Classification and Labelling of Explosives Regulations 1983

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
CitationSI 1983/1140

1983 No. 1140

HEALTH AND SAFETY

The Classification and Labelling of Explosives Regulations 1983

21stJuly 1983

9thAugust 1983

1stNovember 1983

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 15(1), (2), (3)(a) and (c), (4)(a) and (b), (5)(a) and (b), and (6)(b), 43(2) and (4), 47(3), and 82(3)(a) of, and paragraphs 1(1)(b) and (c) and (4), 2(1), and 3(1) and (2) of Schedule 3 to, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974(a) ("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:—

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

1. Citation and commencement.

2. Interpretation.

3. Classification and labelling of explosive articles and explosive substances and of combinations and unit loads thereof.

4. Cases to which these Regulations do not apply.

5. Fees for testing.

6. Labelling of an article, substance or combination in Class 1.

7. Labelling of an article, substance or combination not in Class 1.

8. Labelling of outer and inner packagings.

9. Labelling or arrangement of a unit load.

10. Labelling generally.

11. Classification and labelling under these Regulations shall satisfy classification and labelling provisions of the Explosives Act 1875(b).

12. Defence in proceedings for contravening these Regulations.

13. Enforcement.

14. Power to grant exemptions.

15. Revocations.

Schedule 1. The Divisions.

Schedule 2. The Compatibility Groups.

Schedule 3. Labels.

(a) 1974 c. 37; section 15 was amended by the Employment Protection Act 1975 (c. 71), Schedule 15, paragraph 6.

(b) 1875 c. 17.

Schedule 4. Explosive articles in respect of which outer packaging is to be labelled.

Schedule 5. Explosive substances in respect of which inner and outer packagings are to be labelled.

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Classification and Labelling of Explosives Regulations 1983 and shall come into operation on 1st November 1983.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

"Class 1" means Class 1 in respect of explosives or the classification of dangerous goods as set out in the Second Revised Edition of the Recommendations prepared by the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods published in Chicago in 1982 on behalf of the United Nations by the International Regulations Publishing and Distributing Organization(a);

"classified" in relation to an article, substance, combination or unit load means assessed by the Health and Safety Executive or, in the case of a military explosive, by the Secretary of State and—

(a) (i) assigned to Class 1,

(ii) assigned to a Division and Compatibility Group,

(iii) designated as an article, substance, combination or unit load, and

(iv) in the case of an article or substance, allocated a United Nations Serial Number, or

(b) excluded from Class 1 and designated as or as not presenting a significant hazard from explosion;

"combination" means a combination in the same packaging of articles or substances or of one or more of each of them;

"Compatibility Group" means one of the compatibility groups in Class 1 set out in column 1 of Schedule 2 and "Compatibility Group letter" means the letter assigned to a Compatibility Group by column 2 of that Schedule;

"Division" means one of the divisions, into which Class 1 is divided, set out in column 1 of Schedule 1 and "Division number" means the number assigned to a Division by column 2 of that Schedule;

"explosive article" means an article containing one or more explosive substances;

"explosive substance" means—

(a) a solid or liquid substance, or

(b) a mixture of solid or liquid substances or both,

which is capable by chemical reaction in itself of producing gas at such a

(a) ISBN-0-940394-04-9.

temperature and pressure and at such a speed as could cause damage to surroundings or which is designed to produce an effect by heat, light, sound, gas or smoke or a combination of these as a result of non-detonative self-sustaining exothermic chemical reactions;

"hazard classification code" means the Division number followed by the Compatibility Group letter of an article, substance, combination or unit load as assigned on classification;

"inner packaging" means the packaging immediately surrounding an article, substance or combination, except when it is the only packaging, but it does not include any envelope, case or contrivance forming part of an article;

"label" includes "mark" and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;

"military explosive" means any article, substance, combination or unit load to which these Regulations apply—

