Application of Part to police

article 47A of Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978

Revoked
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

2 In this Article “the relevant officer”
a in relation to
a police officer, means the Chief Constable; b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
c in relation to any other person holding the office of constable, means the person who has the direction and control of the body of constables in question. 2A For the purposes of this Part, the relevant officer, as defined by paragraph (2)(a) or (c), shall be treated as
a corporation sole. 2B Where, in
a case in which the relevant officer, as so defined, is guilty of an offence by virtue of this Article, it is proved—
a that the officer-holder personally consented to the commission of the offence,
b that he personally connived in its commission, or
c that the commission of the offence was attributable to personal neglect on his part, the office-holder (as well as the corporation sole) shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. 2C In paragraph (2B) “the office-holder”, in relation to the relevant officer, means an individual who, at the time of the consent, connivance or neglect—
a held the office or other position mentioned in paragraph (2) as the office or position of that officer; or
b was for the time being responsible for exercising and performing the powers and duties of that office or position. 2D The provisions mentioned in paragraph (2E) (which impose the same liability for unlawful conduct of constables on persons having their direction or control as would arise if the constables were employees of those persons) do not apply to any liability by virtue of this Part. 2E Those provisions are—
a paragraph 7(1) of Schedule
8 to the Police Act 1997;
b section 27(8) of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998;
c section 29(1) of that Act;
d section
28 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds: a person
Conduct: breaching the provision
Fault element: Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof: No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: the offence itself carries no fault word, but a duty it criminalises by cross-reference uses so far as is reasonably practicable, reasonably practicable; which element that governs was not determined.

What would breach article 47A?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Not determined
Maximum fine: Not determined
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status: Revoked
Revoked by: The Statistics of Trade and Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 1988
Revoked on: 24 May 1988
Made: 25 July 1978
In force from: Not determined
Extent: N.I.

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

Other offences in the same instrument

Any person who— a fails to discharge a duty to which he is subject by virtue of Articles 4 to 8; b…article 31(1)
Where the commission by any person of an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions is due to…article 34(1)
Application of Part to policearticle 47A(2B)

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis: the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence: 0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1978