Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

1.  These Regulations—

(a) revoke and re-enact with modifications, in a consolidated form, the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986 (S.R. 1986 No. 247) and certain provisions of the Offshore Installations (Inspectors and Casualties) Regulations 1973 (S.I. 1973/1842) and the Submarine Pipe-lines (Inspectors etc.) Regulations 1977 (S.I. 1977/835) (see paragraph 2), and

(b) repeal a provision of the Quarries (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/150 (N.I. 4)) and make a consequential amendment to the Quarries (Returns and Records) Rules (Northern Ireland) 1963 (S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1963 No. 41) (see paragraph 3).

2.  The Regulations maintain a requirement that the responsible person (as defined in regulation 2(1)) must notify, and subsequently send a report to, the Department of Economic Development (“the Department”) or, as the case may be, the district council, of fatal and certain non-fatal accidents arising out of or in connection with work, of certain specified diseases contracted by persons at work and of certain specified dangerous occurrences.

In addition to minor and drafting amendments, these Regulations make the following changes of substance—

(a) the definition of accident includes acts of violence done to persons at work (regulation 2(i));

(b) the injuries reportable in respect of persons not at work are confined to deaths, those injuries which cause a person to be taken from the site of the accident to a hospital and major injuries arising out of or in connection with work at a hospital (regulation 3(1)(a), (c) and (d)). Accidents arising out of medical treatment by a doctor or dentist are excluded (regulation 10);

(c) the list of dangerous occurrences which must be reported (regulation 3(1) and Schedule 2) has been updated: it consists of general provisions as well as additional occurrences reportable in respect of mines, quarries, railways and offshore workplaces;

(d) the list of reportable diseases has been updated (regulation 5 and Schedule 3);

(e) the report required to be sent to the Department or, as the case may be, the district council, may be sent either on a form approved by the Department or by some other means approved by the Department (regulation 3(1)(ii) and 5(1));

(f) the persons responsible for the reporting of gas incidents include those approved under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 (S.R. 1997 No. 194) (regulation 6(2)); and

(g) the Department is given limited power to grant exemptions from requirements imposed by the Regulations (regulation 13).

3.  The Regulations repeal Article 18(2) (annual return of details of accidents) of the Quarries (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983/150 (N.I. 4)) and, as a consequence, amend the Quarries (Returns and Records) Rules (Northern Ireland) 1963 (S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1963 No. 41) so as to prescribe a new form of annual return for completion in respect of quarrying activities (regulations 14 and 15(3) and Schedule 9).

4.  In Great Britain, the corresponding Regulations are the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/3163), and the Health and Safety Executive has prepared a compliance cost assessment in relation to those Regulations. A copy of that assessment, together with the Northern Ireland Supplement prepared by the Department, is held at the Department’s Health and Safety Division, 83 Ladas Drive, Belfast BT6 9FJ, from where a copy may be obtained on request.

5.  A person who contravenes the Regulations is guilty of an offence under Article 31 of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (currently £5,000) or, on conviction on indictment, to a fine.