(1)The Department may promote research into the causes and incidence of accidents arising out of and in the course of employment, or injuries and diseases which—
(a)are due to the nature of employment; or
(b)it is contemplated might be prescribed for the purposes of sections 108 to 110 of the Contributions and Benefits Act,
either by itself employing persons to conduct such research or by contributing to the expenses of, or otherwise assisting, other persons engaged in such research.
(2)The Department may pay to persons so employed by it such salaries or remuneration, and such travelling and other allowances, as it may determine with the consent of the Department of Finance and Personnel.
(1)As respects pneumoconiosis, regulations may provide—
(a)for requiring persons to be medically examined before, or within a prescribed period after, becoming employed in any occupation in relation to which pneumoconiosis is prescribed, and to be medically examined periodically while so employed, and to furnish information required for the purposes of any such examination;
(b)for suspending from employment in any such occupation, and in such other occupations as may be prescribed, persons found on such an examination—
(i)to be suffering from pneumoconiosis or tuberculosis, or
(ii)to be unsuitable for such employment, having regard to the risk of pneumoconiosis and such other matters affecting their susceptibility to pneumoconiosis as may be prescribed;
(c)for the disqualification for the receipt of [F1personal independence payment, or benefit as defined in section 121 of the Contributions and Benefits Act,] in respect of pneumoconiosis of any person who fails without good cause to submit himself to any such examination or to furnish information required by the regulations or who engages in any employment from which he has been suspended as mentioned in paragraph (b) above;
(d)for requiring employers—
(i)to provide facilities for such examinations,
(ii)not to employ in any occupation a person who has been suspended as mentioned in paragraph (b) above from employment in that occupation or who has failed without good cause to submit himself to such an examination,
(iii)to give to such officer as may be prescribed the prescribed notice of the commencement of any prescribed industry or process;
(e)for the recovery on summary conviction of monetary penalties in respect of any contravention of or failure to comply with any such requirement as is mentioned in paragraph (d) above, but those penalties shall not exceed £5 for every day on which the contravention or failure occurs or continues;
(f)for such matters as appear to the Department to be incidental to or consequential on provisions included in the regulations by virtue of paragraphs (a) to (d) above or section 110(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act.
Textual Amendments
F1Words in s. 160(1)(c) substituted (20.6.2016) by The Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/2006), art. 2(2), Sch. 9 para. 27; S.R. 2016/215, art. 3(2)