[Sections 2 and 3 require more than 1 rope per window in case of very large rooms, and section 4 requires such ropes to be kept in a convenient place.] Penalty. Not exceeding $300 and imprisonment 1 to 12 months, and in case of fire, liability for damages for personal injuries. Specified local authorities are given power to examine such means of escape, and if satisfied therewith to issue certificates of compliance. The possession of such a certificate relieves the owner from the liability of fines, damages, and imprisonment. By a subsequent law the enforcement of all provisions, State or local, relative to fire protection, except in cities of the first and second classes, is intrusted to the State factory inspection department.1 ** * Wherever the law makes it the duty of the owner, lessee, or other person to erect and maintain fire escapes or appliances for the extinguishment of fire, or for proper and sufficient exits in case of fire or panic, the chief factory inspector or his deputy shall inspect all said buildings * * and notify the owners, lessee, or other persons in charge of same to comply with said law. * * And all fire escapes, exits, and fire extinguishing appliances shall be provided and located by order of the chief factory inspector or * * [their] approval * * his deputy and shall be subject to * Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to cities of the first and second classes. CONDITIONS FOUND. Of the 50 establishments visited in Pennsylvania 41 had buildings 3 or more stories in height. Twenty-five of these 41 were in Philadelphia (the only city of the first class), 15 were in cities of the second class, and 1 was in a city of the third class. None of the buildings was of frame construction, and 5 (all in cities of the first and second classes) were "fireproofed." The following table groups the buildings of the 41 establishments by height and by character of place where located, and shows the number in each group having certain important means of fire protection: 1 Acts of 1905, act No. 226, sec. 22 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, p. 1180). KIND OF FIRE PROTECTION, BY HEIGHT AND CHARACTER OF CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS-PENNSYLVANIA. [Each entry represents 1 building. When an establishment has more than 1 building and the several buildings are not uniform as regards fire protection, the principal building has been selected as representative. Figures for fire escapes wholly or partly of wood are not shown in the table.] The laws of Ohio vest the factory-inspection department with a very considerable authority to insist upon satisfactory means of egress in case of fire. The legal provisions relating to fire escapes and means of egress are as follows: * * * * It shall be the duty of any owner * * * of any factory, workshop, tenement house, inn, or public house, if * more than 2 stories high, to provide convenient exits from the different upper stories * * * which shall be easily accessible in case of fire." And it shall be the duty of any owner * * * [of any such building] * more than 3 stories high, in addition to the provisions governing 3-story buildings, to provide a life-saving device, or net, which shall be approved by the fire chief of the city, or village, outside of the city or village * * * by the State inspector of workshops and factories; and said life-saving device, or net, shall be kept on the first floor at or near the entrance of * **[the building].1 * * * or if * * * 1 Acts of 1908, p. 83, sec. 2573, amending same section of Revised Statutes (Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 85, p. 705). It shall be their duty [i. e., inspectors of workshops and factories] to visit all shops and factories 1 in their respective districts as often as possible to see that all the provisions * * * of this act are strictly * carried out; * * and it shall be their duty to examine as to the means of exit from all such * * * 2 places in case of fire or other disaster * * * * * * * * Said inspectors, if they find upon such inspection *** that the means of egress in case of fire or other disaster is not sufficient, or that efficient means for extinguishing fire is not provided on each floor * * * shall notify the owners, proprietors, or agents of such shops or factories to make the alterations or additions necessary without delay: Provided, however, That for such of the alterations * * * as may be of such nature as to make it impossible to comply with immediately, the chief inspector may grant from 15 to 30 days' time * * *3 Penalty. For failure to make alterations, etc., within time granted $50 to $500; after conviction $10 per day until alterations are made.2 A special section of the law requires stairways to be handrailed, and prescribes minutely the method of railing to be followed: 4 All stairs or stairways for ingress or egress to and from all tenement houses, apartments, manufactories, mills, shops, stores *** shall be provided * * * with a good, substantial handrail extending from the top to the bottom of said stairs or stairway, and the same shall be firmly fastened * * * to the wall or other support and such handrail shall be constructed or made of wood not less than 1 inches wide and 24 inches thick; or iron not less than 1 inches in diameter and shall be put up and maintained along all the said stairs and in all the said stairways in the said buildings * * * * * * Penalty.