Factory Inspections.
Milwaukee Code of Ordinances § 76-1
in effect76-1. Factory Inspections.
1. APPOINTMENT OF SANITARY POLICE. Subject to s. 17-04 of the charter, the commissioner is authorized to appoint sanitary police, in the number determined from time to time by the common council, one of whom to be a woman, for the purpose of inspection of factories and working places as hereinafter provided.
2. DUTY OF COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH. It is made the duty of the commissioner and he is empowered to order and supervise factory inspections in the city through and by means of the assistants mentioned in sub 1, insofar as the said inspection is not covered by statutes of this state, for the purposes and in the respects hereinafter mentioned.
3. AUTHORITY TO INSPECT. All industries within the city wherein material is used producing lint, dust or other particles which fly in the air, and all industries such as foundries, paint shops, dye works, chemical works and all other industries where chemical gases or fumes are created or where the air is otherwise made impure shall be under the control and inspection of the commissioner insofar as the same are not regulated by the statutes of the state. The commissioner is authorized and empowered to order the inspection of all factories and working places within the city for the purposes of inspecting, examining and considering the ventilation thereof and estimating the sufficiency or insufficiency of the amount of pure air and fresh air furnished each workman therein, and for the purpose of inspecting the general sanitary condition of such factory or working place, and to ascertain the facts as to whether or not each workman therein is provided with sufficient light to avoid injury to his or her eyes, and to ascertain whether or not persons afflicted with tuberculosis are employed therein, and to ascertain the degree of heat or cold to which such factory is heated or cooled.
4. POWER OF ENTRY; BADGES. Each such assistant shall be furnished with a badge bearing his photograph, name and official designation, showing him to be such assistant, and when wearing the same, shall have the right of admission and shall be admitted during working hours by persons, corporations or associations operating or controlling any factory or working places within the city to make the inspection referred to in this section.
5. USE OF FANS TO PREVENT FLYING DUST, ETC. No employer and officer or agent of any employing corporation, co-partnership or association shall permit or cause any employee to work in any factory building or other building at any industry within the city wherein material is used producing lint, dust or other particles which fly in the air unless the flying of the lint, dust or other particles is prevented as much as practical by suction fans, currents of air or some other means.
6. VENTILATION WHERE GASES OR FUMES ARE CREATED. No employer and no officer or agent of any employing corporation, co-partnership or association shall cause or permit any employee to work in any factory building or other building where chemical gases or fumes are created or where the air is rendered impure without ventilating the same or causing the same to be ventilated so as to remove the gas or other impurities as much as practical.
7. FRESH AIR IN FACTORIES. No employer and no officer or agent of any employing corporation, co-partnership or association shall cause any employee to work in any room where there are so many persons employed as to use up the fresh air therein, without providing means hereby sufficient fresh air will be either let in or forced into the said room so as to provide sufficient fresh air for each employee therein.
8. ILLUMINATION OF FACTORIES. No employer and no officer or agent of any employing corporation, co-partnership or association shall cause or permit any person to be employed in any factory or working place at a place so far removed from a window or other light-giving aperture and so far from an artificial light as to be injurious to the eyes or eyesight of the average man, and in the seasons of the year when a working day is longer than a day of light or when night work is done, each employer shall furnish adequate artificial light at all times when the light of the sun is not sufficient to give adequate light for the work to be done.
9. EMPLOYEES AFFLICTED WITH CONTAGIOUS DISEASES, ETC. No employer and no officer or agent of any employing corporation, co-partnership or association shall knowingly permit any person afflicted with tuberculosis to work in the same room with a person not afflicted with that disease, and no such employer and no such agent or officer shall knowingly permit any person afflicted with any infectious or contagious disease to work in the same room with any other person not afflicted with the same. A written notice signed by any duly licensed physician or by the commissioner of health certifying that any such person has any such disease and which notice shall be left with any such employer or with any such officer or agent shall constitute knowledge of the fact that any such person has any such disease.
10. POWER OF COMMISSIONER TO ORDER CHANGES. The commissioner is authorized and empowered to order changes and improvements in the structure, windows, ventilation, equipment, location of machinery, lights and air purifying devices of any factory or working place within the city to meet the requirements of subs. 5 to 8 and where new equipment shall be in his judgment needed to carry out the purposes of said subsections he is authorized and empowered to order the same put in and kept in operation during working hours; but before the said commissioner shall order any such change or new equipment he shall confer, either in person or by an assistant, with such employer or with an officer of such employing company, and if such employer or such officer shall concede that such change or new equipment is advisable, and if such change or the installation of such new equipment is started within 10 days thereafter and prosecuted in good faith to completion, then the said commissioner shall not order the same to be done. If, however, such employer or such officer shall refuse to comply with said request or fail to make or commence such change or the installation of such improvement within 10 days after consenting to do so, then the said commissioner shall order the same to be done in a written order signed by him and left with said employer or officer of such employing company and the said order shall be complied with within 60 days thereafter.
11. COMMISSIONER TO REPORT VIOLATIONS OF STATE LAW. The assistants mentioned herein and the commissioner shall report all violations of the state law as to factories and working places and kindred subjects that may come to their attention to the proper state authorities.
12. PENALTY. Any person violating this section shall be punished by a fine of no less than $25 and no more than $200 for each such offense.
Source: City of Milwaukee Legislative Reference Bureau, Milwaukee City Charter and Code of Ordinances (city.milwaukee.gov master PDFs)URL: https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/ccClerk/Ordinances/Volume-1/CH76.pdf#page=1Fetched: 10/26/2026