UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Acetylene Safety (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2014

the instrument as a whole of The Acetylene Safety (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2014

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Acetylene Safety (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2014.

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
23 June 2014
In force from
1 October 2014
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 consolidate, with amendments, existing legislation for activities relating to acetylene in Great Britain. As such they repeal provisions contained in the Explosives Act 1875 and revoke and replace instruments made under it, which provided the framework for the regulatory regime in relation to acetylene prior to these Regulations. Most of the terms and expressions used in these Regulations are defined in regulation 2. Regulation 3 makes the following changes of substance to the previous regime: (a) prohibitions concerning solid acetylene; and (b) prohibitions, without disapplications, concerning liquid acetylene. Prohibitions concerning “compressed acetylene gas” are contained in regulation 4 but are subject to disapplications. Nothing in these Regulations imposes restrictions on acetylene gas at a pressure lower than 0.62 bar(g). Subject to a disapplication, a person wishing to conduct a “relevant activity” requires a licence to do so and must comply with safety requirements contained in Schedule 1 (regulation 5). Applications for a licence should be made to the licensing authority (regulation 6). The “licensing authority” means the Health and Safety Executive, other than in relation to a “relevant activity” carried out on “ONR regulated premises” in which case the licensing authority is the Office for Nuclear Regulation. Grounds for granting, renewing, varying or transferring a licence are set out in regulation 9. Regulation 10 specifies the form of a license and the information it must contain. Grounds for revoking a licence are set out in regulation 11. The circumstances and timescales for making written representations are contained in regulation 12. Licence arrangements in the event of death, incapacity, bankruptcy and insolvency of the licensee are contained in regulation 13. Power to grant exemptions from the requirements or prohibitions imposed by these Regulations is in regulation 14. Regulation 15 contains transitional provisions. Amendments to legislation are made by regulation 16(1) and Schedule 2. These are consequential amendments apart from the amendment to the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009 (“CDG 2009”) which clarifies that only ‘old pressure receptacles’ (as defined in regulation 14(6) of CDG 2009) which are of seamless construction or have contained acetylene and in relation to which a modification, major repair or re-rating has been undertaken after CDG 2009 came into force may not be used for the carriage of dangerous goods. These Regulations also amend the Health and Safety (Fees) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1652), so as to include fee provisions in those Regulations for the new licensing provision made by these Regulations. Repeals and revocations of legislation are made by regulation 16(2) and (3) and Schedule 3. Regulation 17 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 the review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should be allowed to remain as they are, or be revoked or amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or amend them. A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public is published with the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside this instrument on the website: www.legislation.gov.uk. Copies of these documents are also available in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. The European inventory of existing commercial chemical substances is contained in the publication: O.J. C 146A, dated 15 June 1990, with the International Standard Serial Number 0378-6986. This may be downloaded without charge from the relevant part of the EUR-Lex website (www.eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm). The Classic RAL system, which is used to define colour standards, is available, without charge, from the website: www.ralcolours.com. The Certificates of Exemption made under the Explosives Act 1875 (Exemptions) Regulations 1979 are available, without charge, on application to the Health and Safety Executive (Hazardous Installations Directorate), Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 7HS (Reference: 2014/0202594). These Regulations were notified in draft to the European Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC.

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 0.65.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.65 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