The Survey,
Volume 30, Number 24,
September 13, 1913
THE COMMON WELFARE
THE BINGHAMTON FIRE
AND ENCLOSED STAIRWAYS
After many conferences and two days of public hearings on the enclosure of factory stairways, following the Binghamton fire—and backed by the attorney-general’s opinion in regard to the scope of its powers—the industrial board of the New York Department of Labor has adopted rules and regulations for the enclosure of stairways in factories of four stories or under. On account of the vital importance of exits, their rules are quoted in full:
Regulation No. 1. In all factory buildings less than five stories in height in which more than twenty-five persons are employed above the ground floor, or in which, regardless of the number of persons employed, articles, goods, wares, merchandise or products of combustible material are stored, packed, manufactured or in the process of manufacture, all interior stairways serving as required means of exit, and the landings, platforms, and passageways connected therewith, shall be enclosed on all sides by partitions of fire-resisting material extending continuously from the basement. Where the stairway extends to the top floor of the building such partitions shall extend to three feet above the roof. All openings in such partitions shall be provided with self-closing doors constructed of fire-resisting material, except where such openings are in the exterior wall of the building. The bottom of the enclosure shall be of fireproof material at least four inches thick, unless the fire-resisting partitions extend to the cellar bottom.
Such enclosure of stairways shall not be required in factory buildings in which there is an exterior enclosed fireproof stairway or a horizontal exit serving as a required means of exit, as defined in Section 79f, Subdivisions 8 and 9 of the labor law. Where approved automatic sprinklers are installed throughout such buildings, such enclosure of stairways shall not be required unless more than eighty persons are employed above the ground floor.
Regulation No. 2. In all factory buildings no articles or wares of a combustible nature shall be kept or stored inside the limits of any stairway enclosure, or unenclosed stairway, or on the landings, platforms, or passageways connected therewith, nor shall such articles or wares be kept or stored under any stairway unless such stairway and any partitions or doors thereunder are constructed of, or covered with, incombustible material.
Both rules become effective October 1, 1913. The labor law specifically provides for the enclosure of stairways in buildings over four stories.
The attorney-general’s opinion was asked by the Industrial Board in this case, for the purpose of determining at the beginning of its work the question of its powers not only in relation to matters not covered by legislation but also to those covered in part by law. The essential part of the opinion follows:
“It seems to me to be entirely beyond question that the industrial board has power to adopt rules and regulations upon subjects of which the statute already treats. The statute itself makes mandatory provisions for many safeguards and then makes provisions that additional safeguards may be required by the industrial board. There is nothing in the letter of the statute nor in its manifest intent to confine the jurisdiction of the industrial board to such few subjects only as are not expressly legislated upon by the statute itself. Such an extensive limitation upon its powers would be manifestly absurd and far foreign to the evident purpose of the Legislature in enacting additional legislation for the protection of the lives and health of employes in factories.”