Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

53 General interpretation of Part I

(1) In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires—

• " agriculture ", subject to subsection (3) below, includes horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, livestock breeding and keeping (including the management of livestock up to the point of slaughter or export from Great Britain), forestry, the use of land as grazing land, meadow land, osier land, market gardens and nursery grounds, and the preparation of land for agricultural use, and " agricultural " shall be construed accordingly;

• " the Agriculture Ministers " means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State and, in the case of anything falling to be done by the Agriculture Ministers, means those Ministers acting jointly;

• " agricultural health and safety regulations " has the meaning assigned by section 30(1);

• " agricultural licence " means a licence of the Agriculture Ministers or either of them under any of the relevant statutory provisions;

• " agricultural operation " does not include an agricultural operation performed otherwise than in the course of a trade, business or other undertaking (whether carried on for profit or not) but, subject to subsection (2) below, includes any operation incidental to agriculture which is performed in the course of such a trade, business or undertaking;

• " the appropriate Agriculture Minister " means, for the purpose of the application of any of the relevant statutory provisions to England and Wales, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and, for the purpose of the application of any of those provisions to Scotland, the Secretary of State ;

• " article for use at work " means—

  (a)

  any plant designed for use or operation (whether exclusively or not) by persons at work, and

  (b)

  any article designed for use as a component in any such plant;

• " code of practice" (without prejudice to section 16(8)) includes a standard, a specification and any other documentary form of practical guidance;

• " the Commission " has the meaning assigned by section 10(2);

• " conditional sale agreement " means an agreement for the sale of goods under which the purchase price or part of it is payable by instalments, and the property in the goods is to remain in the seller (notwithstanding that the buyer is to be in possession of the goods) until such conditions as to the payment of instalments or otherwise as may be specified in the agreement are fulfilled;

• " contract of employment " means a contract of employment or apprenticeship (whether express or implied and, if express, whether oral or in writing);

• " credit-sale agreement " means an agreement for the sale of goods, under which the purchase price or part of it is payable by instalments, but which is not a conditional sale agreement;

• " domestic premises " means premises occupied as a private dwelling (including any garden, yard, garage, outhouse or other appurtenance of such premises which is not used in common by the occupants of more than one such dwelling), and " non-domestic premises " shall be construed accordingly;

• " employee" means an individual who works under a contract of employment, and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;

• " enforcing authority " has the meaning assigned by section 18(7);

• " the Executive " has the meaning assigned by section 10(5);

• " the existing statutory provisions " means the following provisions while and to the extent that they remain in force, namely the provisions of the Acts mentioned in Schedule 1 which are specified in the third column of that Schedule and of the regulations, orders or other instruments of a legislative character made or having effect under any provision so specified ;

• " forestry " includes—

  (a)

  the felling of trees and the extraction and primary conversion of trees within the wood or forest in which they were grown, and

  (b)

  the use of land for woodlands where that use is ancillary to the use of land for other agricultural purposes;

• " the general purposes of this Part " has the meaning assigned by section 1;

• " health and safety regulations " has the meaning assigned by section 15(1);

• " hire-purchase agreement " means an agreement other than a conditional sale agreement, under which—

  (a)

  goods are bailed or (in Scotland) hired in return for periodical payments by the person to whom they are bailed or hired ; and

  (b)

  the property in the goods will pass to that person if the terms of the agreement are complied with and one or more of the following occurs:

  (i)

  the exercise of an option to purchase by that person;

  (ii)

  the doing of any other specified act by any party to the agreement;

  (iii)

  the happening of any other event; and " hire-purchase " shall be construed accordingly ;

• " improvement notice " means a notice under section 21;

• " inspector " means an inspector appointed under section 19;

• " livestock " includes any creature kept for the production of food, wool, skins or fur, or for the purpose of its use in the carrying on of any agricultural activity;

• " local authority " means—

  (a)

  in relation to England and Wales, a county council, the Greater London Council, a district council, a London borough council, the Common Council of the City of London, the Sub-Treasurer of the Inner Temple or the Under-Treasurer of the Middle Temple,

  (b)

  in relation to Scotland, a regional, islands or district council except that before 16th May 1975 it means a town council or county council;

• " offshore installation " means any installation which is intended for underwater exploitation of mineral resources or exploration with a view to such exploitation ;

• " personal injury " includes any disease and any impairment of a person's physical or mental condition;

• " plant " includes any machinery, equipment or appliance ;

• " premises " includes any place and, in particular, includes—

  (a)

  any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or hovercraft,

  (b)

  any installation on land (including the foreshore and other land intermittently covered by water), any offshore installation, and any other installation (whether floating, or resting on the seabed or the subsoil thereof, or resting on other land covered with water or the subsoil thereof), and

  (c)

  any tent or movable structure ;

• " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;

• " prohibition notice " means a notice under section 22 ;

• " the relevant agricultural purposes " means the following purposes, that is to say—

  (a)

  securing the health, safety and welfare at work of persons engaged in agricultural operations,

  (b)

  protecting persons other than persons so engaged against risks to health or safety arising out of or in connection with the activities at work of persons so engaged; and the reference in paragraph (b) above to the risks there mentioned shall be construed in accordance with section 1(3);

• " the relevant statutory provisions " means—

  (a)

  the provisions of this Part and of any health and safety regulations and agricultural health and safety regulations; and

  (b)

  the existing statutory provisions ;

• " self-employed person " means an individual who works for gain or reward otherwise than under a contract of employment, whether or not he himself employs others;

• " substance " means any natural or artificial substance, whether in solid or liquid form or in the form of a gas or vapour;

• " substance for use at work " means any substance intended for use (whether exclusively or not) by persons at work;

• " supply ", where the reference is to supplying articles or substances, means supplying them by way of sale, lease, hire or hire-purchase, whether as principal or agent for another.

(2) In determining in any particular case whether an operation is incidental to agriculture within the meaning of the definition of " agricultural operation" in the preceding subsection, regard shall be had to the magnitude of the operation and to the scale on which it is performed as well as to all other relevant circumstances.

(3) Provision may be made by order for directing that for the purposes of this Part any activity or operation specified in the order which would or would not otherwise be agriculture within the meaning of this Part shall be treated as not being or, as the case may be, being agriculture for those purposes.

(4) An order under subsection (3) above may be either an order applying to Great Britain and made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State acting jointly, or an order applying to England and Wales only and made by the said Minister, or an order applying to Scotland only and made by the Secretary of State.

(5) An order under subsection (3) above may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order thereunder made by the authority who made the original order.

(6) The power to make orders under subsection (3) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.