UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992

the instrument as a whole of The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1994
Revoked on
16 January 1995
Made
25 November 1992
In force from
1 January 1993
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

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

These Regulations impose health and safety requirements with respect to the provision for, and use by, persons at work of personal protective equipment. Personal protective equipment is defined in regulation 2(1) and certain types of such equipment are excluded from the application of regulations 4 to 12 by regulation 3(2). The Regulations do not apply in relation to sea transport (regulation 3(1)). With that exception, the Regulations, together with the existing Regulations listed in regulation 3(3) (which are modified by Parts V to X of Schedule 2), give effect as respects Great Britain to Council Directive 89/656/EEC (OJ No. L 393, 30.12.89, p. 18) on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace. Regulations 4 and 6 to 12 do not apply in respect of risks to health and safety for which personal protective equipment is required by specified existing Regulations (regulation 3(3)). The Regulations require employers to ensure suitable personal protective equip ment is provided for their employees and also require self-employed persons to ensure suitable personal protective equipment is provided for themselves. The circumstances in which personal protective equipment must be provided and minimum conditions of what is “suitable” are specified (regulation 4). The Regulations also impose requirements with respect to— compatibility of items of personal protective equipment where it is necessary to wear or use more than one item simultaneously (regulation 5); the making, review and changing of assessments in relation to the choice of personal protective equipment (regulation 6); the maintenance (including replacement and cleaning as appropriate) of personal protective equipment (regulation 7); the provision of accommodation for personal protective equipment (regulation 8); the provision of information, instruction and training (regulation 9); and ensuring personal protective equipment is used (regulation 10(1)). Requirements are imposed on employees and self-employed persons in respect of the use of personal protective equipment and in respect of returning it to accommodation provided for it (regulation 10(2) to (4)). Employees are also required to report to their employer the loss of or any obvious defect in personal protective equipment (regulation 11). The Secretary of State for Defence may grant exemptions from the Regulations in the interests of national security (regulation 12). The Regulations extend to and in relation to certain premises and activities outside Great Britain (regulation 13). Certain existing provisions relating to personal protective equipment are modified (Schedule 2). Provisions replaced by these Regulations are repealed or revoked (regulation 14(2) and Schedule 3).

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.

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