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Fire escapes on factories, etc.

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Fire

escapes

SECTION 1067a. It shall be the duty of the owner or owners of all factories, workshops, * in this State of over three to be provided. stories in height, * to provide for the safe exit of the occupants thereof in case of fire by the erection or construction of fire escapes of the most approved modern design. The character and design of said fire escapes shall, in cities and towns, be selected by the council of said cities and towns; and where the buildings are not located in cities or towns, by the board of supervisors of the county. Any owner or owners of such buildings shall have the right to require the council of the city or town in which said buildings are located, or in the counties the board designated by this act, to make such selection of said fire escapes as is provided by this act; and in case of their failure or refusal they shall be compellable by mandamus. Any owner or owners of such buildings who shall fail to comply with * this act * * * shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each month they shall fail to provide such fire escapes.

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Protection of employees on street railways—Inclosed platforms.

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SECTION 1294d (27). All urban, interurban, and suburban elec- Vestibuled fronts to tric railway companies shall use vestibuled fronts on all motor cars used, when. run, operated, or transported by them on their lines during the ⚫ months of November, December, January, February, March, and April of each year: Provided, That such vestibuled fronts need not be used on open summer cars run, operated, or transported by them, during the months of November and April: And provided, That said companies shall not be required to close the sides of said vestibules, and any such company refusing or failing to comply with said requirement shall be subject to a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each offense.

Railroads-Safety appliances—Accidents.

Telltales

Damages.

SECTION 1294d (36). Where any railroad track passes under any bridge, tunnel, or structure, not sufficiently high to admit of the be erected. safe passage of cars upon such railroad tracks, with the servants and employees standing at their posts of duty on said cars, the person or persons, firm, or corporation, operating said railroad and running its trains thereon, shall erect and maintain, at proper distances on each side of such bridge, tunnel, or structure, warning signals of approved design, and in general use, to warn the servants and employees, or those operating such railroads, of the approach to such bridge, tunnel, or structure, and the failure to erect and maintain such danger signals shall make those operating such railroads liable in damages for the death or injury of any employee or servant resulting from the insufficient height of such bridge, tunnel, or structure, and no contract, expressed or implied, and no plea of, or defense based upon, the contributory negligence of the servant or employee shall relieve those operating such railroads of the liability imposed hereby. The State corporation commission is hereby authorized, by general or special regulations or order, to determine or approve the character and location of any danger signal which may be erected and maintained to comply with the provisions of this act, and any and every danger signal constructed and located as the said commission shall determine and approve shall be deemed within the meaning of this act to be an approved danger signal and erected at the proper distance on each side of such bridge, tunnel, or structure.

Maintenance of signals does not relieve the company from liability for negligence in having a low bridge. 62 S. E. Rep. 363.

SEC. 1294d (52). Notice of every accident which occurs, attended with loss of life or injury to person, shall be given within five days thereafter by the company operating the railroad on

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Notice of accidents.

Air brakes.

which the accident occurred to the State corporation commission, and such company shall furnish the commission all information requested by it concerning the cause of the accident.

SEC. 1294d. (53). No regular or other passenger train, on any railroad operated by steam, shall be run without an air brake, or some equally effective appliance for controlling the speed of trains, which may be applied by the engineer to each car composing the train, and which shall, at all times, be kept in good condition and ready for use at the discretion of the engineer. The State corporation commission may require all other trains to be equipped with like appliances whenever, in its opinion, the public interests require it. The said commission may also require any company operating any such railroad to establish and Block sys- maintain the block system or some other equally efficient system to regulate the movement of its trains, in order to prevent collisions.

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Liability of railroad companies for injuries to employees. Liability for SECTION 1294k. Every corporation operating a railroad in this negligence of State, whether such corporation be created under the laws of this superintendState or otherwise, shall be liable in damages for any and all injuries sustained by any employee of such corporation as follows: When such injury results from the wrongful act, neglect, or default of an agent or officer of such corporation superior to the employee injured, or of a person employed by such corporation having the right to control or direct the services of such employee injured, or the services of the employee by whom he is injured; and also when such injury results from the wrongful act, neglect, Of persons in or default of a coemployee engaged in another department of another depart- labor from that of the employee injured, or of a coemployee on ment, etc. another train of cars, or of a coemployee who has charge of any switch, signal point, or locomotive engine, or who is charged with dispatching trains or transmitting telegraphic or telephonic orders. Knowledge by any employee injured of the defective or unsafe character or condition of any machinery, ways, appliances, or structures of such corporation shall not of itself be a bar to Injuries recovery for any injury or death caused thereby. When death, causing death. whether instantaneous or otherwise, results from any injury to any employee of such corporation received as aforesaid, the personal representative of such employee shall have a right of action therefor against such corporation, and may recover damContracts ages in respect thereof. Any contract or agreement, express or waiving rights. implied, made by any such employee to waive the benefit of this section or any part thereof shall be null and void, and this section shall not be construed to deprive any such employee, or his personal representative, of any right or remedy to which he is now entitled under the laws of this State. The rules and principles Contributory of law as to contributory negligence, which apply to other cases, negligence. shall apply to cases arising under this act, except in so far as the same are herein modified or changed.

