Factories Act 1948

{{Short description|Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Use British English|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox UK legislation | short_title = Factories Act 1948{{efn|Section 16(1).}} | type = Act | parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom | long_title = An Act to amend the Factories Act, 1937, and provide for matters consequential on the amendment of that Act. | year = 1948 | citation = [[11 & 12 Geo. 6]]. c. 55 | territorial_extent = [[United Kingdom]] | royal_assent = 30 July 1948 | commencement = {{ubli|1 October 1948: Sections 1–5 and 11–14|1 October 1950: Section 6|30 July 1948: rest of act}}{{efn|Section 16(3).}} | repeal_date = 1 April 1962 | amends = Factories Act 1937 | amendments = Factories Act 1959 | repealing_legislation = [[Factories Act 1961]] | related_legislation = [[Statutory Instruments Act 1946]] | status = Repealed | original_text = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/55/contents/enacted }}

The '''Factories Act 1948''' ([[11 & 12 Geo. 6]]. c. 55) was an [[Act of Parliament (United Kingdom)|act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] passed in the [[United Kingdom]] by the Labour government of [[Clement Attlee]]. It was passed with the intention of safeguarding the health of workers. It extended the age limits for the medical examination of persons entering factory employment, while also including male workers in the regulations for providing seats and issuing extensive new building regulations.<ref>Industrialisation and society: a social history, 1830–1951 by Eric Hopkins</ref>

Under the act, young persons under the age of eighteen became subject to medical examination not only on entry to the place of work, but annually thereafter. Certificates of fitness were also made a requirement for young people employed in the loading, unloading and [[Coaling (ships)|coaling of ships]] and other kinds of work in ships on harbour or wet dock, engineering construction and building operations as well as for factory employees.<ref>{{cite book |author= |title=The Social Services of Modern England (International Library of Sociology) |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=0-415-17725-1 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref>

== Subsequent developments == The whole act was repealed by section 183(2) of, and the Seventh Schedule to, the [[Factories Act 1961]] ([[9 & 10 Eliz. 2]]. c. 34), which came into force on 1 April 1962.<ref>{{Cite legislation UK|act=Factories Act 1961|type=act|year=Eliz2/9-10|chapter=34}}</ref>

==See also== [[Factories Act, 1948 (India)|Factories Act,1948, India]]

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{UK-LEG|path=ukpga/Geo6/11-12/55/contents/enacted|asmade=yes}}

[[Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1948]] [[Category:Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament]] [[Category:Health and safety in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Occupational safety and health law]] [[Category:Factory Acts]]