UK Offence Report

Contravention of Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002

the instrument as a whole of Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 (revoked)

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Control of Asbestos at Work 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
24 October 2002
In force from
21 November 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 re-enact, with modifications, the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/2115) (“the 1987 Regulations”) as amended. The 1987 Regulations imposed requirements for the protection of employees who might be exposed to asbestos at work and of other persons who might be affected by such work and also imposed certain duties on employees concerning their own protection from such exposure. The Regulations, with the exception of regulations 4, 5, 11, 12, 20 and 21(5) to (7), implement as respects Great Britain— Council Directive 76/769/EEC (“the Marketing and Use Directive”) (OJ No L 262, 27.9.76, p.201) as amended by Council Directive 83/478/EEC (OJ No L 263, 24.9.83, p.33) on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations, insofar as it relates to the labelling of products for use at work containing asbestos; Council Directive 83/477/EEC (OJ No L 263, 24.9.83, p.25) as amended by Council Directive 91/382/EEC (OJ No L 206, 29.7.91, p.16) on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work except insofar as this Directive was implemented by the Asbestos (Prohibitions) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/3067) which prohibited asbestos spraying; Council Directive 90/394/EEC (OJ No L 196, 26.7.90, p.38) on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens at work (sixth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) insofar as it relates to asbestos; and Council Directive 98/24/EC (OJ No L 131, 5.5.98, p.11) on the protection of the health and safety of workers from risks related to chemical agents at work (fourteenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) insofar as it relates to risks to health from exposure to asbestos. In addition to minor and drafting amendments, the Regulations make the following changes of substance— include certain further definitions (regulation 2); introduce a duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises. Persons with repair and maintenance responsibilities for the premises will need to ensure that asbestos-containing materials within those premises are properly managed, and that information about the location and condition of the materials is passed on to those likely to disturb them (regulation 4); extend the matters to be considered when carrying out an assessment of the risk from exposure to asbestos and require the risk assessment to be reviewed when the results of monitoring show it to be necessary (regulation 6); introduce a duty on the employer to prepare procedures, provide information and establish warning systems to deal with an emergency in the workplace related to the use of asbestos in a work process or the removal or repair of asbestos-containing materials (regulation 14). provide that air monitoring must occur unless the exposure of an employee to asbestos is not likely to exceed the action level or the employer can demonstrate in another way that the requirements in regulation 10(1) have been complied with (regulation 18); require any person analysing a material in order to determine whether it contains asbestos to comply with European Standard EN ISO/IEC 17025 (regulation 20); extend the duties on employers with respect to health records and medical surveillance where an employee is found to have an identifiable disease or adverse health effect caused by exposure to asbestos at work (regulation 21); and amend the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/494) in order to clarify that the Executive will not be the enforcing authority solely because an area has been segregated in order to prevent the spread of asbestos (regulation 27). European Standard EN ISO/IEC 17025, “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” accepted by CEN/CENELEC on 6th December 1999 can be obtained from the British Standards Institution, BSI House, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL. A copy of the regulatory impact assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, Economic Advisers Unit, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS. A copy of the transposition note in relation to implementation of the Directives set out in paragraph 2 can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, International Branch at the same address. Copies of both these documents have been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament.

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