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New Health And Safety Legislation Now In Place

The Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments and Revocations) Regulations 2009 have been issued and come into force on Monday 6 April 2009.

These regulations amend aspects of the regime of controls for explosives by making changes including:

  • increasing the maximum life of explosives certificates to five years

  • giving licensing authorities the power to vary a registration to store explosives

  • disapplying the local authority assent process before the grant of manufacturing licences to the police, and other requirements relating to the public availability of information on police licences, to ensure that the information remains tightly controlled.

The regulations specifically amend the:

  • Control of Explosives Regulations 1991
  • Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998
  • Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2000
  • Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005
  • Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
  • Control of Explosives Regulations 1991, so that:
    • the maximum period of validity of an explosives certificate is extended to five years, and the distinction between periods of validity for explosives certificates relating to the acquisition and keeping of explosives and those for acquisition only is removed
    • the definition of chief officer of police is changed
    • certain model rocket motors are added to the list of explosives in Schedule 1.

  • Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998, so that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the enforcing authority for the storage of ammonium nitrate blasting intermediate

  • Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations 2005, to:
    • make the HSE the enforcing authority at sites in relation to which it has granted a person a licence to manufacture or store explosives or registered a person for such storage
    • extend the period for which a registration may be granted by the HSE, or a chief officer of police to five years (if the applicant has an explosive certificate, the period is to be up to the expiry date of that certificate)
    • disapply in two cases (where the application is for a licence to follow one which was granted to follow a “deemed licence”, and where the police are applying for a licence to manufacture explosives for their operational purposes or training in those purposes) the requirement of regulation 13 for local authority assent before a licence may be granted.
    • allow a licensing authority to vary a registration
    • provide that a transfer of a licence or a registration is to be refused if the licensing authority is of the opinion that the applicant is not a fit person to store or manufacture explosives, as the case may be.

  • Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2000, to change the address at which copies are to be maintained of the register of notifications of activities involving genetic modification of micro-organisms; copies are now to be maintained at the offices of the HSE at Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 7HS

  • Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, so that Schedule 1 fully implements Article 6(1) of the Physical Agents (Noise) Directive (2003/10/EC).

You can download the original legislation document here

See also Unionsafety's legislation pages here

Source: Croner's



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