(a) under the control of the Secretary of State, or otherwise held for the service of the Crown, for the purposes of the Ministry of Defence,

(b) under the control of a headquarters or organisation designated for the purposes of the International Headquarters and Defence Organisations Act 1964(a) or of the service authorities of a visiting force within the meaning of any of the provisions of Part 1 of the Visiting Forces Act 1952(b), or otherwise held for the service of such a headquarters, organisation or visiting force, or

(c) the conveyance of which is certified by the Secretary of State to be in connection with the execution of a contract with the Secretary of State or with a headquarters or organisation designated for the purposes of the International Headquarters and Defence Organisations Act 1964 or with the service authorities of a visiting force within the meaning of any of the provisions of Part 1 of the Visiting Forces Act 1952;

"name" means in relation to an explosive article or explosive substance its name—

(a) as shown in "List of Authorised Explosives" or "List of Classifications of Explosives" both being lists issued by the Health and Safety Executive or in any of the various lists of classifications for military explosives issued by the Ministry of Defence, all the foregoing as revised or re-issued from time to time;

(b) as shown in a licence issued in respect of its manufacture or importation by the Health and Safety Executive or the Secretary of State, or

(c) as otherwise approved in writing by the Secretary of State;

"outer packaging" means the packaging immediately surrounding an article, substance or combination where it is the only packaging and in any other case the outermost packaging but does not include—

(a) any envelope, case or contrivance forming part of an article, or

(a) 1964 c.5.

(b) 1952 c.67.

(b) any type of freight container, aircraft container, container with integral pallet, aircraft pallet or vehicle;

"supply" means (whether as principal or agent for another) supply in the course of, or for use at, work by way of—

(a) sale, offer for sale, lease, hire or hire purchase,

(b) commercial sample,

(c) transfer from a factory, warehouse or other place of work and its curtilage to another place of work, whether or not in the same ownership, or

(d) importation into the United Kingdom,

and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;

"unit load" means the unit formed when packages or unpackaged articles are assembled on or in a device which enables them to be mechanically handled as one unit, but which is not any type of freight container, aircraft container, container with integral pallet, aircraft pallet, or vehicle;

"United Nations Serial Number" means one of the four-digit numbers devised by the United Nations and allocated by the Health and Safety Executive or the Secretary of State to an explosive article or explosive substance as a means of identification.

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to—

(a) a numbered Regulation or Schedule is a reference to the Regulation of, or Schedule to, these Regulations bearing that number;

(b) a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph bearing that number in the Regulation or Schedule in which the reference appears.

Classification and labelling of explosive articles and explosive substances and of combinations and unit loads thereof

3.—(1) Subject to Regulation 4, these Regulations shall apply to—

(a) explosive articles or explosive substances, whether in packaging or not;

(b) combinations in the same packaging of explosive articles or explosive substances or of one or more of each of such articles and substances;

(c) unit loads of any of the following—

(i) explosive articles, whether in packaging or not,

(ii) packaged explosive substances,

(iii) combinations in the same packaging of explosive articles or explosive substances or of one or more of each of such articles and substances;

except that in relation to supply only, these Regulations shall apply to the items specified in this paragraph only in so far as they are supplied with a view to producing a practical effect by explosion or a pyrotechnic effect.

(2) An article, substance, combination or unit load to which these Regulations apply may not be conveyed, kept or supplied unless—

(a) it has been classified for the time being according to composition and in the form and packaging, if any, in which it is to be conveyed, kept or supplied; and

(b) it and any packaging comply with the labelling requirements, if any, imposed in respect of them by these Regulations.

(3) Subject to Regulation 11, nothing in paragraph (2) shall be construed as affecting any other requirement of law relating to the conveyance, keeping or supply of any article, substance, combination or unit load to which these Regulations apply.

Cases to which these Regulations do not apply

4.—(1) These Regulations shall not apply to an article, substance, combination or unit load—

(a) which complies with the classification and...

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