Control of Lead at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Maintenance, examination and testing of control measures

8.—(1) Every employer who provides any control measure to meet the requirements of regulation 6 shall ensure that it is, where appropriate, maintained in a clean condition, in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.

(2) Where engineering controls are provided to meet the requirements of regulation 6, the employer shall ensure that thorough examinations and tests of those controls are carried out—

(a) in the case of local exhaust ventilation plant, at least once every 14 months; and

(b) in any other case, at suitable intervals.

(3) Where respiratory protective equipment (other than disposable respiratory protective equipment) is provided to meet the requirements of regulation 6, the employer shall ensure that at suitable intervals thorough examinations and, where appropriate, tests of that equipment are carried out.

(4) Every employer shall keep a suitable record of the examinations and tests carried out in pursuance of paragraph (2) or (3) and of any repairs carried out as a result of those examinations and tests, and that record or a suitable summary thereof shall be kept available for at least 5 years from the date on which it was made.

(5) Except where protective clothing is cleaned in accordance with paragraph (6), every employer shall ensure that protective clothing which may be contaminated by lead remains within the premises.

(6) Where an undertaking does not carry out cleaning of protective clothing on the premises, the employer shall ensure that—

(a) the cleaning is carried out only by a suitably equipped laundry; and

(b) contaminated clothing is transported in closed containers.