Third Party Duties
Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007
Chapter 2
General Duties of Employee and Persons in Control of Places of Work
Duties of employee.
13.—(1) An employee shall, while at work—
(a) comply with the relevant statutory provisions, as appropriate, and take reasonable care to protect his or her safety, health and welfare and the safety, health and welfare of any other person who may be affected by the employee’s acts or omissions at work,
(b) ensure that he or she is not under the influence of an intoxicant to the extent that he or she is in such a state as to endanger his or her own safety, health or welfare at work or that of any other person,
(c) if reasonably required by his or her employer, submit to any appropriate, reasonable and proportionate tests for intoxicants by, or under the supervision of, a registered medical practitioner who is a competent person, as may be prescribed,
(d) co-operate with his or her employer or any other person so far as is necessary to enable his or her employer or the other person to comply with the relevant statutory provisions, as appropriate,
(e) not engage in improper conduct or other behaviour that is likely to endanger his or her own safety, health and welfare at work or that of any other person,
(f) attend such training and, as appropriate, undergo such assessment as may reasonably be required by his or her employer or as may be prescribed relating to safety, health and welfare at work or relating to the work carried out by the employee,
(g) having regard to his or her training and the instructions given by his or her employer, make correct use of any article or substance provided for use by the employee at work or for the protection of his or her safety, health and welfare at work, including protective clothing or equipment,
(h) report to his or her employer or to any other appropriate person, as soon as practicable—
(i) any work being carried on, or likely to be carried on, in a manner which may endanger the safety, health or welfare at work of the employee or that of any other person,
(ii) any defect in the place of work, the systems of work, any article or substance which might endanger the safety, health or welfare at work of the employee or that of any other person, or
(iii) any contravention of the relevant statutory provisions which may endanger the safety, health and welfare at work of the employee or that of any other person,
of which he or she is aware.
(2) An employee shall not, on entering into a contract of employment, misrepresent himself or herself to an employer with regard to the level of training as may be prescribed under subsection (1)(f).
Annotations:
Modifications (not altering text):
C4
Term “registered medical practitioner” construed by (13.02.2008 and 3.07.2008) Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (25/2007) ss. 2 and 108(1), S.I. Nos. 24 of 2008 and 231 of 2008.
Interpretation.
“registered medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner whose name is entered in the register;
Construction of references to registered medical practitioner and Medical Council, etc.
108.— (1) Every reference to a registered medical practitioner contained in any enactment or any statutory instrument shall be construed as a reference to a registered medical practitioner within the meaning of section 2 .
…
Editorial Notes:
E10
Previous affecting provisions: application of section extended (13.07.2006) by Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Control of Noise at Work) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 371 of 2006), reg. 7; revoked (other than reg. 11(3), expired 14.02.2008) (1.11.2007) by Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007), reg. 3(1)(z).
Interference, misuse, etc.
14.—A person shall not intentionally, recklessly or without reasonable cause—
(a) interfere with, misuse or damage anything provided under the relevant statutory provisions or otherwise for securing the safety, health and welfare of persons at work, or
(b) place at risk the safety, health or welfare of persons in connection with work activities.
Annotations:
E11
Editorial Notes:
Previous affecting provisions: application of section extended (13.07.2006) by Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Control of Noise at Work) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 371 of 2006), reg. 7; revoked (1.11.07) (other than reg. 11(3), expired 14.02.2008) by Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007), reg. 3(1)(z).
General duties of persons in control of place of work, etc.
15.—(1) This section applies to a person who has control to any extent of—
(a) a non-domestic place of work that has been made available as a place of work to persons other than employees of the person to whom this section applies,
(b) the means of access to or egress from that place of work, or
(c) any article or substance provided for the use of persons at that place of work, other than employees of the person who has control of the article or substance,
including a person who has control of a place of work or part of a place of work in connection with the carrying on by him or her of a trade, undertaking or business (whether for profit or not).
(2) Where a person has, by virtue of any contract, tenancy, licence or other interest, an obligation to any extent—
(a) to maintain or repair a place of work or the means of access thereto or egress therefrom, or
(b) as regards the safety of, or the absence of risk to health arising from, any article or substance provided for use in, that place of work,
the person is deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be a person to whom this section applies to the extent of his or her obligation.
(3) A person to whom this section applies shall ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the place of work, the means of access thereto, or egress therefrom, and any article or substance provided for use in the place of work, are safe and without risk to health.
Chapter 3
General Duties of Other Persons
General duties of designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of articles and substances.
16.—(1) A person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work shall—
(a) ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is designed and constructed so as—
(i) to be safe and without risk to health when properly used by a person at a place of work, and
(ii) to comply with the relevant statutory provisions and with the provisions of any relevant enactment implementing any relevant directive of the European Communities,
(b) ensure that the article undergoes appropriate levels of testing and examination to ensure compliance with paragraph (a),
(c) provide or arrange for the provision of adequate information about the article to the persons to whom it is supplied to ensure its safe use,
(d) ensure that persons to whom the article is supplied are provided with any revisions of the information provided under paragraph (c) as are necessary by reason of it becoming known that anything relating to the article gives rise to a serious risk to safety or health,
(e) if the person has responsibility under a rental, leasing or other arrangement to do so, maintain the article in a safe condition and in compliance with the relevant statutory provisions,
(f) comply with the relevant statutory provisions.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(c), adequate information includes information relating to—
(a) the use for which the article has been designed, manufactured or tested, as the case may be, and
(b) any conditions necessary to ensure its safe installation, use, maintenance, cleaning, dismantling or disposal without risk to safety or health.
(3) A person who undertakes the design or manufacture of any article for use at work shall carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable, the elimination or minimisation of any risks to safety or health to which the design or article may give rise.
(4) A person who erects, assembles or installs any article for use at a place of work where that article is to be used by persons at work shall ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that nothing in the manner in which it is erected, assembled or installed makes the article unsafe or a risk to health when used at the place of work.
(5) A person who manufactures, imports or supplies a substance for use at work shall—
(a) ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the substance is safe and without risk to health when properly used by a person at a place of work,
(b) ensure that the substance undergoes appropriate levels of testing and examination to ensure compliance with paragraph (a),
(c) provide or arrange for the provision of adequate information about the substance to the persons to whom it is supplied to ensure its safe use, and
(d) comply with the relevant statutory provisions and with the provisions of any relevant enactment implementing any relevant directive of the European Communities.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5)(c), adequate information includes information relating to—
(a) the identification of the substance,
(b) any risk to safety or health associated with its inherent properties,
(c) the results of any relevant tests or examination which have been carried out on or in connection with the substance that are relevant to its safe use, and
(d) any conditions necessary to ensure its safe use, handling, processing, storing, transportation or disposal without risk to safety or health.
(7) A person who undertakes the manufacture of a substance, or in the case where the manufacture was undertaken outside the State, the importer, shall carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable, the elimination or minimisation of any risks to safety or health to which the substance may give rise when in use.
(8) Nothing in subsections (1) to (7) shall be read as requiring a person to repeat any testing, examination or research which has been carried out otherwise than by or on behalf of the person, in so far as it is reasonable for the person to rely on the results of that testing, examination or research, for the purposes of those subsections.
(9) Any duty imposed on a person by subsections (1) to (7) extends only to things done in the course of a trade, undertaking or business (whether for profit or not) carried on by the person and to matters within his or her control.
(10) Where a person designs, manufactures, imports or supplies an article or substance for use at work and does so for or to another person on the basis of a written undertaking by that other person to take specified steps that are sufficient to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article or substance shall be safe and without risk to health or safety when it is used at a place of work, the undertaking has the effect of relieving the person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies the article or substance from the duty imposed by paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) and paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (5) to such extent as is reasonable having regard to the terms of the undertaking.
(11) Nothing in subsection (9) or (10) relieves any person who imports any article or substance from any duty in respect of anything which—
(a) in the case of an article designed outside the State, was done by and in the course of any trade, profession or other undertaking carried on by, or was within the control of, the person who designed the article, or
(b) in the case of an article or substance manufactured outside the State, was done by and in the course of any trade, profession or other undertaking carried on by, or was within the control of, the person who manufactured the article or substance.
(12) Where a person (in this subsection referred to as “the supplier”) supplies to another person (in this subsection referred to as “the customer”) any article or substance for use at work under a hire-purchase agreement, a leasing agreement or credit-sale agreement, and the supplier—
(a) carried on the business of financing the acquisition of goods by others by means of those agreements, and
(b) in the course of that business acquired his or her interest in the article or substance supplied to the customer as a means of financing its acquisition by the customer from a third party,
then that third party and not the supplier shall be treated for the purposes of this section as supplying the article or substance to the customer and any duty imposed by this section on suppliers shall, accordingly, fall on that third party and not on the supplier.
(13) For the purposes of this section, an absence of safety or a risk to health shall be disregarded in so far as the case is or, in relation to which it would arise is shown to be, one the occurrence of which could not reasonably be foreseen and, in determining whether a duty imposed by paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) or paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (5) has been performed, regard shall be had to any relevant information or advice which has been provided to any person by the person who designed, manufactured, imported or supplied the article or by the person who manufactured, imported or supplied the substance