New Clause.—(EXCLUSION OF APPLICATION OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS TO CERTAIN FUEL STORAGE PREMISES AND MODIFICATION THEREOF IN RELATION TO OTHERS.) (Hansard, 6 March 1963)

§ Mr. Hare
I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.
I suggest that with this proposed new Clause we can take the next new Clause—Provisions with respect to continuous fuel storage premises in single ownership—together with the Amendments in page 3, line 44, at end insert: (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. In page 8, line 43, at end insert: (5) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not apply to any such part of any fuel storage premises as is in the open, but in relation to any such part the following provisions shall have effect, namely—

(a) the surface of the ground shall be kept in good repair;

(b) all steps and platforms shall be of sound construction and properly maintained;

(c) all openings in platforms shall be securely fenced, except in so far as the nature of the work renders such fencing impracticable.
In page 14, line 29, at end insert: (8) Subsection (5) of this section shall not apply to fuel storage premises which are wholly in the open, but in the case of such premises which are wholly in the open there must be given to each person employed to work there a notice stating the like particulars as would be stated in such a notice as for the time being would, by virtue of that subsection, be required to be displayed in the premises if that subsection applied to them.

§ Mr. Deputy-Speaker
If that be the wish of the House, so be it.

§ Mr. Hare
Yes, Mr. Deputy-Speaker. They are all concerned with the application of the Bill to coal depots.
458 This is an important group of Amendments. In Committee, I promised to give sympathetic consideration to the important extension of the scope of the Bill in this way. I said that a number of special problems would need consideration, and the House will see that it has been necessary to adapt a number of provisions in order to make them fit the circumstances of coal depots.
One problem to which I referred in Committee was the programme which the British Railways Board has in mind for concentrating its coal depots, and therefore reducing their numbers. I said that we would have to be careful to avoid large sums of money being spent on amenities which were to have only a very short useful life. I propose to use the powers available to me in respect of the timing of the provisions, together with the exemption provisions, in order to achieve this.
6.15 p.m.
All the provisions which have a general application and are not restricted to specified premises will apply to coal depots—referred to in the Bill as "fuel storage premises"—in the same way as they apply to other premises, subject to the modifications set out in this group of Amendments.
The definition of fuel storage premises is provided for in the Amendments in page 2, line 11, leave out from beginning to end of line 19, and insert: (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 to persons resorting thereto or a part of a building so occupied where goods are so kept; (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 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 459 In page 2, leave out lines 24 to 26, and insert: and (c) 'solid fuel' means coal, coke and any solid fuel derived from coal or of which coal or coke is a constituent; 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 (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. which we shall be discussing later. The modifications now proposed are necessary in respect of coal depots which are wholly or partly in the open. The new Clause provides that the requirements about fire precautions shall not apply to those parts of fuel storage premises which are in the open. Clearly these requirements can have little or no application to such places, since there are no problems concerning means of escape.
The other new Clause that we are discussing provides that where there are two sets or more of fuel storage premises on land all parts of which are in the same ownership, the owner of the premises shall have certain responsibilities in relation to sanitation and washing facilities, in the same way as does the owner of a building to which Clause 35 applies. Where, however, only one set of fuel storage premises is situated in a depot, the occupier remains responsible for the provision and maintenance of lavatories, wash basins and other matters referred to in Clauses 9 and 10.
The Amendment in page 3, line 44 removes the obligation to keep clean those parts of fuel storage premises which are in the open. It would be a fairly thankless job to attempt to do this, and such a provision would be quite unenforceable.
The Amendment in page 14, line 29 removes the obligation to post a notice stating the name of the person in charge of the first aid box, in cases where the fuel storage premises are wholly in the open. Instead of posting such a notice, the Amendment provides that a note 460 containing this information shall be given individually to each employee. This will not place a great burden on the employer, because he will be able to comply with this requirement by putting a short note in his employees' pay packets. Where there is a hut in the fuel storage premises the ordinary notices can be posted there.
I suggest that these Amendments apply the provisions of the Bill to open air coal depots in a commonsense and practical way, and I commend them to the House.

§ Mr. Padley
I am most grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for bringing coal depots, as we normally call them, within the scope of the Bill. As he knows, strong trade union pressure has been brought to bear not only upon him but also upon the Ministers at the Home Office during the last eleven or twelve years to bring coal depots within the scope of the Bill. When the Bill was presented it appeared that there was no chance of the Government's yielding, I am glad that strong pressure in the Second Reading debate, together with strong pressure from the trade unions, has brought about this concession.
My union feels that the claim of coal distributive workers to the benefits afforded by these elementary health and welfare provisions is greater than that of any other section of the retail distributive trade. The job is dirty and arduous, and it has to be done in all weathers.
This group of Amendments, together with the Amendment in page 2, line 11, to which the Minister has already referred, will have the effect of bringing virtually the whole of the wholesale and retail trades within the provisions of the Bill. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will not use his powers of exemption too freely. New coal depots are being constructed, but as yet the pace of their development, if not very slow, is certainly not as quick as hon. Members representing coal distributive workers—apart from consumers—would wish.