UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992

the instrument as a whole of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992

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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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.

  1. Selling the goods under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  2. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  3. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

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.

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
26 August 1992
In force from
1 January 1993
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 (“the Regulations”) give effect as respects Great Britain(except to the extent specified below) to Council Directive 89/391/EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (OJ No. L 183, 29.6.89, p. 1) [“the Framework Directive”] and to Council Directive 91/383/EEC supplementing the measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or a temporary employment relationship (OJ No. L 206, 29.7.91, p. 19) [“the Temporary Workers' Directive”]. The Regulations do not apply in relation to sea transport (regulation 2). Nor do the Regulations impose requirements with respect to the following matters: accident reporting (article 9(1)(c) and (d) and (2) of the Framework Directive); charging of workers in respect of health and safety measures (article 6(5) of the Framework Directive); consultation and participation of workers and workers' representatives ( articles 10(3), 11(1), (3), (5) and (6) and 12(3) and (4) of the Framework Directive); employees' general safety obligations (article 13(1) and (2)(e) and (f) of the Framework Directive); employers' general safety obligations (articles 5 and 6(1) of the Framework Directive); employment protection rights (articles 7(2), 8(4) and (5) and 11(4) of the Framework Directive); fire fighting (articles 8(1) and (2) and 10(1) and (2) of the Framework Directive); first-aid (articles 8(1) and (2) and 10(1) and (2) of the Framework Directive); risk groups (article 15 of the Framework Directive); use of personal protective equipment (article 13(2)(b) of the Framework Directive); or responsibility of host undertakings to temporary workers (article 8 of the Temporary Workers' Directive). Regulation 3 requires employers and self-employed persons to make assessments of the health and safety risks to which their respective undertakings give rise, for the purpose of ascertaining what they have to do to comply with their obligations under health and safety legislation. Regulation 3 also makes provision for the review and recording of the results of risk assessments. Regulation 4 requires employers to make, give effect to and in certain cases record appropriate health and safety arrangements. Regulation 5 requires employers to ensure that their employees are provided with appropriate health surveillance. Regulation 6 requires employers to appoint an adequate number of competent persons to assist them to comply with their obligations under health and safety legislation unless (in the case of a sole trader or a partnership) the employer concerned already has sufficient competence to comply with the relevant obligations without assistance. Regulation 6, as well as defining “competent person” in this context, also requires employers— to make arrangements for ensuring adequate co-operation between the competent persons they appoint; and to provide the competent persons they appoint with— the facilities necessary to enable them to carry out their functions, and specified health and safety information. Regulation 7 requires employers— to establish and give effect to procedures to be followed in the event of serious and imminent danger to persons working in their respective undertakings; to nominate competent persons to implement those procedures insofar as they relate to the evacuation from premises of persons at work in their respective undertakings; and restrict access to any danger areas occupied by them. Regulation 7 also specifies in detail what the procedures referred to above must achieve and defines what is meant by “competent person” in this context. Regulation 8 requires employers to provide their employees with specified health and safety information. Regulation 9 requires every employer and self-employed person who shares a workplace with any other employer or self-employed person to— co-operate with that other person so far as is necessary to enable him to comply with his statutory health and safety obligations; co-ordinate the measures he takes in compliance with his statutory health and safety obligations with the measures being taken in that regard by that other person; and take steps to provide that other person with specified health and safety information. Regulation 10 requires employers and self-employed persons to ensure that— the employers of any employees from outside undertakings who are working in their respective undertakings are provided with specified health and safety information; self-employed persons who are working in their respective undertakings are provided with specified health and safety instructions and information; and any employees from outside undertakings who are working in their respective undertakings are provided with specified health and safety instructions and information. Regulation 11 requires employers— to consider their employees' capabilities as regards health and safety when entrusting tasks to them; and to ensure that in specified circumstances their employees are provided with adequate health and safety training. Regulation 11 also specifies when the training referred to above is to be provided and the circumstances in which it is to be repeated or adapted. Regulation 12 requires employees— to use machinery, equipment, dangerous substances, transport equipment, means of production and safety devices in accordance with any relevant training and instructions; and to inform their respective employers or any specified fellow employees of dangerous work situations and shortcomings in those employers' health and safety arrangements. Regulation 13— requires employers and self-employed persons to provide temporary workers in their respective undertakings with health and safety information before they commence their duties; requires employers and self-employed persons to provide any employment business whose employees are to carry out work in their respective undertakings with specified health and safety information about the work to be done by those employees; and requires any employment business provided with information by an employer or self-employed person in pursuance thereof to pass that information on to the employees to whom it relates. Regulation 14 enables the Secretary of State for Defence to grant exemptions from the Regulations in the interests of national security. Regulation 15 provides that breach of a duty imposed by the Regulations does not confer a right of action in civil proceedings. Regulation 16— extends the application of the Regulations to and in relation to certain premises and activities outside Great Britain; and extends the meaning of “at work” so that for the purposes of the Regulations an employee or a self-employed person is treated as being at work at all times when he is present at the premises to and in relation to which the Regulations apply by virtue of that regulation. Regulation 17 and the Schedule modify the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 (S.I. 1977/500) by inserting a new regulation therein, regulation 4A.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.70.

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