40.-(1) Every steam boiler and all its fittings and attachments shall be of good construction, sound material, adequate strength and free from patent defect, and shall be properly maintained.
(2) Every steam boiler, whether separate or one of a range-
(a) shall have attached to it-
(i) a suitable safety valve, (separate from and incapable of being isolated by any stop-valve), which shall be so adjusted as to prevent the boiler being worked at a pressure greater than the maximum permissible working pressure and shall be fixed directly to, or as close as practicable to, the boiler;
(ii) a suitable stop-valve connecting the boiler to the steam pipe;
(iii) a correct steam pressure gauge, connected to the steam space and easily visible by the boiler attendant, which shall indicate the pressure of steam in the boiler in pounds per square inch or kilogrammes per square centimetre and have marked upon it, in a distinctive colour, the maximum permissible working pressure;
(ιv) at least one water gauge, or transparent material or other type approved by the Chief Inspector, to show the water level in the boiler, and, if the gauge is of the glass tubular type and the working pressure in the boiler normally exceeds three kilogrammes per square centimetre, the gauge shall be provided with, an efficient guard but not so as to obstruct the reading of the gauge;
(v) where it is one of two or more boilers, a plate bearing a distinctive number which shall be easily visible; and
(b) shall be provided with means for attaching a test pressure gauge; and
(c) shall be provided with a suitable fusible plug or an efficient low-water alarm device:
Provided that subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not apply with respect to economisers, and subparagraphs (iii), (iv) and (v) of paragraph (a), and paragraphs (b) and (c), of this subsection shall not apply with respect to either economisers or superheaters.
(3) For the purposes of the last foregoing subsection, a lever-valve shall not be deemed a suitable safety valve unless the weight is secured on the lever in the correct position.
(4) Every steam boiler attendant shall be properly instructed as to his duties.
(5) No person shall enter or be in any steam boiler which is one of a range of two or more steam boilers unless-
(a) all inlets through which steam or hot water might otherwise enter the boiler from any other part of the range are disconnected from that part; or
(b) all valves or taps controlling such entry are closed and securely locked, and, where the boiler has a blow-off pipe in common with one or more other boilers or delivering into a common blow-off vessel or sump, the blow-off valve or trap on each such boiler is so constructed that it can only be opened by a key which cannot be removed until the valve or tap is closed and is the only key in use for that set of blow-off valves or taps.
(6) No work shall be permitted in any boiler-furnace or boiler-flue until it has been sufficiently cooled by ventilation or otherwise to make work safe for the persons employed.
(7) Every steam boiler and all its fittings and attachments shall be thoroughly examined by an authorised boiler inspector αμέσως προ της εγκαταστάσεως και της διά πρώτην φοράν χρήσεως αυτών εν τινι εργοστασίω και μετέπειτα at least once in every period of fourteen months, and also after any extensive repairs:
Provided that-
(a) the person making any such examination may specify in writing a period exceeding fourteen months but not exceeding eighteen months within which the next examination is to be made; and
(b) in the case of any range of boilers used at the date of the passing of this Law for the purposes of a process requiring a continuous supply of steam any stop-valve on the range which cannot be isolated from steam under pressure need only be examined so far as is practicable without such isolation, but this proviso shall cease to have effect at the expiration of a period of four years from the date of the passing of this Law.
(8) Any examination in accordance with the requirements of the last foregoing subsection shall consist, in the first place, of an examination of the boiler when it is cold and the interior and exterior have been prepared in the prescribed manner, and secondly, except in the case of an economizer or super-heater, of an examination when it is under normal steam pressure; the examination under steam pressure shall be made as soon as possible after the examination of the boiler when cold, and the person making the examination shall see that the safety valve is so adjusted as to prevent the boiler being worked at a pressure greater than the maximum permissible working pressure.
(9) A report of the result of every such examination, in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars (including particulars of the maximum permissible working pressure), shall, as soon as practicable and in any case within twenty-eight days of the completion of the examination, be entered in or attached to the General Register, and the report shall be signed by the person making the examination.
For the purposes of this subsection and the succeeding provisions of this section relating to reports of examinations, the examination when it is under steam pressure shall be treated as separate examinations.
(10) No steam boiler which has previously been used shall be taken into use in any factory for the first time in that factory until it has been examined and reported on in accordance with the last three foregoing subsections; and no new steam boiler shall be taken into use unless there has been obtained from an authorised boiler inspector a certificate specifying the maximum permissible working pressure of the boiler and stating the nature of the tests to which the boiler and fittings have been submitted, and the certificate is kept available for inspection, and the boiler is so marked as to enable it to be identified as the boiler to which the certificate relates.
(11) Where the report of any examination under this section specifies conditions for securing the safe working of a steam boiler, the boiler shall not be used except in accordance with those conditions.
(12) Any person who, for the purposes of this section, desires that an examination of a steam boiler should be carried out by, and any person who desires to obtain the certificate referred to in subsection (10) of this section from, any authorised boiler inspector who is an officer of the Government shall notify the Chief Inspector accordingly and, on payment by such person of the prescribed fee, the Chief Inspector shall instruct such an authorised boiler inspector to carry out the said examination, or to carry out the necessary tests with a view to the issue of the said certificate, as the case may be.
(13) In this section-
“authorised boiler inspector” means any person (whether an officer of the Government or not) who is authorised by the Chief Inspector, by certificate in writing, to carry out examinations of steam boilers in accordance with, and for the purposes of, this section and to issue the certificate referred to in subsection (10);
“maximum permissible working pressure” means in the case of a new steam boiler, that specified in the certificate referred to in subsection (10) of this section, and, in the case of a steam boiler which has been examined in accordance with the provisions of this section, that specified in the report of the last examination.
(14) This section shall not apply to the boiler of any ship.