S.I. No. 102/2020 - Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 3rd April, 2020.

I, PAT BREEN, Minister of State at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 58 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (No. 10 of 2005) (as adapted by the Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2017 ( S.I. No. 364 of 2017 )) and the Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2017 ( S.I. No. 569 of 2017 ), and after consultation with the Health and Safety Authority, hereby make the following regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.

(2) The Principal Regulations, the Regulations of 2019 and these Regulations may be cited together as the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013 to 2020.

2. In these Regulations—

“Principal Regulations” means the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013 ( S.I. No. 291 of 2013 );

“Regulations of 2019” means the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 ( S.I. No. 129 of 2019 ).

3. Schedule 4 (as amended by Regulation 4 of the Regulations of 2019) to the Principal Regulations is amended by inserting after paragraph 2 the following paragraphs:

“3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, arising from the cessation of the delivery of the SOLAS Safe Pass training programme during the Covid-19 emergency, and for the period of such cessation, where the 4 year period referred to in that paragraph expires after 1 March 2020, the safety awareness registration card concerned shall be regarded as valid.

4. For the purposes of paragraph 3, “Covid-19 emergency” means the situation resulting from the spread in the State of the disease caused by infection with the virus SARS- CoV-2, being a disease specified as an infectious disease in accordance with Regulation 6 of, and the Schedule to, the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 ( S.I. No. 390 of 1981 ), or any variant of the disease so specified as an infectious disease in those Regulations.”.

GIVEN under my hand,

31 March 2020

PAT BREEN,

Minister of State at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The purpose of these Regulations is to amend the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013 ( S.I. No. 291 of 2013 ) (as previously amended by Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 ( S.I. No. 129 of 2019 )) to extend the validity of safety awareness registration cards which cannot be renewed as a result of the Covid-19 emergency.