New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-09-29
NEW FACTORY FIRE LAW
EFFECTIVE WEDNESDAY
Statute, Founded on Triangle
Disaster, to Protect Work
men Is Minute in Detail.
DEMANDS FIREPRO0F EXITS
Labor Department Plans an I'M
mediate Inspection of ALI
Shops in It's Ju-
risdiction.

As an outcome Of the Triangle Waist
Cor,ranv fire. in March. 1911. In which
scores OF girls lost their lives, an amend
ment TO the state factory law VIII oecoile
! effective next Wednesday. In the III
angle company disaster the fact thal '"e
Asch Building was inadequate!y equipped
with means Of exit was responsible lot
,ba terrihle results. The new law. enacted
nv the LEGISLATURE in May. provides that
/ there shall be a sufficient number or nre-
proof exits from all existing factory ouilu-
? ings. requires new manufacturing plah's
+ 10 he built OF strictly freproof material
/ and IN other ways calls for conditions
intended TO safeguard the lives OF work
] ers.
As the law was passed in the SPRING
its requirements are familiar TO manu-
facturers. Some have already made the
required changes in their plants. the STATE
Department Of Labor has learned whie
others are evidently awaiting visit from
2 Labor Department Inspector \ heavy
penalty will be exacted from those VINO
do not heed the laws warning
There are between 5000 and 4IOW
factories in the state and system mas
been devised whereby. it is said, each
plant will be visited within few weeks
after the law goes into effect.
Every building more than two stories
I'm height. the new law states. must be
provided on each floor with at least TWO
means OF escape IN case of fire. one OF
the exits must lead TO an inclosed hre-
proof stairway which in buildings OF
four or more stories in height shall be
made Of and inclosed in freproof ma
teriaI Not to offer the owner Of the
building any means Of avoiding expense
the law defines what is freproof III the
following language:
"Fireproof material is material which is
incombustible and is capable of resisting
the effect OF fire IN such manner and to
such an extent as to insure the safety OF
the occupants Of the building. The in
dustrial board (of the State Department
Of Labor shall determine, and in It's
rules and regulations shall specify, what
materials are freproof materials within
the meaning hereof
The other door on each fiOor-or. when
more than one concern occupy story
in the individual plant-shall Lead the
law states. TO an open or interior IRE
proof stairway; or, II the Department OF
Labor passes on it, to a fire escape on
the exterior of the building
That no point in the floor Of a factory
shall be more than one hundred feet from
such an exit; that all stairways 10 the
ground floor shall lead directly or by
cleared passage to the street. and that
all horizontal openings I'm buildings OF
more than four stories. whether they be
for stairs. elevators dumbwaiters. pipe
or wire ducts. shall be inclosed at the
top. bottom and sides with material
deemed freproof by the state are also
specified by the Law.
II five or more persons are employed on
floor 1t shall be the duty Of an in
spector 10 see that the doors leading TO
the exits are either swinging doors or
hung to open outwardly.
All fire escapes must he OF an approved
design. Of wrought iron, and capable Of
sustaining a weight OF not less than
ninety pounds 10 the square foot Balco-
MES at each floor must be four feet I'm
width and connected, not by iron ladders
hut by stairs not less than twenty-five
inches wide. fitted with handrails and at
an incline Of not more than 40 degrees
At the bottom. instead Of the I'D drop
ladder there must be a stairway. which
swings up or down automatically by
counterbalancing weights.
All stairwsys must be forty-four inches
I'm width and have handrals. the law
reads. and when the steps are nreproof
l.
must extend through 10 the roof 1t is
provided that there shall be no wire,
bars or other distractions over windows.
and I'm the case Of windows opening on
fire escapes or elevator shafts they are
TO be Of wire mesh glass.
IN the matter Of factory buildings TO
be constructed hereafter plans must be
submitted TO and passed upon by the De-
partment Of Labor before factory can
be erected.