UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 1994

the instrument as a whole of The Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 1994

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 1994 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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Railways (Safety Case) Regulations 2000
Revoked on
31 December 2000
Made
3 February 1994
In force from
28 February 1994
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 provide for railway operators to prepare safety cases and to submit them to the relevant infrastructure controller or to the Health and Safety Executive (“the Executive”). Regulation 2(2) defines a “safety case” as a document containing the particulars specified in the Schedule referred to in the provision of the Regulations under which the safety case is prepared. Schedules 1 and 2 specify those particulars. Regulation 3 prohibits the use of any railway infrastructure unless— a the infrastructure controller has prepared a safety case which has been accepted by the Executive; and b any person operating the trains or stations (if different from the infrastructure controller)— i has agreed to comply with any reasonable request of the infrastructure controller concerning any aspect of the operation which affects or is likely to affect the controller’s performance of his health and safety duties; and ii has complied with regulation 4 or 5 as appropriate. Regulation 4 prohibits a person from operating a train unless he has prepared a safety case which has been accepted by the relevant infrastructure controller or by the Executive as appropriate. Regulation 5 prohibits a person from operating a station unless he has prepared a safety case which has been accepted, as appropriate, by the relevant infrastructure controller or by the Executive after taking account of any views given to it by the relevant infrastructure controller. Regulation 6 requires a safety case to be revised as often as may be appropriate. A revision which renders the safety case materially different from the last version may not be made unless the infrastructure controller or the Executive, as appropriate, approves the amendment or the infrastructure controller indicates that the revision does not and is not likely to affect the performance by the controller of his health and safety duties. Regulation 6 also requires a safety case to be revised at least every 3 years. Regulation 7 requires that any procedures or arrangements described in a safety case are followed and provides specified defences for contravention of the requirement. Regulation 8 imposes requirements on specified persons to co-operate with a railway operator to enable the railway operator to comply with the provisions of the Regulations. Regulation 9(1) and (2) both require infrastructure controllers to notify the Executive on the receipt and acceptance of safety cases and revisions thereof and on a notification that a revision does not and is not likely to affect the performance by the controller of his health and safety duties. Regulation 9 also imposes requirements with respect to the making and keeping of documents. Regulation 9(11) requires safety representatives to be consulted on the preparation of safety cases. Regulation 10 provides that a person whose safety case has been refused by an infrastructure controller may submit it for acceptance to the Secretary of State. The notification by an infrastructure controller that a revision does not and is not likely to affect the performance by the controller of his health and safety duties is not treated as a refusal for this purpose. Regulation 10(7) requires the Secretary of State to take account of advice given by the Health and Safety Commission and regulation 10(8) sets out the consequences of the Secretary of State accepting a safety case. Regulation 11 provides for the granting of exemptions from the Regulations by the Executive in certain circumstances. Regulation 12 and Schedule 3 contain transitional provisions in respect of operations which continue to be undertaken in the same place as they were on the date of the coming into force of the Regulations. Regulation 13 and Schedule 4 provide for consequential revocations to the Railways Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/3060). These Regulations implement provisions of Council Directive 91/440/EEC of 29th July 1991 which were originally implemented by the provisions revoked by regulation 13 and Schedule 4 . An assessment of the cost to business of complying with these Regulations can be obtained from Railways Division 1A, Room S19/14, Department of Transport, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 3EB, telephone number (071) 276 6718. Copies have also been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

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