-$10 to $100. Enforcement. Charged to State factory inspectors. CONDITIONS FOUND. Of the 60 establishments visited in Ohio, 54 had buildings 3 or more stories in height. None of these was of frame construction, and 6 were "fireproofed;" i. e., of reenforced concrete or brick and concrete. 1 Term "shops" and "factories" includes the following: Manufacturing, mechanical, electrical, mercantile, art and laundering establishments, printing, telegraph and telephone offices, railroad depots, hotels, memorial buildings, tenement and apartment houses. Bates's Ann. Stat., 3d ed., Pt. I, Political, sec. 2573d (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, p. 999). 2 Bates' Ann. Stat., 3d ed., Pt. I, Political, sec. 2573a-3, as amended by act, p. 338, Acts of 1902, and act, p. 530, Acts of 1904 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, p. 998). 3 Idem, sec. 2573c, as amended by act, p. 530, Acts of 1904 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, pp. 998, 999). * Idem, Pt. II, Civ., secs. 4238-15 and 4238-16 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, pp. 1007, 1008). The following table classifies the buildings of the 54 establishments. referred to by height, and shows the number in each height group having certain important means of fire protection. KIND OF FIRE PROTECTION, BY HEIGHT AND CHARACTER OF CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS-OHIO. Each entry represents 1 building. When an establishment has more than 1 building and the several buildings are not uniform as regards fire protection, the principal building has been selected as representative. Figures for fire escapes wholly or partly of wood are not shown in the table.] 1 Not including 1 establishment, not reported as to construction. In one of the 3-story buildings entered in this table as not having an incombustible fire escape, no employees worked above the second floor. Also, in one of the 4-story buildings entered as. not having a fire escape, there was a continuous stairway in the middle of the building leading from the roof to the ground, and there was an adjoining roof accessible from the upper stories. On this account the superintendent stated that no special fire escape was necessary. 49450°-S. Doc. 645, 61-2, vol 19-17 ILLINOIS. SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION. * The law of Illinois regarding fire escapes, in force at the time of the field work of this investigation, makes the following provisions:1 All buildings * which are 4 or more stories in height, excepting such as are used for private residences exclusively, but including flats and apartment buildings, shall be provided with 1 or more metallic ladder or stair fire escapes attached to the outer walls thereof and extending from, or suitably near the ground, to the uppermost story thereof, and provided with platforms of such forms and dimensions, and in such proximity to 1 or more windows of each story above the first, as to render access to such ladder or stairs from each such story easy and safe. The number, location, material, and construction of such escapes to be subject to the approval of [the county authorities in counties and of the corporate authorities in organized villages, towns, and cities]. Provided, however, That all buildings more than 2 stories in height, used for manufacturing purposes or for hotels, dormitories, schools, seminaries, hospitals, or asylums, shall have at least 1 such fire escape for every 50 persons for which working, sleeping, or living accommodations are provided above the second stories of said buildings. * * * All buildings of the number of stories and used for the purposes set forth in section one (1) [i. e., all the preceding quotation] of this act, which shall be hereafter erected * **, shall upon or before their completion each be provided with fire escapes of the kind and number, and in the manner set forth in said section 1 of this act. Penalty.-$25 to $200, and $50 for each additional week of failure to comply with legal notice within 30 days. On enforcing officials, for failure to carry out law, $5 to $100. 1 Hurd's Rev. Stat., 1905, ch. 55a, secs. 1 to 6 (22d An. Rept. Com. of Labor, pp. 347, 348). Later law. By an act passed shortly after the completion of this investigation, Acts of 1909, p. 202, secs. 14 to 17 (Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 85, p. 549), the provisions regarding fire escapes were increased in scope and their enforcement charged in full to the factory inspection department. The more significant provisions of the new law are these: All factories, mills, workshops, and mercantile establishments to have— 66 1. 'Sufficient and reasonable" means of escape in case of fire, by more than one means of egress, to be kept unobstructed, in good repair, ready for use, and plainly marked. 2. Doors opening outward, slide or roll, and so constructed as to open easily and quickly from within. 3. "Proper and substantial handrails" provided on all stairways, treads to be so constructed as to offer a firm foothold. 4. Proper lights kept burning in hallways and stairways, and in front of elevators, except during period when natural light is sufficient. |