UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

the instrument as a whole of The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

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
7 February 2007
In force from
6 April 2007
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 revoke and replace the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (S.I. 1994/3140) (Parts 2 and 3) and revoke and re-enact, with modifications, the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/1592) (Part 4). They implement in Great Britain the requirements of Directive 92/57/EEC (OJ No L245, 26.8.92, p.6) (“the Directive”) on the implementation of minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites (eighth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC), except certain requirements which are implemented in the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/735). These Regulations do not apply the client’s duties in the Directive to persons who act otherwise than in the course or furtherance of a trade, business, or other undertaking (regulation 2(1)). They apply the client’s duties to make appointments and to ensure that a safety and health plan is drawn up only to projects that meet the threshold for notification to the Health and Safety Executive (or to the Office of Rail Regulation (regulation 21(4)). Parts 2 and 3 set out duties in respect of the planning, management and monitoring of health, safety and welfare in construction projects and of the co-ordination of the performance of these duties by dutyholders. Duties applicable to all projects, including duties of clients, designers and contractors, are set out in Part 2. These include a duty on every person working under the control of another to report anything that he is aware is likely to endanger health or safety (regulation 5(2)). Part 3 imposes additional duties on clients, designers and contractors (regulations 14 to 19) where the project is notifiable, defined as likely to involve more than 30 days or 500 person days of construction work (regulation 2(3)). These include the duty of the client to appoint a CDM co-ordinator and a principal contractor (regulation 14), whose particular duties are then set out (regulations 20 to 24). The changes which Parts 2 and 3 make in comparison with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 include the following— All dutyholders under the Regulations are to co-operate with any other person at work on the same or any adjoining site in enabling one another to perform their duties (regulation 5). All dutyholders under the Regulations are to co-ordinate their activities to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of persons carrying out or affected by the construction work (regulation 6). All dutyholders under the Regulations are to take account of the general principles of prevention in Schedule 1 to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/3242) in the performance of their duties and in the carrying out of the construction work (regulation 7). The client is under a duty to take reasonable steps to ensure that arrangements for managing the project that are suitable to ensure that construction work can be carried out so far as is reasonably practicable without risk to health and safety are made and maintained by dutyholders (regulation 9). The threshold for notification of a construction project is now also the point at which duties including the making of appointments by the client and the duties of the persons so appointed arise (regulations 14 to 24). The former appointment of a planning supervisor is now replaced by that of the CDM co-ordinator with enhanced duties, in particular in relation to assisting the client and to the co-ordination of health and safety measures (regulations 20 and 21). The former duty of the planning supervisor to prepare a health and safety plan has been replaced by that of the principal contractor to prepare a construction phase plan (regulation 23). Part 4 sets out duties applicable to all contractors or to others controlling the way in which construction work is carried out (regulation 25(1) and (2)) in respect of measures to be taken to ensure specified aspects of health and safety and to prevent danger from a number of specified hazards. Civil liability is now restricted under these Regulations only in respect of the Part 2 and 3 duties, for which there is civil liability only to employees, except in respect of the duties concerning welfare facilities and to prevent access by any unauthorised person, and of the client’s duty concerning the construction phase plan, for which liability is unrestricted (regulation 45). 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 Directive 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