Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002
| Year | 2002 |
2002 No. 2776
HEALTH AND SAFETY
The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002
Made 7th November 2002
Laid before Parliament 15th November 2002
The Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 15(1), (2), (3)(a) and (5), 80(1) and 82(3)(a) of, and paragraphs 1(1), (2) and (4), 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18(b) and 20 of Schedule 3 to, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 19741(“the 1974 Act”) and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf and for the purpose of giving effect without modifications to proposals submitted to him by the Health and Safety Commission under section 11(2)(d) of the 1974 Act after the carrying out by the said Commission of consultations in accordance with section 50(3) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:—
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 and shall come into force—
(a) as respects all regulations except for regulations 5(4)(c), 7, 11, 15(2), 16(2) and 17(1) to (3) on 9th December 2002;
(b) as respects regulations 15(2) and 16(2) on 5th May 2003; and
(c) as respects regulations 5(4)(c), 7, 11 and 17(1) to (3) on 30th June 2003.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations—
“approved classification and labelling guide” means the “Approved Guide to the Classification and Labelling of Dangerous Substances and Dangerous Preparations” (5th edition)2approved by the Health and Safety Commission on 16th April 2002;
“the CHIP Regulations” means the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 20023;
“dangerous substance” means—
(a) a substance or preparation which meets the criteria in the approved classification and labelling guide for classification as a substance or preparation which is explosive, oxidising, extremely flammable, highly flammable or flammable, whether or not that substance or preparation is classified under the CHIP Regulations;
(b) a substance or preparation which because of its physico-chemical or chemical properties and the way it is used or is present at the workplace creates a risk, not being a substance or preparation falling within subparagraph (a) above; or
(c) any dust, whether in the form of solid particles or fibrous materials or otherwise, which can form an explosive mixture with air or an explosive atmosphere, not being a substance or preparation falling within subparagraphs (a) or (b) above;
“explosive atmosphere” means a mixture, under atmospheric conditions, of air and one or more dangerous substances in the form of gases, vapours, mists or dusts in which, after ignition has occurred, combustion spreads to the entire unburned mixture;
“hazard” means the physico-chemical or chemical property of a dangerous substance which has the potential to give rise to fire, explosion, or other events which can result in harmful physical effects of a kind similar to those which can be caused by fire or explosion, affecting the safety of a person, and references in these Regulations to “hazardous” shall be construed accordingly;
“offshore installation” has the same meaning as it is given by regulation 3 of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 19954insofar as that regulation extends to mineral extracting industries within the scope of Article 2(a) of Council Directive 92/91/EECconcerning the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in the mineral-extracting industries through drilling5;
“personal protective equipment” means all equipment which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work and which protects that person against one or more risks to his safety, and any addition or accessory designed to meet that objective;
“preparation” means a mixture or solution of two or more substances;
“public road” means (in England and Wales) a highway maintainable at public expense within the meaning of section 329 of the Highways Act 19806and (in Scotland) a public road within the meaning assigned to that term by section 151 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 19847;
“risk” means the likelihood of a person’s safety being affected by harmful physical effects being caused to him from fire, explosion or other events arising from the hazardous properties of a dangerous substance in connection with work and also the extent of that harm;
“risk assessment” means the assessment of risks required by regulation 5(1);
“safety data sheet” means a safety data sheet within the meaning of regulation 5 of the CHIP Regulations;
“substance” means any natural or artificial substance whether in solid or liquid form or in the form of a gas or vapour;
“workplace” means any premises or part of premises used for or in connection with work, and includes—
(a) any place within the premises to which an employee has access while at work; and
(b) any room, lobby, corridor, staircase, road or other place—
(i) used as a means of access to or egress from that place of work, or,
(ii) where facilities are provided for use in connection with that place of work,
other than a public road; and
“work processes” means all technical aspects of work involving dangerous substances and includes—
(a) appropriate technical means of supervision,
(b) connecting devices,
(c) control and protection systems,
(d) engineering controls and solutions,
(e) equipment,
(f) materials,
(g) machinery,
(h) plant,
(i) protective systems, and
(j) warning and other communication systems.
Application
3.—(1) These Regulations, apart from regulations 15, 16 and 17(4) to (5), shall not apply to the master or crew of a ship or to the employer of such persons in respect of the normal ship-board activities of a ship’s crew which are carried out solely by the crew under the direction of the master and, for the purposes of this paragraph—
(a)
(a) “ship” includes every description of vessel used in navigation, other than a ship forming part of Her Majesty’s Navy or an offshore installation; and
(b)
(b) the reference to the normal ship-board activities of a ship’s crew includes—
(i) the construction, reconstruction or conversion of a ship outside, but not inside, Great Britain; and
(ii) the repair of a ship save repair when carried out in dry dock.
(2) Regulations 5(4)(c), 7 and 11 shall not apply to—
(a)
(a) areas used directly for and during the medical treatment of patients;
(b)
(b) the use of gas appliances burning gaseous fuel (that is to say, any fuel which is in a gaseous state at a temperature of 15°C under a pressure of 1 bar) which—
(i) are used for cooking, heating, hot water production, refrigeration, lighting or washing; and
(ii) have, where applicable, a normal water temperature not exceeding 105°C
including forced draught burners and heating bodies to be equipped with such burners but not including an appliance specifically designed for use in an industrial process carried out on industrial premises;
(c)
(c) gas fittings within the meaning of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 19988located in domestic premises, not being gas appliances falling within subparagraph (b);
(d)
(d) the manufacture, handling, use, storage and transport of explosives or chemically unstable substances;
(e)
(e) any activity at a mine within the meaning of section 180 of the Mines and Quarries Act 19549carried out for the purposes of the mine;
(f)
(f) any activity at a quarry within the meaning of regulation 3 of the Quarries Regulations 199910carried out for the purposes of the quarry;
(g)
(g) any activity at a borehole site within the meaning of regulation 2(1) of the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 199511carried out for the purposes of the borehole site;
(h)
(h) any activity at an offshore installation carried out for the purposes of the offshore installation; and
(i)
(i) the use of means of transport by land, water or air which is regulated by international agreements and the European Community Directives giving effect to them insofar as they fall within the disapplication in Article 1.2.(e) of Council Directive 99/92/ECon minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres12, except for any means of transport intended for use in a potentially explosive atmosphere.
(3) Regulations 5(2)(f), (g), (h) and (i), 6(4)(d), 6(5)(b) and (e) and 8(1)(d) and (e) and the requirements of paragraphs 5 and 6 of Schedule 1 shall not apply to any activity at an offshore installation carried out for the purposes of the offshore installation.
Duties under these Regulations
4.—(1) Where a duty is placed by these Regulations on an employer in respect of his employees, he shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, be under a like duty in respect of any other person, whether at work or not, who may be affected by the work carried on by the employer, except that—
(a)
(a) the duties of the employer under regulations 6(5)(f) and 7(5) (which relate, respectively, to the provision of suitable personal protective equipment and the provision of appropriate work clothing) shall not extend to persons who are not his employees; and
(b)
(b) the duties of the employer under regulations 8 and 9 (which relate, respectively, to dealing with accidents and to provision of information, instruction and training) shall not extend to persons who are not his employees, unless those persons are at the workplace where the work is being carried on and subject to the following, namely, that, in relation to the application of regulation 9 to such persons, regulation 9 shall apply to the extent that is required by the nature and the degree of the risk.
(2) These Regulations shall apply to a self-employed person as they apply to an employer and an employee and as if that self-employed person were both an employer and employee.
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