Office of Public Sector Information

F1PART IIHEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE IN CONNECTION WITH WORK, AND CONTROL OF DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES

Preliminary

Preliminary

3 .F1F2—(1) The provisions of this Part shall have effect with a view to—

(a)securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work;

(b)protecting persons other than persons at work against risks to health or safety arising out of or in connection with the activities of persons at work;

(c)controlling the keeping and use of explosive or highly flammable or otherwise dangerous substances, and generally preventing the unlawful acquisition, possession and use of such substances.

(2) The provisions of this Part relating to the making of health and safety regulations and the preparation and approval of codes of practice shall in particular have effect with a view to enabling the existing statutory provisions to be progressively replaced by a system of regulations and approved codes of practice operating in combination with the other provisions of this Part and designed to maintain or improve the standards of health, safety and welfare established by or under the existing statutory provisions.

(3) For the purposes of this Part risks arising out of or in connection with the activities of persons at work shall be treated as including risks attributable to the manner of conducting an undertaking, the plant or substances used for the purposes of an undertaking and the condition of premises so used or any part of them.

(4) References in this Part to the general purposes of this Part are references to the purposes mentioned in paragraph (1).

(5) Except as provided by Article 53, nothing in this Order shall enable any regulations to be made dealing with any matter which is dealt with by the Explosives Acts (Northern Ireland) 1875 to 1970 or the Explosives (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 M1 or which may be dealt with by any instrument under those Acts or that Order.

General duties

General duties of employers to their employees

4 .F2F4F1F3—(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of an employer's duty under paragraph (1), the matters to which that duty extends include in particular—

(a)the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health;

(b)arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances;

(c)the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of his employees;

(d)so far as is reasonably practicable as regards any place of work under the employer's control, the maintenance of it in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks;

(e)the provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.

(3) Except in such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer to prepare and as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement of his general policy with respect to the health and safety at work of his employees and the organisation and arrangements for the time being in force for carrying out that policy, and to bring the statement and any revision of it to the notice of all of his employees.

(4) Regulations may provide for the appointment in prescribed cases by recognised trade unions (within the meaning of the regulations) of safety representatives from amongst the employees, and those representatives shall represent the employees in consultations with the employers under paragraph (5) and shall have such other functions as may be prescribed.

(5) It shall be the duty of every employer to consult any such representatives with a view to the making and maintenance of arrangements which will enable him and his employees to co-operate effectively in promoting and developing measures to ensure the health and safety at work of the employees, and in checking the effectiveness of such measures.

(6) In such cases as may be prescribed it shall be the duty of every employer, if requested to do so by the safety representatives mentioned in paragraph (4), to establish, in accordance with regulations, a safety committee having the function of keeping under review the measures taken to ensure the health and safety at work of his employees and such other functions as may be prescribed.

General duties of employers and self-employed to persons other than their employees

5 .F2F4F1F3—(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.

(2 )F5 It shall be the duty of every self-employed person to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that he and other persons (not being his employees) who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.

(3) In such cases as may be prescribed, it shall be the duty of every employer and every self-employed person, in the prescribed circumstances and in the prescribed manner, to give to persons (not being his employees) who may be affected by the way in which he conducts his undertaking the prescribed information about such aspects of the way in which he conducts his undertaking as might affect their health or safety.

General duties of persons concerned with premises to persons other than their employees

6 .F1F3F2—(1) This Article has effect for imposing on persons duties in relation to those who—

(a)are not their employees; but

(b)use non-domestic premises made available to them as a place of work or as a place where they may use plant or substances provided for their use there,

and applies to premises so made available and other non-domestic premises used in connection with them.

(2) It shall be the duty of each person who has, to any extent, control of premises to which this Article applies or of the means of access thereto or egress therefrom or of any plant or substance in such premises to take such measures as it is reasonable for a person in his position to take to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the premises, all means of access thereto or egress therefrom available for use by persons using the premises, and any plant or substance in the premises or, as the case may be, provided for use there, is or are safe and without risks to health.

(3) Where a person has, by virtue of any contract or tenancy, an obligation of any extent in relation to—

(a)the maintenance or repair of any premises to which this Article applies or any means of access thereto or egress therefrom; or

(b)the safety of or the absence of risks to health arising from plant or substances in any such premises;

that person shall be treated, for the purposes of paragraph (2), as being a person who has control of the matters to which his obligation extends.

(4) Any reference in this Article to a person having control of any premises or matter is a reference to a person having control of the premises or matter in connection with the carrying on by him of a trade, business or other undertaking (whether for profit or not).

General duties of manufacturers etc. as regards articles and substances for use at work

7 .F2F4F5F6F3—F1(1) It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work or any article of fairground equipment —

(a)to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed that it will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being set, used, cleaned or maintained by a person at work;

(b)to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be necessary for the performance of the duty imposed on him by sub-paragraph ( a);

(c)to take such steps as are necessary to secure that persons supplied by that person with the article are provided with adequate information about the use for which the article is designed or has been tested and about any conditions necessary to ensure that it will be safe and without risks to health at all such times as are mentioned in sub-paragraph ( a) and when it is being dismantled or disposed of; and

(d)to take such steps as are necessary to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons so supplied are provided with all such revisions of information provided to them by virtue of sub-paragraph ( c) as are necessary by reason of its becoming known that anything gives rise to a serious risk to health or safety.

(1A) It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article of fairground equipment —

(a)to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed that it will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being used for or in connection with the entertainment of members of the public;

(b)to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be necessary for the performance of the duty imposed on him by sub-paragraph ( a);

(c)to take such steps as are necessary to secure that persons supplied by that person with the article are provided with adequate information about the use for which the article is designed or has been tested and about any conditions necessary to ensure that it will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being used for or in connection with the entertainment of members of the public; and

(d)to take such steps as are necessary to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons so supplied are provided with all such revisions of information provided to them by virtue of sub-paragraph ( c) as are necessary by reason of its becoming known that anything gives rise to a serious risk to health or safety.

(2) It shall be the duty of any person who undertakes the design or manufacture of any article for use at work F1 or of any article of fairground equipment to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable, the elimination or minimisation of any risks to health or safety to which the design or article may give rise.

(3) It shall be the duty of any person who erects or installs any article for use at work in any premises where that article is to be used by persons at work F1 or who erects or installs any article of fairground equipment to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that nothing about the way in which F1 the article is erected or installed makes it unsafe or a risk to health at any such time as is mentioned in paragraph (1)( a) or, as the case may be, (1A)( a).

F1(4) It shall be the duty of any person who manufactures, imports or supplies any substance—

(a)to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the substance will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being used, handled, processed, stored or transported by a person at work or in premises to which Article 6 applies;

(b)to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be necessary for the performance of the duty imposed on him by sub-paragraph ( a);

(c)to take such steps as are necessary to secure that persons supplied by that person with the substance are provided with adequate information about any risks to health or safety to which the inherent properties of the substance may give rise, about the results of any relevant tests which have been carried out on or in connection with the substance and about any conditions necessary to ensure that the substance will be safe and without risks to health at all such times as are mentioned in sub-paragraph ( a) and when the substance is being disposed of; and

(d)to take such steps as are necessary to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons so supplied are provided with all such revisions of information provided to them by virtue of sub-paragraph ( c) as are necessary by reason of its becoming known that anything gives rise to a serious risk to health or safety.

(5) It shall be the duty of any person who undertakes the manufacture of any F1 substance to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable, the elimination or minimisation of any risks to health or safety to which the substance may give riseF1 at all such times as are mentioned in paragraph (4)( a).

(6) Nothing in the provisions of this Article shall be taken to require a person to repeat any testing, examination or research which has been carried out otherwise than by him or at his instance, in so far as it is reasonable for him to rely on the results thereof for the purposes of those provisions.

(7) Any duty imposed on any person by any of the preceding provisions of this Article shall extend only to things done in the course of a trade, business or other undertaking carried on by him (whether for profit or not) and to matters within his control.

