvement notice.

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  38. Power of inspector to issue prohibition notice as to

dangerous factory.

 39. Appeal against notice.

PART IV - WELFARE (GENERAL PROVISIONS)

 40. Supply of drinking water.

 41. Washing facilities.

 42. Accommodation for clothing.

 43: First-aid.

 44. Exemption if ambulance room is provided.

PART V - HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE (SPECIAL

 45. Removal of dust or fumes.

 46. Meals in certain dangerous trades.

 47. Protective clothing and appliances.

 48. Protection of eyes in certain processes.

 49. Power to make regulations for certain health, safety and

welfare.

 50. Power to take samples.

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PART VI - NOTIFICATION AND INVESTIGATION OF ACCIDENTS
AND INDUSTRIAL DISEASES

 51. Notification of accidents.

 52. Power to extend dangerous occurrences provisions as

notice of accidents.

 53. Notification of industrial disease.

PART VII - SPECIAL APPLICATIONS, EXTENSION AND

 54. Premises where part of building is separate factory.

 55. Docks, wharves and quays.

 56. Premises in which steam boilers are used.

 57. Power to extend application of provisions of Act.

PART VIII - GENERAL REGISTERS, ETC.

 58. General registers.

 59. Preservation of registers and records.

 60. Posting of abstract of Act, regulations and notices.

 61. Duties of persons employed.

 62. Prohibition of deductions from wages.

PART IX - ADMINISTRATION

 63. Report.

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  64. Appointment of inspectors.

 65. Powers of inspectors.

 66. Power of inspectors to conduct proceedings before a

Magistrate's Court.

 67. Provisions as to regulations made under this Act.

 68. Publication in the Gazette of certificates issued or revoked

by the Director of Factories.

PART X - OFFENCES, PENALTIES AND LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 69. Offences.

 70. Penalty for offences for which no express penalty is

provided.

 71. Penalty in cases of death or injury.

 72. Forgery of certificates, false entries and false declarations.

 73. Penalty for persons actually committing offence for which

occupier is liable.

 74. Powers of occupier or owner to exempt himself from

liability on the conviction of actual offender.

 75. Proceedings against persons other than occupier or

owners.

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  76. Owner of machine liable in certain cases instead of

occupier.

 77. Prosecution of offences.

 78. Special provisions as to evidence.

 79. Service and sending of documents, etc.

 80. Power to modify agreements.

 81. Power to apportion expenses.

PART XI - GENERAL

 82. Saving.

 83. General application.

 84. Application to factories belonging to Government of the

Federation or States.

 85. Power to exempt in cases of emergency.

 86. Repeals and savings.

 87. Meaning of factory.

 88. Interpretation.

 89. Short title.

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CONCLUSION

The factory Act provides for the registration, etc., of factories; to

provide for factory workers and a wider spectrum of workers and

other professionals exposed to occupational hazards, but for whom

no adequate provisions had been formerly made; to make adequate

provisions regarding the safety of workers to which the Act applies

and to impose penalties for any breach of its provisions.

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 REFERENCES
Alston, P., 2008. Labour Rights as Human Rights. 1st ed. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, p.20.

Brown, D.J.M., Beatty, D. M., & Beatty, A.J. (Eds.). (2019).

Craig, J. and Lynk, M., 2006. Globalization and the future of labour
law. 1st ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Okene, O. V. C. (2012). Labour Law in Nigeria. Port Harcourt: Rivers

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