Contravention of The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987

the instrument as a whole of The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987

Revoked
Strict liability
Set by another provision
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The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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: Strict liability
Burden of proof: Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine: Not determined
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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: Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 (revoked)
Revoked on: 21 November 2002
Made: 3 December 1987
In force from: 1 March 1988
Extent: Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

These Regulations implement as respects Great Britain the following Directives— Council Directive No 83/477/EEC (OJ No L263, 24.9.83 p.25) on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work except in so far as this Directive was implemented by the Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations 1985 (S.I. 1985/910) which prohibited asbestos spraying; and Council Directive No 76/769/EEC (OJ No L262, 27.9.1976, p.201) as amended by Council Directive No. 83/478/EEC (OJ No L263, 24.9.83, p.33) on restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations, in so far as it relates to the labelling of products for use at work containing asbestos. These Regulations impose duties on employers for the protection of employees who may be exposed to asbestos at work and of other persons who are or are liable to be affected by such work (regulation 3). An employer who carries out work with asbestos is required to identify the type of asbestos involved (regulation 4) and to assess the nature and degree of exposure to asbestos and the steps to be taken to reduce that exposure (regulation 5). Regulation 6 requires work with asbestos to be notified to the enforcing authority unless that work had already been notified under other Regulations and employers are required to ensure that adequate information, instruction and training is given to employees and other persons on premises where the work is carried on (regulation 7). Regulation 8 requires employers to prevent the exposure at work of employees and other persons to asbestos or to reduce it to the lowest level reasonably practicable and, if exposure is not reduced to below specified control limits, employees must be provided with respiratory protective equipment that will reduce their exposure below those limits. Requirements are also imposed on employers and employees to make proper use of protective equipment (regulation 9) and upon employers for its maintenance (regulation 10). Employers are required to provide and keep clean protective clothing (regulation 11), to prevent the spread of asbestos from the workplace (regulation 12) and to ensure that premises and plant involved in work with asbestos are kept clean (regulation 13). By regulation 14 areas in which exposure to asbestos is or is liable to exceed the specified level or limit are required to be designated and marked and entry into those areas is to be limited. Regulation 15 provides for the monitoring of exposure and by regulation 16 employees who are liable to be significantly exposed to asbestos are required to be under regular medical surveillance by an employment medical adviser or appointed doctor. This regulation also specifies the fees paid by the employer when medical surveillance is undertaken by an employment medical adviser. The Regulations require the provision of washing and changing facilities (regulation 17) and regulate the storage, distribution and labelling of Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983 (S.I. 1983/1649) (medical surveillance) are revoked except that the requirements as to the keeping of a report in regulation 7(4) of the 1969 Regulations and that relating to the keeping of a certificate in regulation 6 of the 1983 Regulations shall continue to be in force.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Commons · 5 March 1990 · Mr. Nicholls
I am grateful to hon. Members for acknowledging that benefits have been uprated in line with inflation, as they have been almost every year since the Pneumoconiosis etc, (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 came into force. I join the hon. Member for Stretford (Mr. Lloyd) in paying tribute to the right hon. Member for Doncaster, Central (Mr. Walker). who was responsible for bringing that Act to a successful conclusion.…
As An Amendment To Commons Amendment No 37 Lords · 1 July 1991 · Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the point raised by my noble friend on painting is outside the scope of these amendments. However, I note what he says and I shall write to him specifically about that. As regards anxieties about the amendments, I shall argue why I believe the House should not accept Amendments Nos. 37A and 37B. I know there has been concern on the part of local authorities but, when the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee,…
Control Of Asbestos At Work Regulations 2002 Lords · 5 December 2002 · Baroness Hollis of Heigham
My Lords, asbestos is the most serious occupational health problem, in terms of fatal disease, that the country faces. In the 30 years between 1968 and 1998, 50,000 people died in the United Kingdom from asbestos-related diseases. As my noble friend Lord Walker expressed so eloquently, the human suffering and misery behind those terrible figures continue today. There is nothing that we can do about those already…

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 0.70.

Basis: the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence: 0.70 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.
The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1987