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Examination and licensing of plumbers.

SECTION 1743d 1. In all cities in the State of Virginia having a population of more than eight thousand inhabitants there shall be a board for the examination of plumbers of four members, consisting of one member, to be known as the chief health officer of the city, and one member to be known as the plumbing inspector of the city; one journeyman plumber, and one master plumber, all of whom shall be residents of the city in which their duties are to be performed, and the plumbing inspector, journeyman, and master plumbers shall be licensed plumbers. The members of said board shall be selected as the councils of the respective cities may determine, and said councils shall also prescribe the terms of office of the several members of such board, and the method of their removal from office. The terms of office of such chief health

officers and plumbing inspectors as may be in office when this act shall go into effect shall not be affected hereby, and they shall be constituted members of their respective boards for the term for which they may have been elected.

2. The persons who compose the first plumbing board under this Organization. act shall, within ten days after their appointment, meet in their respective city building, or place designated by the city council, and organize by the selection of one of their number as chairman, and the plumbing inspector shall be secretary of said board. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep full, true, and correct minutes and records of all licenses issued by it, together with their kinds and dates and the names of persons to whom issued, in books to be provided by such city for that purpose, which books and records shall be in all business hours open for free inspection by all persons.

4. The board shall fix stated times and places of meeting, which Meetings. times shall not be less than once in every two weeks, and may be held oftener upon written call of the chairman of the board, and the board shall adopt rules for the examination, at such times and places, of all persons who desire a license to work at the construction or repairing of plumbing within the said city.

5. Any person not already licensed as herein provided desiring Examinations. to work at the business of plumbing in any such city shall make written application to the said board for examination for a license, which examination shall be made at the next meeting of the board, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and said board shall examine said applicant as to his practical knowledge of plumbing, house drainage and plumbing, ventilation and sanitation, which examination shall be practical as well as theoretical, and if the applicant has shown himself competent, the plumbing board shall cause its chairman and secretary to execute and deliver to the applicant a license authorizing him to do plumbing in such city.

6. All licenses may be renewed by the board at the dates of their expiration. Such renewal licenses shall be granted, without a reexamination, upon a written application of the licensee filed with the board and showing that his purposes and conditions remain unchanged, unless it is made to appear by affidavit before the board that the applicant is no longer competent or entitled to such renewal license, in which event the renewal license shall not be granted until the applicant has undergone the examination hereinbefore required.

7. All licenses shall be good for one year from their dates, provided that any license may be revoked by the board at any time upon a hearing upon sufficient written, sworn charges filed with the board, showing the holder of the license to be then incompetent or guilty of a willful breach of the rules, regulations, or requirements of the board, or of the laws or ordinances relating thereto, or of other causes sufficient for the revoking of his license, of which charges and hearing the holder of such license shall have written notice.

All

8. It shall be unlawful for any person to do any plumbing in any such city of this State unless he be licensed as herein provided. 9. The fee for the original license of a journeyman plumber shall be one dollar. All renewal fees shall be fifty cents. license fees shall be paid, prior to the execution and delivery of the license, to the treasurer of the city for which the license was issued.

Renewal licenses.

Revocation.

License quired.

Fees.

14. Any person violating any provision of this act or of any Penalty. lawful ordinances, or rules and regulations, authorized by this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not exceeding fifty nor less than five dollars for each and every violation thereof, and if such persons hold a plumber's license, it may, in the discretion of the board, be forfeited, and he shall not be entitled to another plumber's license for the space of one year after such forfeiture is declared against him by the board.

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Employees on public works-Vaccination.

SECTION 1743e.

Inspection of Any person, firm, or corporation employing large bodies of laemployees. borers in the State of Virginia constructing works of public improvement shall, unless said person, firm, or corporation has its own physician for that purpose, be required to have a regular inspection by the board of health of the counties in which said laborers are employed at such times as said board of health may determine. And the said person, firm, or corporation shall pay to the physician designated to make such inspection by the board of health of said county the sum of ten dollars for such inspecVaccination. tion; in the discretion of the examining officer the laborers shall be vaccinated at the expense of the said person, firm, or corporation; the said obligation of ten dollars and cost of vaccination to have the force and effect of a fee bill of an officer and be collected by the sheriff as any such fee bills may be collected.

Bureau established.

Dutles.

Bureau of labor and industrial statistics.

