UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Ionising Radiations (Outside Workers) Regulations 1993

the instrument as a whole of The Ionising Radiations (Outside Workers) Regulations 1993

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Ionising Radiations (Outside Workers) Regulations 1993.

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
29 September 1993
In force from
1 January 1994
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 implement as respects Great Britain Council Directive 90/641/Euratom (OJ No. L349, 13.12.90, p.23) on the operational protection of outside workers exposed to the risk of ionising radiation during their activities in controlled areas. The Regulations have effect to protect the health of– an outside worker employed by an outside undertaking established in Great Britain who undertakes activities in a controlled area in the Communities under the control of an operator; and an outside worker employed by an outside undertaking established in the Communities who undertakes activities in a controlled area in Great Britain under the control of an operator. In addition to defining the terms used in these Regulations, regulation 2 applies certain of the interpretation provisions in regulation 2 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985 (“the 1985 Regulations”) to these Regulations. Regulation 4 imposes duties on the outside undertaking to obtain from the operator information about the controlled areas in which an outside worker employed by it is to undertake activities, about the risks which might arise in the controlled area and to ensure that the dose of ionising radiation received by the outside worker is estimated. By regulation 5 the outside undertaking is required to provide the outside worker with a radiation passbook uniquely identified into which the particulars set out in the Schedule are to be entered. Under regulation 6, the operator is required to— satisfy himself that the outside worker is able to undertake the activities safely; to provide suitable radiation monitoring; and to enter into the outside worker’s radiation passbook an estimate of the dose of ionising radiation received by the outside worker in the course of those activities. The outside worker is required by regulation 7 to look after the radiation passbook and take reasonable steps to ensure that it is completed by the operator for whom he undertakes activities. Regulation 8 provides for a defence against a breach of duty under these Regulations where— the outside undertaking has entered into a written contract with the operator for him to perform that duty; or the operator has entered into a written contract with the outside undertaking for it to perform that duty, and, in either case, the breach of duty was a result of a failure by the party undertaking to perform that duty under the contract. The Regulations also make provisions relating to exemption certificates (regulation 10), extension outside Great Britain (regulation 11) and modifications relating to the Ministry of Defence etc. (regulation 12).

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 0.67.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.67 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