(8) Where a person designs, manufactures, imports or supplies an article F1 for use at work or an article of fairground equipment and does so far or to another on the basis of a written undertaking by that other to take specified steps sufficient to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article will be safe and without risks to health F1 at all such times as are mentioned in sub-paragraph ( a) of paragraph (1) or as the case may be, in sub-paragraph ( a) of paragraph (1A), the undertaking shall have the effect of relieving the first-mentioned person from the duty imposed F1 by virtue of that sub-paragraph to such extent as is reasonable having regard to the terms of the undertaking.

F1(8A) Nothing in paragraph (7) or (8) shall relieve any person who imports any article or substance from any duty in respect of anything which—

(a)in the case of an article designed outside the United Kingdom, was done by and in the course of any trade, profession or other undertaking carried on by, or was within the control of, the person who designed the article; or

(b)in the case of an article or substance manufactured outside the United Kingdom, was done by and in the course of any trade, profession or other undertaking carried on by, or was within the control of, the person who manufactured the article or substance.

(9) Where a person ( “the ostensible supplier”) supplies any F1 article or substance to another ( “the customer”) under a hire-purchase agreement, conditional sale agreement or credit-sale agreement, and the ostensible supplier—

(a)carries on the business of financing the acquisition of goods by others by means of such agreements; and

(b)in the course of that business acquired his interest in the article or substance supplied to the customer as a means of financing its acquisition by the customer from a third person ( “the effective supplier”),

the effective supplier and not the ostensible supplier shall be treated for the purposes of this Article as supplying the article or substance to the customer, and any duty imposed by this Article on suppliers shall accordingly fall on the effective supplier and not on the ostensible supplier.

F1(10) For the purposes of this Article an absence of safety or a risk to health shall be disregarded in so far as the case in or in relation to which it would arise is shown to be one the occurrence of which could not reasonably be foreseen; and in determining whether any duty imposed by virtue of sub-paragraph ( a) of paragraph (1), (1A) or (4) has been performed regard shall be had to any relevant information or advice which has been provided to any person by the person by whom the article has been designed, manufactured, imported or supplied or, as the case may be, by the person by whom the substance has been manufactured, imported or supplied.

General duties of employees at work

8 .F2F4F1F3  It shall be the duty of every employee while at work—

(a)to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work; and

(b)as regards any duty or requirement imposed on his employer or any other person by or under any of the relevant statutory provisions, to co-operate with him so far as is necessary to enable that duty or requirement to be performed or complied with.

Duty not to interfere with or misuse things provided pursuant to certain provisions

9 .F1F3F2  No person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare in pursuance of any of the relevant statutory provisions.

Duty not to charge employees for things done or provided pursuant to certain specific requirements

10 .F1F2  No employer shall levy or permit to be levied on any employee of his any charge in respect of anything done or provided in pursuance of any specific requirement of the relevant statutory provisions.

General duty of the Department concerned

11 .F1F2  In addition to the other functions conferred on the Department concerned under this Order, it shall be the general duty of that Department to do such things and make such arrangements as it considers appropriate for the general purposes of this Part.

The Health and Safety F1 Executive for Northern Ireland

Establishment of the F1 Executive

12 .F2F3—(1) There shall be established a body to be called the Health and Safety F1 Executive for Northern Ireland consisting of a chairman appointed by the Head of the Department and not less than six nor more than nine other members appointed by the Head of the Department in accordance with paragraph (2).

(2) Before appointing the members of the F1 Executive (other than the chairman) the Head of the Department shall—

(a)as to three of them, consult such organisations representing employers as he considers appropriate;

(b)as to three others, consult such organisations representing employees as he considers appropriate; and

(c)as to any other members he may appoint, consult such organisations representing district councils and such other organisations, other than the organisations mentioned in sub-paragraph ( a) or ( b), as he considers appropriate.

F1(2A) The Head of the Department may, after consultation with the Executive, appoint one of the members to be deputy chairman of the Executive.

(3) The F1 Executive shall have such functions as are conferred on it under the succeeding provisions of this Order.

(4) The provisions of Schedule 2 shall have effect with respect to the F1 Executive.

F1(5) The functions of the Executive, and of its officers and servants, shall be performed on behalf of the Crown.

(6) For the purpose of any civil proceedings arising out of those functions, the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 shall apply to the Executive as if it were a Department of Her Majesty's Government in Northern Ireland within the meaning of that Act.

