UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Work at Height Regulations 2005

the instrument as a whole of The Work at Height Regulations 2005

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Work at Height Regulations 2005.

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
16 March 2005
In force from
6 April 2005
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 impose health and safety requirements with respect to work at height, with certain exceptions including by instructors or leaders in recreational climbing and caving. These Regulations give effect as respects Great Britain to Directive 2001/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No L195, 19.7.2001, p.46), amending Council Directive 89/655/EEC (OJ No L393, 30.12.89, p.13) concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work. They contain additional provisions, including provisions which replace regulations giving effect to certain provisions of Council Directives 89/391/EEC (OJ No L393, 30.12.89, p.1) concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace and 92/57/EEC (OJ No L245, 26.8.92, p.6) on the implementation of minimum health and safety requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites. The Regulations— impose duties relating to the organising and planning of work at height (regulation 4); require that persons at work be competent, or supervised by competent persons (regulation 5); prescribe steps to be taken to avoid risk from work at height (regulation 6 and Schedule 1); impose duties relating to the selection of work equipment (regulation 7); impose duties in relation to particular work equipment (regulation 8 and Schedules 2 to 6); impose duties for the avoidance of risks from fragile surfaces, falling objects and danger areas (regulations 9 to 11); require the inspection of certain work equipment and of places of work at height (regulations 12 and 13 and Schedule 7); impose duties on persons at work (regulation 14); provide for exemptions from certain provisions (regulations 15 and 16); and amend, repeal or revoke certain enactments (regulations 17 to19 and Schedule 8). A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business is available from the Health and Safety Executive, Safety Economics Unit, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS. A Transposition Note in relation to the implementation of the Directives can be obtained from the Health and Safety, 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

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