General Application Regulations 2007
New General Application Regulations 2007 under the Safety, Health and Welfare Act 2005
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment today (Friday 15th June) announced that New General Application Regulations under the Safety, Health and Welfare Act 2005 were signed on 14th June 2007 by Mr Tony Killeen Minister for Labour Affairs.
The new Regulations complement the Safety, Health and Welfare Act 2005 Act by including in one text virtually all of the specific safety and health laws which apply generally to all employments. The text is designed to be user friendly and to assist those making reference to safety and health regulations to find most of the general safety provisions in one text.
Separate regulations relating to safety in the construction industry were signed by Minister Killeen in September 2006
The new General Application Regulations replace and largely repeal the 1993 General Application Regulations and also replace a wide list of secondary legislation in the area of occupational safety and health as well as retransposing a number of EU Directives.
The Regulations are presented in a self-contained, easily accessible and user-friendly format through the restructuring of the layout of the Regulations and through reducing the overall number of Schedules by the incorporation of provisions formerly set out in Schedules in the main text of the current Regulations. However, the overall thrust and the vast majority of the substantive requirements and prohibitions of the Regulations being replaced is maintained in the Regulations.
The Regulations revoke and replace -
(a) those provisions of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 1993 (S.I. No. 44 of 2003) (other than Part X and the Twelfth Schedule relating to the notification of accidents and dangerous occurrences, which remain in place) that were not already revoked under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application)(Amendment)(Revocation) Regulations 2005 (S.I. No. 392 of 2005) following their incorporation in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (No. 10 of 2005), and
(b) the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2001 (S.I. No. 188 of 2001).
The Regulations also revoke and replace an additional 20 full sets and 4 part provisions of—-
(a) Factories (Report of Examination of Hoists and Lifts) Regulations 1956 (S.I. No. 182 of 1956),
(b) Factories Act 1955 (Hoists and Lifts) (Exemption) Order 1957 (S.I. No. 80 of 1957),
(c) Factories Act 1955 (Lifts) (Exemption) Order 1960 (S.I. No. 129 of 1960),
(d) Regulations 22 to 35 and 37 and 38 and the Schedule to the Docks (Safety, Health and Welfare) Regulations 1960 (S.I. No. 279 of 1960),
(e) Factories Act, 1955 (Hoistways) (Exemption) Order 1962 (S.I. No. 211 of 1962),
(f) Quarries (Electricity) Regulations 1972 (S.I. No. 50 of 1972),
(g) Mines (Electricity) Regulations 1972 (S.I. No. 51 of 1972),
(h) Quarries (General) Regulations 1974 (S.I. No. 146 of 1974) to the extent of in Regulation 3, the definitions of “lifting appliance” and “safe working load”, Regulations 40 and 41, in the First Schedule “FORM No. 3” and “FORM No. 5” and the Second Schedule,
(i) Shipbuilding and Ship-Repairing (Safety, Health and Welfare) Regulations 1975 (S.I. No. 322 of 1975) to the extent of in Regulation 3(1), the definitions of “lifting equipment” and “lifting gear” and Regulations 32 to 48,
(j) Factories Act 1955 (Hoistways) (Exemption) Order 1976 (S.I. No. 236 of 1976),
(k) Factories Act 1955 (Hoists) (Exemption) Order 1977 (S.I. No. 13 of 1977),
(l) Mines (Electricity) (Amendment) Regulations 1979 (S.I. No. 125 of 1979),
(m) Quarries (Electricity) (Amendment) Regulations 1979 (S.I. No. 126 of 1979),
(n) Safety in Industry Acts 1955 and 1980 (Hoists and Hoistways) (Exemption) Order 1985 (S.I. No. 100 of 1985),
(o) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Signs) Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 132 of 1995),
(p) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Miscellaneous Welfare Provisions) Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 358 of 1995),
(q) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Children and Young Persons) Regulations 1998 (S.I. No. 504 of 1998),
(r) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Night Work and Shift Work) Regulations 2000 (S.I. No. 11 of 2000),
(s) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Pregnant Employees etc.) Regulations 2000 (S.I. No. 218 of 2000),
(t) Regulations 80 to 123 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2001 (S.I. No. 481 of 2001),
(u) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Explosive Atmospheres) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No. 258 of 2003),
(v) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Work at Height) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 318 of 2006),
(w) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Control of Vibration at Work) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 370 of 2006), and
(x) Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Control of Noise at Work) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 371 of 2006), except Regulation 11(3) of those Regulations.
Regulation 11(3) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Control of Noise at Work) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 371 of 2006) is revoked on 14 February, 2008.
The Regulations retranspose 14 EU Directives relating to occupational safety, health and welfare as follows:
(a) Council Directive 89/654/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace;
(b) Council Directive 89/655/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work, as amended by Council Directive 95/63/EC of 5 December 1995, amending Directive 89/655/EEC ;
(c) Council Directive 89/656/EEC of 30 November 1989 on the minimum health and safety requirements for use by workers of personal protective equipment ;
(d) Council Directive 90/269/EEC of 29 May 1990 on the minimum health and safety requirements for the manual handling of loads where there is a risk particularly of back injury to workers :
(e) Council Directive 90/270/EEC of 29 May 1990 on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment ;
(f) Directive 2001/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2001 amending Council Directive 89/655/EEC relating to the use of work equipment when carrying out work at a height;
(g) Directive 2003/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 February 2003 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (noise) ;
(h) Directive 2002/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 June 2002 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (vibration) ;
(i) the health and safety aspects of Council Directive 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work ;
(j) the occupational safety and health provisions of Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October, 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding ;
(k) in respect of night workers and shift workers, the safety and health protection provisions of Article 9 of Council Directive 93/104/EC of 23 November 1993 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time ;
(l) Council Directive 92/58/EEC of 24 June 1992 on the minimum requirements for the provision of safety and/or health signs at work ;
(m)Directive 1999/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1999 on minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres.