UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002

the instrument as a whole of The Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002.

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
17 August 2002
In force from
17 September 2002
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 amend the regulations relating to health and safety at work which are specified below, to give effect in Great Britain to European requirements. They also contain drafting changes. Regulation 2 amends regulation 2 of the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, so as to require that a first-aid room shall be easily accessible and be sign-posted. It gives effect to point 19.2 of Annex 2 to Council Directive 89/654/EEC (OJ No. L393, 30.12.1989, p.1) concerning the minimum safety requirements for the workplace (“the Workplace Directive”). Regulation 3 amends the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992— by removing, in relation to workstations, the limitation in regulation 3 to those used by “users” and “operators”, so as to give full effect to Articles 4 and 5 of Council Directive 90/270/EEC (OJ No. L156, 21.6.90, p.14) on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment; by making minor and drafting changes to regulations 5 and 6. Regulation 4 amends the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 by adding regulation 4(3). It specifies factors to be taken account of, in determining whether operations involve risk. It gives effect to Annex II to Council Directive 90/269/EEC (OJ No. L156, 21.6.90, p.9) on the minimum health and safety requirements for the manual handling of loads where there is a risk particularly of back injury to workers. Regulation 5 amends the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 to give full effect to Articles 4(3), (4), (5) and (8) (general provisions) and, in relation to the addition of regulation 4(4), to Article 5(1) (assessment) of Council Directive 89/656/EEC (OJ No. L393, 20.12.89, p.18) on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace. Regulation 6 amends the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 to variously give complete, or clearer, effect to the following provisions of the Workplace Directive— Article 2 (meaning of workplace) (regulation 6(b)); Article 6, fourth indent (maintenance of equipment to prevent hazards) (regulation 6(d)); Annex 1 point 2 (stability and solidity) (regulation 6(c)); Annex 1 points 7.3 (excessive effects of sunlight) and 9.1 second paragraph (thermal insulation) (regulation 6(f)); Annex 1 point 16.2 (tables and seats in rest rooms) (regulation 6(h)); Annex 1 point 18.1.1 (changing rooms) (regulation 6(g)); Annex 1 point 20 (handicapped workers) (regulation 6(a) and (i)), and revokes regulation 6(3) in consequence of the repeal or revocation of the provisions to which it refers. Regulation 7 amends regulations 10 (conformity with Community requirements) and 11 (dangerous parts of machinery) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment 1998 to give clearer effect to Article 4 of, and point 2.8 of Annex 1 to, Council Directive 95/63/EC (OJ No. L393, 30.12.89, p.13) on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use of work equipment as amended by Council Directive 95/63/EC (OJ No. L335, 30.12.95, p.28). Regulations 8 and 9 make minor drafting changes to the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Quarries Regulations 1999 respectively, including changes to correct errors. A copy of the regulatory impact assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations may be obtained from the Economic and Statistical Analysis Unit, Health and Safety Executive, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS. Copies have been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. Because this note identifies the various European requirements to which each provision gives effect, no Transposition Note has been prepared.

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 0.70.

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