UK Offence Report

Liability of owners of offshore installations

regulation 9A(1)(b) of Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

b any person fails to comply with

a requirement imposed by or under Article 8, the owner of the installation shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

The defence, as drafted

owner of an installation for an offence under this Article it shall be a defence for the accused to prove— a that he used all due diligence to prevent the commission of the offence; and b that any relevant contravention was committed without his consent, connivance or wilful default. 3 In proceedings for an offence under this Article an averment in any process of

What would breach regulation 9A(1)(b)?

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.

  1. Being served with a notice under the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

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.

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
Status not determined
Made
31 August 1995
In force from
9 October 1995
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations contain requirements for the management and administration of offshore oil and gas installations, for purposes of health and safety. The Regulations give effect, in relation to offshore installations in United Kingdom territorial waters adjacent to Northern Ireland— to the following provisions of Council Directive 92/91/EEC (O.J. No. L348, 28.11.92, p. 9), concerning the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in the mineral-extracting industries through drilling: Articles 3(1)(b), (c) and (d) and 8; in Part A of the Annex, parts 2.2, 2.6 (in part) and 2.8; and in Part C of the Annex, section 4 (in part); and to Article 6.3(c) and, in part, to Article 11.2 of Council Directive 89/391/EEC (O.J. No. L183, 29.6.89, p. 1) on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. The Regulations make detailed provisions as follows— most of the duties imposed by the Regulations are on “the duty holder” who is, by definition (see regulation 2(1)), in relation td a fixed installation, the “operator” and, in relation to a mobile installation, the “owner”; regulation 5 requires the duty holder to notify the Department of Economic Development (“the Department”) of the date of the intended entry or departure of an installation into or from relevant waters; and, where there is a change of duty holder, prohibits the operation of the installation until details have been notified to the Department; regulation 6 requires the appointment of an installation manager and contains other requirements in relation to him; regulation 7 empowers the installation manager to take reasonable measures against a person, including his restraint or putting him ashore, for certain health and safety reasons; regulation 8 requires every person to co-operate with the installation manager, and any other person on whom any duty is placed by these Regulations, so far as is necessary to enable them to comply with “the relevant statutory provisions” within the meaning of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (S.I. 1978/1039 (N.I. 9)); and for certain express purposes with the installation manager and helicopter landing officer. Managers of installations are required to co-operate with each other for certain health and safety reasons; regulation 9 requires a record to be kept on the installation, and ashore, of persons for the time being on, or working from, the installation; regulation 10 requires a “permit to work” system on an installation where necessary for the health or safety of persons; regulation 11 requires the giving of written instructions on procedures to be observed for health and safety reasons; regulation 12 contains requirements for effective communications; regulation 13 contains requirements in relation to helideck operations; regulation 14 requires the keeping of information on the weather and other information; regulation 15 requires that people on an installation, or engaged in certain specified offshore activities, have access to the address and telephone number of the Department; regulation 16 contains a requirement for health surveillance of persons engaged in work on an offshore installation; regulation 17 requires drinking water to be readily available on an installation; regulation 18 requires that provisions on the installation are of adequate quality; regulation 19 contains requirements as to the visual identification of an installation; regulation 20 provides for the granting of certificates of exemption by the Department; regulation 21 contains provisions relating to the application to offshore installations and associated structures, with modifications and extensions, of the Employers' Liability (Defective Equipment and Compulsory Insurance) (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 (S.I. 1972/963. (N.I. 6)); regulation 22 and Schedule 1 repeal or modify certain provisions of the Mineral Workings (Offshore Installations) Act 1971 (1971 c. 61); and regulation 23 and Schedule. 2 revoke or modify certain statutory provisions. A person who contravenes the Regulations is guilty of an offence under Article 31 of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (currently £5,000) or, on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

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