Health and Safety at Work (Inquiries Procedure) (Jersey) Regulations 1990

Revised Edition

05.300.55

Showing the law as at 1 January 2006

This is a revised edition of the law

Health and Safety at Work (Inquiries Procedure) (Jersey) Regulations 1990

Arrangement

Regulation

1            Interpretation

2            Application of Regulations

3            Notification of inquiry

4            Appearance at inquiry

5            Representation

6            Power to require attendance of witnesses and production of documents

7            Procedure at inquiry

8            Powers of inspection

9            Procedure after inquiry

10          Notices

11          Citation

Supporting Documents

Endnotes

Table of Legislation History

Table of Renumbered Provisions

Table of Endnote References



Health and Safety at Work (Inquiries Procedure) (Jersey) Regulations 1990[1]

THE STATES, in pursuance of Article 18(3) of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989[2] have made the following Regulations –

Commencement [see endnotes]

1      Interpretation

(1)    In these Regulations –

“appointed person” means a person appointed by the Minister to hold an inquiry;

“inquiry” means an inquiry to which these Regulations apply;

“Law” means the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.[3]

(2)    A reference in these Regulations to an enactment, including an enactment of the United Kingdom, is a reference to that enactment as amended and includes a reference to that enactment as extended or applied by or under any other enactment.

2      Application of Regulations

These Regulations shall have effect with respect to the proceedings at or in connection with inquiries held under Article 18(2)(b) of the Law.

3      Notification of inquiry

(1)    A date, time and place for the holding of the inquiry shall be fixed and may be varied by the Minister, which shall, subject to paragraph (2), give not less than 14 days’ notice in writing of such date, time and place to every person entitled to appear at the inquiry whose name and address are known to the Minister.

(2)    With the consent of all persons entitled to appear at the inquiry, the Minister may give such lesser period of notice as shall be agreed with those persons and when it becomes necessary or advisable to vary the time or place fixed for the inquiry, the Minister shall give such notice as may appear to the Minister to be reasonable in the circumstances.

(3)    The notice given under paragraph (1) shall state the name of the appointed person and the name of any assessors appointed to assist the appointed person with the inquiry.

(4)    Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this Regulation, the Minister shall also for the purpose of notifying persons who may be concerned of the holding of the inquiry, take any one or more of the following steps, namely –

(a)     publish notice of the inquiry in The Jersey Gazette;

(b)     give such other notice of the inquiry as appears to the Minister to be appropriate,

and the requirements as to the period of notice contained in paragraph (1) shall not apply to such notices.

4      Appearance at inquiry

The persons entitled to appear at the inquiry shall be –

(a)     the Minister;

(b)     any inspector concerned;

(c)     any employers’ association or trade union representing respectively employers or employees who are concerned;

(d)     any person who was injured or suffered damage as a result of the accident, occurrence, situation or other matter the subject of the inquiry;

(e)     the owner or occupier of any premises in which there occurred or arose the accident, occurrence, situation or other matter the subject of the inquiry;

(f)     any person carrying on activities giving rise to the accident, occurrence, situation or other matter the subject of the inquiry.

5      Representation

(1)    A body corporate may appear by its clerk or secretary or by any other officer appointed for the purpose or by a legal representative.

(2)    The Minister, any other Minister, an employers’ association or a trade union may appear by a legal representative or by any other person appointed for the purpose.

(3)    Any other person may appear on the person’s own behalf or be represented by a legal representative or any other person.

(4)    Where there are 2 or more persons having a similar interest in the matter under inquiry, the appointed person may allow one or more persons to appear for the benefit of some or all of the persons so interested.

6      Power to require attendance of witnesses and production of documents

(1)    The appointed person may, either of the appointed person’s own motion or on the application of any person entitled or permitted to appear, cause to be served on any person appearing to the appointed person to be likely to be able to give material evidence or to produce any document likely to be material evidence, a notice requiring the person to attend the inquiry at the time and place specified in the notice to give evidence or produce the document.

(2)    A person on whom a notice is served under paragraph (1) may apply to the person appointed either at or before the inquiry to vary or set aside the requirement, and where he or she does so before the inquiry he or she shall give notice of his or her application to the person, if any, who applied for the notice under paragraph (1) to be served.

(3)    A notice containing a requirement under paragraph (1) shall contain a reference to the fact that under Article 21(1)(d) of the Law a person who contravenes such a requirement is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(4)    No person shall be required under this Regulation to attend to give evidence or produce any document unless the necessary expenses of the person’s attendance are paid or tendered to him or her.

