UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations 2010

the instrument as a whole of The Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations 2010

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations 2010.

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
30 March 2010
In force from
27 April 2010
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations implement as respects Great Britain Directive 2006/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (O.J. L114, 27.4.2006, p.38) on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to risks arising from physical agents (artificial optical radiation) (nineteenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (“the Directive”). The Regulations impose duties on employers to protect both employees who may be exposed to risk from exposure to artificial optical radiation at work and other persons at work who might be affected by that work. Regulation 1(2) defines exposure limit values as being those set out in Annexes I and II to the Directive, as amended from time to time, and these Annexes provide for exposure limit values for non-coherent radiation and laser radiation respectively. The Regulations impose a duty to carry out a specific form of risk assessment where an employer carries out work which could expose its employees to levels of artificial optical radiation (i.e. artificial light) that could create a reasonably foreseeable risk of adverse health effects to the eyes or skin and where those risks have not already been eliminated or controlled (regulation 3). Where a risk assessment is necessary the Regulations also impose duties to— eliminate, or where this is not reasonably practicable, to reduce to as low a level as is reasonably practicable the risk of adverse health effects to the eyes or skin of the employee as a result of exposure to artificial optical radiation where this risk has been identified in the risk assessment (regulation 4(1)); devise an action plan comprising technical and organisational measures to prevent exposure to artificial optical radiation exceeding the exposure limit values where the risk assessment indicates that employees are exposed to levels of artificial optical radiation that exceed the exposure limit values (regulation 4(3)); take action in the event that the exposure limit values are exceeded despite the implementation of the action plan and measures to eliminate or reduce so far as is reasonably practicable the risk of exposure (regulation 4(5)); demarcate, limit access to, and provide for appropriate signs in those areas where levels of artificial optical radiation are indicated in the risk assessment as exceeding the exposure limit values (regulation 4 (6) and (7); provide information and training if the risk assessment indicates that employees could be exposed to artificial optical radiation which could cause adverse health effects to the eyes or skin of the employee (regulation 5); and to provide health surveillance and medical examinations in certain cases (regulation 6). A copy of the impact assessment in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, Economic Advisers Unit, Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside L20 7HS. A copy of the transposition note in relation to the implementation of the Directive set out in paragraph 1 can be obtained from the same address. Copies of both these documents have been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament and are annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available on the Office of Public Sector Information website (http://www.opsi.gov.uk).

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