SECTION 1790c 1. A bureau of labor and industrial statistics of the State of Virginia is hereby established.

2. It shall be the duty of said bureau to collect, assort, systematize, and present in annual reports to the governor, to be by him biennially transmitted to the legislature, statistical details relating to all departments of labor, penal institutions, and industrial pursuits in the State, especially in their relation to the commercial, industrial, social, educational, and sanitary condition of the laboring classes and to the permanent prosperity of the productive industries of the State.

Commissioner. 3 (as amended by chapter 55, Acts of 1906). The governor shall appoint, by and with the consent of the Senate, some suitable person who is identified with the labor interests of the State, who shall be designated commissioner of labor statistics, and who shall, upon the request of the governor, furnish such information as he may require. The term of office for said commissioner shall be two years from date of his appointment, with power of removal by the governor for cause.

Powers.

4 (as amended by chapter 55, Acts of 1906). The commissioner shall have power to take and preserve testimony, examine witnesses under oath and administer the same; and when he is of the opinion from said testimony that the laws of the State relating to labor have been violated or evaded, he shall make a thorough investigation as to such violation or evasion, and to that end may, under proper restrictions, enter any public institution of this State, and any factory, store, workshop or mine, and interrogate any such person, firm or the proper officer of a corporation, or file a written or printed list of interrogatories, and require full and complete answers to be made thereto and returned under oath within thirty days of receipt of said list of questions, and if any person who may be sworn to give testimony shall willfully fail or refuse to answer any legal and proper question propounded to him concerning the subject of such examination, as indicated in the second section of this act, or if any person to whom a written or printed list of such interrogations has been furnished by said commissioner shall neglect or refuse to fully answer and return the same under oath, such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before a court of competent jurisdiction shall be fined a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars nor less than twenty-five dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding ninety days, or by both fine and imprisonment: Provided, however, That nothing in this act shall be construed as permitting the commissioner or any employee of this bureau to make use of any information or statistics gathered from any person, company or corporation for any other than the purposes of this act.

of laws.

If the commissioner shall find, upon such investigation, that the Enforcement laws of this State relating to labor have been violated or evaded, he shall notify the person, firm or proper officer of the corporation of such violation or evasion, in writing, and unless the laws are fully complied with, within a reasonable time, not to exceed thirty days, then, and in that event, the commissioner shall make a report of such violation or evasion to the circuit or corporation court, and the attorney for the Commonwealth of the county or city wherein such violation or evasion of the law may occur.

Rate of wages of laborers at salvage.

termined.

SECTION 1946. The laborers employed in saving such [wrecked] How rate deproperty shall be paid a reasonable sum for their services. If the parties interested do not agree on what is to be so paid, the owner of the property, or his agent, may choose one person, and the commissioner of wrecks another, to determine what is to be paid said laborers, and their award, or if they disagree, the award of an umpire chosen by them, being made in writing, shall be binding on the said laborers and the owner.

Judgments for wages-No property exempt.

SECTION 3630. *

* Provided, That such [homestead] exemption shall not extend to any execution order or other process issued on any demand in the following cases:

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Second. For services rendered by a laboring person or mechanic.

Wage debts.

Exemption of wages from garnishment, etc.

house holder

SECTION 3652. Wages owing to a laboring man being a house-, Wages of holder, not exceeding fifty dollars per month, shall also be exempt exempt. from distress, levy, or garnishment.

out of State.

SEC. 3652a. 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to institute or Sending claim permit to be instituted proceedings in his own name or in the name of any other person, or to assign or transfer, either for or without value, any claim for debt or liability of any kind held by him against a resident of this State who is a laboring man and a householder for the purpose of having payment of the same or any part thereof enforced out of the wages exempted by section three thousand six hundred and fifty-two of the Code of Virginia by proceedings in attachment or garnishment in courts or before justices of the peace in any other State than in the State of Virginia, or to send out of this State by assignment, transfer, or in any other manner whatsoever, either for or without value, any claim or debt against any resident thereof for the purpose or with the intent of depriving such person of the right to have his wages exempt from distress, levy, or garnishment according to the provisions of section three thousand six hundred and fifty-two of the Code of Virginia. And the person instituting such suit or permitting such suit to be instituted, or sending, assigning, or transferring any such claim or debt for the purpose or with the intent aforesaid shall upon conviction thereof be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, and shall in addition thereto be liable in an action of debt to the person from whom payment of the same or any part thereof shall have been enforced by attachment or garnishment or otherwise elsewhere than in the State of Virginia for the full amount, payment whereof shall have been so enforced, together with interest thereon and the costs of the attachment or garnishee proceedings as well as the costs of said action.

2. The amount recovered in such action shall stand on the Recovery exempt. same footing with the wages of the plaintiff under section three

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