UK Offence Report

Contravention of Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996

the instrument as a whole of Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996.

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
4 March 1996
In force from
1 April 1996
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 provide for the preparation and acceptance of safety cases in respect of the conveyance of gas in a network and impose requirements in respect of gas escapes and the composition and pressure of gas. Regulation 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 2 also defines a “network” as a connected network of pipes used for the conveyance of gas from a gas processing facility, a storage facility or an interconnector except a network used exclusively for supplying gas to non-domestic premises. Regulation 2(3) and (4) excepts specified pipes from a network. Regulation 3 prohibits a person from conveying gas in a network unless he has prepared a safety case which has been accepted by the Health and Safety Executive (“the Executive”) and, where others convey gas in the network, a person (referred to in the Regulations as a “network emergency co-ordinator”) has prepared a safety case which has been similarly accepted. Regulation 4 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 Executive has accepted the revision. Regulation 4 also requires a safety case to be revised at least every 3 years. Regulation 5 requires that any procedures or arrangements described in a safety case are followed and provides for specified defences for contravention of the requirement. Regulation 6 imposes requirements on specified persons to co-operate with a person conveying gas in a network and with a network emergency co-ordinator to enable them to comply with the provisions of the Regulations.Regulation 6 also empowers a person conveying gas in a network to direct persons not to consume gas where this is necessary to prevent a “supply emergency” as defined in regulation 2(1). It also requires a person conveying gas to provide, on request to persons proposing to carry out work to gas fittings, information about operating pressures of the gas at the outlet of a service pipe. Regulation 7 requires British Gas p.l.c. to provide a continuously manned telephone service for receiving reports of gas escapes, and requires such reports to be passed on to the persons made responsible under the Regulation for preventing the escapes. The Regulation also imposes specified duties on occupiers of premises and others with respect to gas escapes. The Regulation imposes specified duties with respect to the investigation of incidents on persons conveying or supplying gas. Regulation 8 and Schedule 3 imposes requirements with respect to the characteristics and testing of gas. Regulation 9 imposes requirements with respect to the making and keeping of documents. Regulation 10 provides transitional provisions. Regulation 11 provides for the granting of exemptions from the Regulations by the Executive in certain circumstances. Regulation 12 repeals section 16 of, and paragraphs 20 and 21 of Schedule 2B to, the Gas Act 1986. It also revokes the Gas Quality Regulations 1972 and amends regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1994. It revokes the Gas Quality Regulations 1983 as from 31st October 1996. A copy of the compliance cost assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, Safety Policy Division Branch E, Room 224, Magdalen House, Trinity Road, Bootle, Merseyside L20 3QZ. A copy has been placed in the Library of each House 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