UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013

the instrument as a whole of The Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013.

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
18 March 2013
In force from
11 May 2013
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 duties on employers in the healthcare sector to protect employees from injuries caused by medical sharps, implementing Council Directive 2010/32/EU (OJ No. L 134, 1.6.2010) p.66 of 10 May 2010 implementing the Framework Agreement on prevention from sharp injuries in the hospital and healthcare sector concluded by HOSPEEM and EPSU. Other requirements of that Directive are implemented by existing statutory provision. Regulation 2 defines key concepts in the Regulations. “Healthcare contractors” are distinguished from “healthcare employers” to ensure that employers to whom the Regulations apply are only caught by one or other of the definitions. Regulation 3 establishes which employers the Regulations apply to. It provides that the Regulations apply to both a healthcare employer and a healthcare contractor (i.e. a subcontractor of a healthcare employer). Regulation 4(1) confines the application of requirements imposed by the Regulations on healthcare contractors to particular circumstances – i.e. work on the premises, or under the authority, of a healthcare employer. Regulation 4(2) establishes the extent to which the requirements imposed by the Regulations apply to a healthcare contractor, such that those requirements only apply insofar as the healthcare contractor is able to control the relevant activities of the relevant employee. A healthcare contractor is therefore not responsible for matters beyond the healthcare contractor’s control. Regulation 5 concerns the use and disposal of medical sharps – in particular, it provides that the use of medical sharps should be avoided so far as is possible, otherwise that ‘safer sharps’ are used where possible. It prohibits the practice of ‘re-capping’ except where required to control risk and where the risk to the employee is controlled by means of special equipment. Regulation 6 requires an employer to provide information developed in cooperation with representatives (concerning matters listed in Schedule 1) and training (on matters listed in Schedule 2) to employees at risk of injury caused by medical sharps. Regulation 7 requires an employer to record, investigate and take measures to prevent the recurrence of an injury to an employee caused by a medical sharp where notified. Employers must also take immediate steps to ensure that employees who may have been exposed to a biological agent as a result of such an injury receive medical attention and treatment, and must consider providing the employee with counselling. Regulation 8 requires employees to notify any incident at work which results in that employee suffering an injury from a medical sharp to their employer or person responsible for health and safety. Regulation 10 requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. A full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business is available from the Health and Safety Executive, Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside L20 7HS. A copy of the transposition note in relation to implementation of the Directive set out in paragraph 1 can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, International Branch, also at the Redgrave Court 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 alongside these Regulations at www.legislation.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 0.59.

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