UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

the instrument as a whole of The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) 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
Status not determined
Made
1 December 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 impose requirements with respect to the health, safety and welfare of persons in a “workplace”, defined in regulation 2(1). Except to the extent specified below, the Regulations give effect as respects Great Britain to Council Directive 89/654/EEC (OJ L. 393, 30.12.89, p.1) concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace (“the Directive”). The Regulations do not apply to a workplace which is or is in or on a ship (regulation 3(1)(a)). Nor do they impose requirements with respect to— stability and solidity (Annex I, point 2; and Annex II, point 2 of the Directive); electrical installations (Annex I, point 3; and Annex II, point 3 of the Directive); emergency routes and exits (Annex I, point 4; and Annex II, point 4 of the Directive); fire detection and fire fighting (Annex I, point 5; and Annex II, point 5 of the Directive); thermal insulation (Annex I, point 9.1, second paragraph, of the Directive); and first aid rooms or equipment (Annex I, point 19; and Annex II, point 14 of the Directive). The Regulations are disapplied in relation to construction sites and sites where mineral exploration or extraction is undertaken. The application of specified regulations is modified in their application to temporary work sites, specified means of transport and specified parts of agricultural undertakings (regulation 3). Requirements are imposed upon employers, persons who have, to any extent, control of a workplace, and persons who are deemed to be the occupiers of factories for the purposes of section 175(5) of the Factories Act 1961 (c. 54) (regulation 4). The Regulations impose requirements with respect to— maintenance (regulation 5); ventilation of enclosed workplaces (regulation 6); temperature indoors and the provision of thermometers (regulation 7); lighting (including emergency lighting) (regulation 8); cleanliness of the workplace, furniture, furnishings and fittings; the ability to clean the surface of floors, walls and ceilings; and the accumulation of waste materials (regulation 9); room dimensions and unoccupied space (regulation 10 and Schedule 1, Part I); the suitability of workstations (including workstations outdoors) and the provision of suitable seats (regulation 11); the condition of floors (regulation 12); the condition and arrangement of routes for pedestrians or vehicles (regulations 12 and 17); protection from falling objects and from persons falling from a height or falling into a dangerous substance (regulation 13); the material or protection of windows and other transparent or translucent walls, doors or gates and to them being apparent (regulation 14); the way in which windows, skylights or ventilators are opened and the position they are left in when open (regulation 15); the ability to clean windows and skylights (regulation 16); the construction of doors and gates (including the fitting of necessary safety devices) (regulation 18); escalators and moving walkways (regulation 19); the provision of suitable sanitary conveniences (regulation 20 and Schedule 1,Part II); the provision of suitable washing facilities (regulation 21); the provision of a supply of drinking water and of cups or other drinking vessels (regulation 22); the provision of suitable accommodation for clothing and of facilities for changing clothing (regulations 23 and 24); and the provision of suitable facilities for rest and to eat meals (regulation 25). The Secretary of State for Defence may grant exemption from the requirements of the Regulations in the interests of national security (regulation 26). Provisions replaced by the Regulations are repealed or revoked. There is a saving for provisions of the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 (c. 41) in specified circumstances (regulation 27 and Schedule 2).

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