Safety, Health and Welfare At Work Act, 1989

General duties of designers, manufacturers, etc., as regards articles and substances for use at work.

10.—(1) It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work—

(a) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is designed, constructed, tested and examined so as to be safe and without risk to health when used by a person at a place of work;

(b) to take such steps as are necessary to secure that persons supplied by that person with the article are provided with adequate information about the use for which it is designed or has been tested, and about any conditions relating to the article so as to ensure that, when in use, dismantled or disposed of, it will be safe and without risk to health; and

(c) to take such steps as are necessary to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons so supplied are provided with all such revisions of information provided to them by virtue of paragraph (b) as are necessary by reason of its becoming known that anything relating to the article gives rise to a serious risk to safety or health.

(2) It shall be the duty of any person who undertakes the design or manufacture of any article for use at work to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable, the elimination or minimisation of any risks to safety or health to which the design or article may give rise.

(3) It shall be the duty of any person who erects or installs any article for use at a place of work where that article is to be used by persons at work to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that nothing about the way in which the article is erected or installed makes it unsafe, or a risk to health when in use at a place of work.

(4) It shall be the duty of any person who manufactures or imports or supplies any substance—

(a) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the substance will be safe and without risks to health when it is being used by a person at a place of work;

(b) to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be necessary for the performance of the duty imposed on him by paragraph (a) and whenever requested by an inspector provide or cause to be provided to him evidence, including documentary evidence of such testing and examination;

(c) to take such steps as are necessary to ensure that persons supplied by that person with the substance are provided with adequate information about any risk to safety or health to which the inherent properties of the substance may give rise, about the results of any relevant tests which have been carried out on or in connection with the substance and about any conditions necessary to ensure that the substance will be safe and without risk to health when the substance is being used or being disposed of.

(5) It shall be the duty of any person who undertakes the manufacture of any substance, or in a case where the manufacture was undertaken outside the State it shall be the duty of the importer, to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable, the elimination or minimisation of any risks to safety or health to which the substance may give rise when in use.

(6) Nothing in the preceding provisions of this section shall be construed as requiring a person to repeat any testing, examination or research which has been carried out otherwise than by him or at his instance, in so far as it is reasonable for him to rely on the results thereof, for the purposes of those provisions.

(7) Any duty imposed on a person by any of the preceding provisions of this section shall extend only to things done in the course of a trade, business or other undertaking carried on by him (whether for profit or not) and to matters within his control.

(8) Where a person designs, manufactures, imports or supplies an article for use at work and does so for or to another person on the basis of a written undertaking by that other person to take specified steps that are sufficient to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article shall be safe and without risks to health when it is being used at a place of work, the said undertaking shall have the effect of relieving the first mentioned person from the duty imposed by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) to such extent as is reasonable having regard to the terms of the said undertaking.

(9) Nothing in subsections (7) or (8) shall relieve any person who imports any article or substance from any duty in respect of anything which—

(a) in the case of an article designed outside the State, was done by and in the course of any trade, profession or other undertaking carried on by, or was within the control of, the person who designed the article; or

(b) in the case of an article or substance manufactured outside the State, was done by and in the course of any trade, profession or other undertaking carried on by, or was within the control of, the person who manufactured the article or substance.

(10) Where a person (hereinafter referred to in this subsection as “the supplier”) supplies, including hires or leases, to another person (hereinafter referred to in this subsection as “the customer”) any article or substance for use at work, under a hire-purchase agreement, a leasing agreement or credit-sale agreement, and the supplier—

(a) carried on the business of financing the acquisition of goods by others by means of such agreements, and

(b) in the course of that business acquired his interest in the article or substance supplied to the customer as a means of financing its acquisition by the customer from a third party (hereinafter referred to in this subsection as “the dealer”),

the dealer and not the supplier, shall be treated for the purposes of this section as supplying the article or substance to the customer, and any duty imposed by this section on suppliers shall, accordingly, fall on the dealer and not on the supplier.

(11) For the purposes of this section an absence of safety or risk to health shall be disregarded in so far as the case is or in relation to which it would arise is shown to be one the occurrence of which could not reasonably be foreseen; and in determining whether any duty imposed by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsections (1) or (4) has been performed regard shall be had to any relevant information or advice which has been provided to any person by the person by whom the article has been designed, manufactured, imported or supplied or, as the case may be, by the person by whom the substance has been manufactured, imported or supplied.

(12) Without prejudice to the generality of this section, the Minister may prescribe specifications or other requirements with which the design, manufacture and construction of any article, which is of a prescribed class or description, shall comply.

(13) Where an article or substance is used at work, and a request is made in that behalf by an inspector, the employer shall give to the inspector the name and address of the person from whom the article or substance was purchased or otherwise obtained.