Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Classification of biological agents

3.—(1) The Executive shall approve for the purposes of this Schedule the document, and any revision or re-issue thereof, published by the Health and Safety Commission, entitled “Categorisation of Biological Agents according to hazard and categories of containment” containing a list of biological agents together with the classification of each agent which it has approved, and any reference in this Schedule to “approved classification” in relation to a particular biological agent shall be construed as a reference to the classification of that agent which appears in the said document.

(2) Where a biological agent has an approved classification, any reference in these Regulations to a particular Group in relation to that agent shall be taken as a reference to the Group to which that agent has been assigned in that approved classification.

(3) Where a biological agent does not have an approved classification, the employer shall provisionally classify that agent in accordance with sub-paragraph (4), having regard to the nature of the agent and the properties of which he may reasonably be expected to be aware.

(4) When provisionally classifying a biological agent the employer shall assign that agent to one of the following Groups according to its level of risk of infection and, if in doubt as to which of two alternative Groups is the most appropriate, he shall assign it to the higher of the two—

(a) Group 1—unlikely to cause human disease;

(b) Group 2—can cause human disease and may be a hazard to employees; it is unlikely to spread to the community and there is usually effective prophylaxis or treatment available;

(c) Group 3—can cause severe human disease and may be a serious hazard to employees; it may spread to the community, but there is usually effective prophylaxis or treatment available;

(d) Group 4—causes severe human disease and is a serious hazard to employees; it is likely to spread to the community and there is usually no effective prophylaxis or treatment available.