UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority for Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems)…

the instrument as a whole of The Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority for Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems) Regulations 2006

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 (Enforcing Authority for Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems) Regulations 2006.

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
2 March 2006
In force from
1 April 2006
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 make the Office of Rail Regulation (“ORR”) responsible for the enforcement of health and safety law in relation to the operation of railways, tramways and certain other systems of guided transport in place of the Health and Safety Executive (“HSE”), (i.e. the enforcement of Part 1 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (“the 1974 Act”), regulations made under section 15 and certain “existing statutory provisions” as defined in section 53 of the 1974 Act, as extended in scope by section 117 of the Railways Act 1993). Thus the ORR will be the “enforcing authority” for these purposes within the meaning of section 18(7) of the 1974 Act, (regulation 3). The ORR is also made the enforcing authority for the purposes of the provisions in section 6 of the 1974 Act, (general duties of manufacturers etc as regards articles and substances for use at work), in so far as they relate to articles designed, manufactured, imported or supplied, (or substances manufactured, imported or supplied), to be used exclusively or primarily in such systems of transport, (or, in the case of section 6(3)), in so far as they relate to the erection or installation of articles for use at work in the operation of such systems of transport), (regulation 3(3) and (4)). Its remit as enforcing authority is made subject to certain exceptions, as listed in regulation 4. But regulation 4(4) provides that, notwithstanding these exceptions, the ORR will be the enforcing authority for orders made under section 1 of the Level Crossings Act 1983. Regulation 5 specifies the extent to which the enforcing authority remit of the ORR will include the enforcement of health and safety law in relation to construction work. Regulation 7 sets out transitional provisions in relation to the handover of these functions from the HSE to the ORR. The Schedule amends various enactments, to make consequential provision and to substitute the ORR for the HSE, to such extent as appropriate, for the exercise of certain functions and for related purposes connected with heath and safety on relevant systems of transport. In addition, paragraph 1 of the Schedule enables the Secretary of State, in any regulations he may make under section 41 of the Transport and Works Act 1992, (“the 1992 Act”), to designate such authorities as he may specify to approve, in relation to certain transport systems, new works, plant or equipment, (or alterations to them). Also it provides that the power under section 45 of the 1992 Act to give directions limiting speeds and loads, in relation to certain transport systems, is to be exercised by the enforcing authority for the mode of transport to which the direction relates. Paragraph 2 of the Schedule amends the existing regulations made under section 41 of the 1992 Act, (the Railways and Other Transport Systems (Approval of Works, Plant and Equipment) Regulations 1994), to remove trolley vehicle systems and certain road based systems of guided transport from their scope, as well as to substitute the ORR for the HSE for certain purposes. Paragraph 6 of the Schedule, in addition to making consequential amendments, amends the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 to make the HSE the enforcing authority for the operation of guided bus systems, any other road based systems of guided transport, (other than tramways), and trolley vehicle systems, in place of being the enforcing authority for the operation of railways, tramways and certain other forms of guided transport. A regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Department for Transport, Great Minister House, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR. A copy has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament. A copy of the regulatory impact assessment may also be accessed on the HMSO website www.opsi.gov.uk.

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 0.59.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.59 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