7      Procedure at inquiry

(1)    Except as otherwise provided in these Regulations, the procedure at and in connection with an inquiry shall be in the discretion of the appointed person who shall state at the commencement of the hearing the procedure which, subject to consideration of any submission by the persons appearing at the inquiry, the appointed person proposes to adopt and shall inform those persons what the appointed person proposes as regards any site inspection arising out of the hearing.

(2)    Except as provided in paragraph (3), the inquiry shall be held in public.

(3)    The appointed person –

(a)     shall, to the extent to which the appointed person has been so directed in writing by the Attorney General, hold the inquiry otherwise than in public for the purpose of hearing evidence relating to matters specified in the direction, being matters of such a nature that it would, in the opinion of the Attorney General, be against the interests of national security to allow the evidence to be given in public; and

(b)     may, on application made to the appointed person in that behalf, hold the inquiry otherwise than in public to such extent as the appointed person considers necessary for the purpose of hearing evidence, the giving of which is in the appointed person’s opinion likely to disclose information relating to a trade secret,

and information disclosed to any person by the hearing of evidence in the circumstances mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) or (b) shall not be disclosed by the person except for the purposes of the inquiry:

Provided that the Chairman of the Health and Safety Appeal Tribunal in his or her capacity as such shall be entitled to attend the hearing in any case and a representative of any such employers’ association or trade union as is mentioned in Regulation 4(c) in his or her capacity as such shall be entitled to attend the hearing in a case falling within sub-paragraph (b).

(4)    Persons entitled or permitted to appear shall be heard in such order as the appointed person may determine.

(5)    Persons entitled to appear shall be entitled to make an opening statement, to call evidence and to cross-examine persons giving evidence, but any other person appearing at the inquiry may do so only to the extent permitted by the appointed person.

(6)    Where the appointed person so requires witnesses shall give evidence on oath, and for that purpose the appointed person may administer an oath in due form.

(7)    Any evidence may be admitted at the discretion of the appointed person, who may direct that documents to be tendered in evidence may be inspected by any person entitled to appear at the inquiry and that facilities be afforded to the person to take copies thereof.

(8)    The appointed person shall be entitled (subject to disclosure thereof at the inquiry and making available copies thereof to the persons appearing at the inquiry) to take into account any written representations or statement received by the appointed person before the inquiry from any person.

(9)    The appointed person may from time to time adjourn the inquiry, and when the appointed person does so shall give reasonable notice to every person entitled or permitted to appear at the inquiry of the date, time and place of the adjourned inquiry, provided that where the date, time and place of the adjourned inquiry are announced at the inquiry, no further notice shall be required.

8      Powers of inspection

The appointed person, and any person appointed to assist the appointed person in the inquiry, may, where necessary for the purposes of the inquiry, at any reasonable time enter any premises to which the inquiry relates and for those purposes inspect the premises and any thing on or in them.

9      Procedure after inquiry

(1)    The appointed person shall after the close of the inquiry make a report in writing to the Minister, which shall include the appointed person’s findings of fact and his or her recommendations, if any, or his or her reasons for not making any recommendation.

(2)    Except where the said report is to be published, in whole or in part, in pursuance of Article 18(5) of the Law, the Minister shall send to any person who appeared at the inquiry a copy of the report or so much of it as the Minister thinks fit.

10    Notices

The provisions of Article 28 of the Law shall apply in relation to the service of notices required or authorized to be served or given by these Regulations as they apply to notices required or authorized to be served or given by the Law.

11    Citation

These Regulations may be cited as the Health and Safety at Work (Inquiries Procedure) (Jersey) Regulations 1990.

Endnotes

Table of Legislation History



Legislation



Year and No



Commencement



Health and Safety at Work (Inquiries Procedure) (Jersey) Regulations 1990      



R&O.8034



28 February 1990



States of Jersey (Amendments and Construction Provisions No. 8) (Jersey) Regulations 2005



R&O.48/2005



9 December 2005



Table of Renumbered Provisions



Original



Current



1(3)



spent, omitted from this revised edition



Table of Endnote References



[1]



These Regulations have been amended by the States of Jersey (Amendments and Construction Provisions No. 8) (Jersey) Regulations 2005. The amendments replace all references to a Committee of the States of Jersey with a reference to a Minister of the States of Jersey, and remove and add defined terms appropriately, consequentially upon the move from a committee system of government to a ministerial system of government



[2]



chapter 05.300



[3]



chapter 05.300