Safety, Health and Welfare At Work (Chemical Agents) Regulations, 2001
Statutory Instruments
Source: Statutory Instruments

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paragraphs: These Regulations may be cited as the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Chemical Agents) Regulations, 2001.
Interpretation.
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paragraphs: (1) In these Regulations -
“Act” means the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 (No. 7 of 1989);
“activity” means any work in which chemical agents or hazardous chemical agents are used, or are intended to be used, in any process, including production, handling, storage, transport or disposal and treatment, or which result from such work and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
“approved” means approved in writing for the time being by the Authority or conforming with a specification in writing by the Authority;
“Authority” means the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health;
“biological limit value” means the limit of the concentration in the appropriate biological medium of the relevant agent, its metabolite or an indicator of effect;
“chemical agent” means any chemical element or compound, on its own or admixed, as it occurs in the natural state or as produced, used or released, including release as waste, by any work activity, whether or not produced intentionally and whether or not placed on the market;
“Code of Practice” means a code of practice issued under section 30 of the Act;
“employer” means, without prejudice to the interpretation in the Act and for the purposes of these Regulations, any employer of employees who are, or are likely to be, exposed to a chemical agent or hazardous chemical agent as a result of their work;
“hazard” means the intrinsic property of a chemical agent with the potential to cause harm;
“hazardous chemical agent” means:
(i) any chemical agent which meets the criteria for classification as a dangerous substance according to the criteria in Annex VI to Directive 67/548/EEC3 , whether or not that substance is classified under that Directive, other than those substances which only meet the criteria for classification as dangerous for the environment;
(ii) any chemical agent which meets the criteria for classification as a dangerous preparation within the meaning of Directive 99/45/EC4 , whether or not that preparation is classified under that Directive, other than those preparations which only meet the criteria for classification as dangerous for the environment;
(iii) any chemical agent which, whilst not meeting the criteria for classification as dangerous in accordance with (i) and (ii), may, because of its physicochemical, chemical or toxicological properties and the way it is used or is present in the workplace, present a risk to the safety and health of employees, including any chemical agent assigned an occupational exposure limit value in the relevant code of practice under these regulations;
“health surveillance” means, for the purposes of these Regulations, the assessment of an individual employee to determine the state of health of that individual, as related to exposure to specific chemical agents at work and includes biological monitoring;
“Inspector” means an inspector appointed under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 (No. 7 of 1989);
“occupational exposure limit value” means, unless otherwise specified, the limit of the time-weighted average of the concentration of a chemical agent in the air within the breathing zone of a worker in relation to a specified reference period, as approved by the Authority;
“occupational healthcare professional” means a registered medical practitioner or other suitable qualified person employed, or otherwise engaged, by an employer to be responsible for health surveillance of employees covered by these Regulations;
“Principal Regulations” means the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations, 1993 ( S.I. No. 44 of 1993 ) as amended by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application)(Amendment) Regulations, 2001 ( S.I. No. 188 of 2001 );
“risk”, in relation to the exposure of an employee to chemical agents, means the likelihood that the potential for harm will be attained under the conditions of use and/or exposure and also the extent of that harm.
Application.
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paragraphs: (1) The requirements of these Regulations apply where hazardous chemical agents are present or may be present in the workplace without prejudice to the provisions for chemical agents to which measures for radiation protection apply under Directives adopted under the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community.
(2) For carcinogens present or likely to be present in the workplace, the requirements of these Regulations apply without prejudice to more stringent or more specific provisions contained in Council Directive 90/394/EEC5 on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens, as amended by Council Directives 97/42/EC6 and 99/38/EC7
(3) The requirements of these Regulations apply to the transport of hazardous chemical agents by road, rail, sea or air, without prejudice to more stringent or more specific provisions contained in Council Directive 94/55/EEC8 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road, as amended, in Council Directive 96/49/EEC9 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by rail, as amended, in Council Directive 93/75/EEC10 concerning minimum requirements for vessels bound for or leaving Community ports and carrying dangerous or polluting goods, as amended, or in the technical instructions for the safe transport of dangerous goods issued by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
(4) These Regulations shall apply to a self-employed person as they apply to an employer and as if that self-employed person was an employer and his or her own employee.
(5) These Regulations shall apply to an employer in respect of the use by him or her of the services of a fixed-term employee or a temporary employee, as interpreted in Regulation 2 of the Principal Regulations and taking into account the provisions of Regulation 4 of those Regulations.
(6) Where duties, however expressed, are placed by these Regulations on an employer in respect of any of his or her employees at a workplace, he or she shall be under a like duty in respect of every other person at work at that workplace who is or may be exposed at that place to a chemical agent or hazardous chemical agent except that the duties under Regulation 10 shall not apply to persons who are not his or her employees.