(7) The Department may by order subject to negative resolution amend paragraph (1) so far as it regulates the number of members of the Executive.

Functions of the F1 Executive

13 .F2F3—F1(1) In addition to the other functions conferred on the Executive under this Order, but subject to paragraph (4), it shall be the general duty of the Executive to do such things and make such arrangements as it considers appropriate for the general purposes of this Part.

(1A) It shall be the duty of the Executive—

(a)to assist and encourage persons concerned with matters relevant to any of the general purposes of this Part to further those purposes;

(b)to make such arrangements as it considers appropriate for securing that government departments, employers, employees, organisations representing employers and employees respectively, and other persons concerned with matters relevant to any of those purposes are provided with an information and advisory service and are kept informed of, and adequately advised on, such matters;

(c)to submit to the Department concerned such proposals as the Executive considers appropriate for the making of regulations under any of the relevant statutory provisions.

(2) The F1 Executive, in accordance with Article 18, may prepare and issue codes of practice and may approve codes of practice prepared by other persons.

(3) The F1 Executive may,

(a)make such arrangements as it considers appropriate for—

(i)the carrying out of, and the publication of the results of, research; and

(ii)the provision of training and information;

in connection with the purposes of this Part; and

(b)encourage research and the provision of training and information in that connection by others;

(c)generally promote health and safety at work.

(4) The F1 Executive shall—

(a)submit to the Department particulars of what it proposes to do for the purpose of performing its functions ; and

(b)subject to sub-paragraph ( c), ensure that its activities are in accordance with proposals approved by the Department; and

(c)give effect to any directions given to it by the Department.

Control of the F1 Executive by the Department

14 .F2F3  The Department may—

(a)approve, with or without modifications, any proposals submitted to it in pursuance of Article 13(4)( a);

(b)give to the F1 Executive at any time such directions as the Department thinks fit with respect to the functions of the F1 Executive.

Additional functions of the F1 Executive

15 .F2F3—(1) The F1 Executive may—

(a)make agreements with any government department or other person for that department or person to perform on behalf of the F1 ExecutiveF1 (with or without payment) any of the functions of the F1 Executive;

(b)subject to paragraph (2), make agreements with any Minister of the Crown, government department or public authority for the F1 Executive to perform on behalf of that Minister, department or authority (with or without payment) functions exercisable by the Minister, department or authority, being functions which in the opinion of the Department can appropriately be performed by the F1 Executive in connection with any of the F1 Executive 's functions;

F1(bb)provide (with or without payment) services or facilities required otherwise than for the general purposes of this Part in so far as they are required by any government department or other public authority in connection with the exercise by that department or authority of any of its functions;

(c)appoint persons or committees of persons to provide the F1 Executive with advice in connection with any of its functions and (without prejudice to the generality of the following sub-paragraph) pay to persons so appointed such remuneration as the Department, with the approval of the Department of the Civil Service, may determine;

(d)in connection with any of the functions of the F1 Executive, pay to any person such travelling and subsistence allowances and such compensation for loss of remunerative time as the Department, with the approval of the Department of the Civil Service, may determine;

(e)carry out or arrange for or make payments in respect of, research into any matter connected with any of the F1 Executive 's functions, and disseminate or arrange for or make payments in respect of the dissemination of, information derived from such research;

(f)include, in any arrangements made by the F1 Executive for the provision of facilities or services by it or on its behalf, provision for the making of payments to the F1 Executive or any person acting on its behalf by other parties to the arrangements and by persons who use those facilities or services.

(2) Nothing in paragraph (1)( b) shall authorise the F1 Executive to perform any function of a Minister, department or authority which consists of a power to make regulations or other instruments of a legislative character.

Investigations and inquiries

Investigations and inquiries

16 .F2F3—(1) This Article applies to the following matters, that is to say any accident, occurrence, situation or other matter whatsoever which F1 the Executive thinks it necessary or expedient to investigate for any of the general purposes of this Part or with a view to the making of regulations for those purposes.

(2) F1 the Executive may at any time—

(a)investigate or authorise any other person to investigate, and make a special report on any matter to which this Article applies; or

(b)cause an inquiry to be held into any such matter.