S.I. No. 402/1980 - European Communities (Safety Signs At Places of Work) Regulations, 1980.

S.I. No. 402 of 1980.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (SAFETY SIGNS AT PLACES OF WORK) REGULATIONS, 1980.

I, TOM NOLAN, Minister for Labour, in exercise of the power conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 77/576/EEC⁽¹⁾, as amended by Commission Directive No. 79/640/EEC⁽²⁾, hereby make the following Regulations:

⁽¹⁾O.J. No. L229, 7.9.1977, p.12.

⁽²⁾O.J. No. L183, 19.7.1979, p.11.

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Safety Signs at Places of Work) Regulations, 1980.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1981.

2. (1) In these Regulations—

"authorised officer" means—

( a ) a person appointed by the Minister to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations, and

( b ) in relation to an office to which the Office Premises Act, 1958 (No. 3 of 1958), applies and as respects which any sanitary authority (within the meaning of the said Office Premises Act, 1958 ) is the enforcing authority (within the meaning of the said Office Premises Act, 1958 ), a person appointed by the Minister under paragraph (a) of this definition, or a person appointed by that authority, to be an authorised officer for the purpose of these Regulations,

( c ) in relation to a place licensed under the Dangerous Substances Act, 1972 (No. 10 of 1972), by a local authority or a harbour authority (within the meaning in each case of the said Dangerous Substances Act, 1972 ), a person appointed by the Minister under paragraph (a) of this definition, or a person appointed by that authority, to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations; and

( d ) in relation to an oil jetty in the harbour of a harbour authority within the meaning of the Harbours Act, 1946 (No. 9 of 1946), a person appointed by the Minister under paragraph (a) of this definition or a person appointed by that authority to be an authorised officer for the purposes of these Regulations; and

"the Council Directive" means Council Directive No. 77/576/EEC⁽¹⁾, as amended by Commission Directive No. 79/640/EEC⁽²⁾;

⁽¹⁾O.J. No. L229, 7.9.1977, p.12.

⁽²⁾O.J. No. L183, 19.7.1979, p.11.

"the Minister" means the Minister for Labour;

"oil jetty" has the meaning assigned to it by the Dangerous Substances (Oil Jetties) Regulations, 1979 ( S.I. No. 312 of 1979 );

"place of work" means—

( a ) a factory within the meaning of the Factories Act, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955),

( b ) an office within the meaning of the Office Premises Act, 1958 ,

( c ) a mine (other than a coal mine) or quarry within the meaning of the Mines and Quarries Act, 1965 (No. 7 of 1965),

( d ) a place licensed under the Dangerous Substances Act, 1972 , or an oil jetty, and

( e ) a specified premises within the meaning of the Safety in Industry Act, 1980 (No. 9 of 1980).

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Council Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the meaning in these Regulations that it has in the Directive.

3. Safety colours and contrast colours at places of work shall comply with the provisions of the Council Directive.

4. Safety signs at places of work shall comply with the provisions of the Council Directive.

5. Signs used at places of work to regulate internal works traffic shall be the road traffic signs in force in the State.

6. Where there is a contravention of Regulation 3, 4 or 5 of these Regulations, the occupier of the place of work where the contravention occurs shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500.

7. (1) An authorised officer may, for the purposes of these Regulations, at all reasonable times enter and inspect a place of work or a place that he reasonably believes to be a place of work and there make such examination as he considers necessary to ascertain whether the provisions of these Regulations are being complied with.

(2) A person who obstructs or interferes with an authorised officer when he is exercising a power conferred by this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200.

(3) An authorised officer shall be furnished with a certificate of his appointment and, when exercising any powers conferred by these Regulations, the officer shall, if required by any person affected, produce the certificate to that person.

8. Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any neglect on the part of, any person, being a director, member of the committee of management or other controlling authority thereof, or manager, secretary, or other officer thereof, that person shall also be deemed to have committed the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

9. An offence under these Regulations may be prosecuted—

( a ) in any case, by the Minister, and

( b ) in the case of an offence in relation to an office to which the Office Premises Act, 1958 , applies and as respects which any sanitary authority (within the meaning of the said Office Premises Act, 1958 ) is the enforcing authority (within the meaning of the said Office Premises Act, 1958 ), that authority

( c ) in the case of an offence in relation to a place licensed under the Dangerous Substances Act, 1972 , by a local authority or a harbour authority (within the meaning, in each case, of the said Dangerous Substances Act, 1972 ), that authority, and

( d ) in the case of an oil jetty in the harbour of a harbour authority (within the meaning of the Harbours Act, 1946 ), that authority.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 22nd day of December, 1980.

TOM NOLAN,

Minister for Labour.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations implement Council Directive No. 77/576/EEC as amended by Commission Directive No. 79/640/EEC.

Because of the increasing mobility of labour within the EEC the object of the Directives is to provide for a standardised system of safety signs which can be understood by anyone, whatever his linguistic background. The system is based on the familiar "traffic light" colours—red for prohibition, yellow for caution, green for positive action. A fourth colour, blue, is used for mandatory signs and to convey information such as the location of a telephone. The shapes of the signs are also standardised: discs for prohibitions and instructions, triangles for warnings, squares and rectangles for emergency and informative signs.

Provision is made in the Directives for relevant authorities to devise their own signs within the framework of this general system where a safety situation exists which is not covered in the standard series.

The Directives were published in the Official Journal of the European Communities dated 7.9.1977 and 19.7.1979 respectively. The Journal may be purchased from the Government Publications Sale Office, G.P.O. Arcade, Dublin 1.