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STATUTORY RULES OF NORTHERN IRELAND


2005 No. 397

HEALTH AND SAFETY

The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

  Made 18th August 2005 
  Coming into operation 3rd October 2005 


ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS

1. Citation and commencement.
2. Interpretation.
3. Application and transitional provisions.
4. Exposure limit values and action values.
5. Assessment of the risk to health created by vibration at the workplace.
6. Elimination or control of exposure to vibration at the workplace.
7. Health surveillance.
8. Information, instruction and training.
9. Exemption certificates for emergency services.
10. Exemption certificates for air transport.
11. Exemptions relating to the Secretary of State for Defence.
12. Application within the territorial sea.
13. Amendments.

SCHEDULES

  Schedule 1 Hand-Arm Vibration.

  Schedule 2 Whole-Body Vibration.

  Schedule 3 Premises and Activities within the Territorial Sea.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment[
1], being the Department concerned[2], in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Articles 17(1), (2), (5) and 55(2) of, and paragraphs 1(1), 7(1), 8, 10, 12(2) and (3), 13, 14(1), 15 and 19 of Schedule 3 to, the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978[3] and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, and for the purpose of giving effect without modifications to proposals submitted to it by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland under Article 13(1A)[4] of that Order after the carrying out by the said Executive of consultations in accordance with Article 46(3)[5] of that Order, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement
     1. These Regulations may be cited as the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 3rd October 2005.

Interpretation
    
2. —(1) In these Regulations—

    (2) In these regulations, a reference to an employee being exposed to vibration is a reference to the exposure of that employee to mechanical vibration arising out of or in connection with his work.

Application and transitional provisions
     3. —(1) These Regulations shall have effect with a view to protecting persons against risk to their health and safety arising from exposure to vibration at work.

    (2) Subject to paragraph (3), regulation 6(4) shall not apply until 6th July 2010 where work equipment is used which—

but in using such equipment the employer shall take into account the latest technical advances and the organisational measures taken in accordance with regulation 6(2).

    (3) For the agriculture and forestry sectors, regulation 6(4) shall not apply to whole-body vibration until 6th July 2014 in respect of work equipment which—

but in using such equipment the employer shall take into account the latest technical advances and the organisational measures taken in accordance with regulation 6(2).

    (4) Where a duty is placed by these Regulations on an employer in respect of his employees, he shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, be under a like duty in respect of any other person, whether at work or not, who may be affected by the work carried out by the employer except that the duties of the employer—

    (5) These Regulations shall apply to a self-employed person as they apply to an employer and an employee and as if that self-employed person were both an employer and an employee, except that regulation 7 shall not apply to a self-employed person.

    (6) These Regulations shall not apply to the master or crew of a ship or to the employer of such persons in respect of the normal shipboard activities of a ship's crew which are carried out solely by the crew under the direction of the master, and for the purposes of this paragraph "ship" includes every description of vessel used in navigation, other than a ship forming part of Her Majesty's Navy.

Exposure limit values and action values
    
4. —(1) For hand-arm vibration—

and daily exposure shall be ascertained on the basis set out in Schedule 1 Part I.

    (2) For whole-body vibration—

and daily exposure shall be ascertained on the basis set out in Schedule 2 Part I.

Assessment of the risk to health created by vibration at the workplace
    
5. —(1) An employer who carries out work which is liable to expose any of his employees to risk from vibration shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk created by that work to the health and safety of those employees and the risk assessment shall identify the measures that need to be taken to meet the requirements of these Regulations.

    (2) In conducting the risk assessment, the employer shall assess daily exposure to vibration by means of—

and the employer shall assess whether any employees are likely to be exposed to vibration at or above an exposure action value or above an exposure limit value.

    (3) The risk assessment shall include consideration of—

    (4) The risk assessment shall be reviewed regularly, and forthwith if—

and where, as a result of the review, changes to the risk assessment are required, those changes shall be made.

    (5) The employer shall record—

Elimination or control of exposure to vibration at the workplace
    
6. —(1) The employer shall ensure that risk from the exposure of his employees to vibration is either eliminated at source or, where this is not reasonably practicable, reduced to as low a level as is reasonably practicable.

    (2) Where it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risk at source pursuant to paragraph (1) and an exposure action value is likely to be reached or exceeded, the employer shall reduce exposure to as low a level as is reasonably practicable by establishing and implementing a programme of organisational and technical measures which is appropriate to the activity.

    (3) The measures taken by the employer in compliance with paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be based on the general principals of prevention set out in Schedule 1 to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000[
7] and shall include consideration of—

    (4) Subject to regulation 3(2) and (3) and paragraph (5), the employer shall—

    (5) Paragraph (4) shall not apply where the exposure of an employee to vibration is usually below the exposure action value but varies markedly from time to time and may occasionally exceed the exposure limit value, provided that—

and exposure within the meaning of this paragraph shall be ascertained on the basis set out in Schedule 1 Part II for hand-arm vibration and Schedule 2 Part II for whole-body vibration.

    (6) The employer shall adapt any measure taken in compliance with the requirements of this regulation to take account of any employee or group of employees whose health is likely to be particularly at risk from vibration.

Health surveillance
     7. —(1) If—

the employer shall ensure that such employees are placed under suitable health surveillance, where such surveillance is appropriate within the meaning of paragraph (2).

    (2) Health surveillance, which shall be intended to prevent or diagnose any health effect linked with exposure to vibration, shall be appropriate where the exposure of the employee to vibration is such that—

    (3) The employer shall ensure that a health record in respect of each of his employees who undergoes health surveillance in accordance with paragraph (1) is made and maintained and that the record or a copy thereof is kept available in a suitable form.

    (4) The employer shall—

    (5) Where, as a result of health surveillance, an employee is found to have an identifiable disease or adverse health effect which is considered by a doctor or other occupational health professional to be the result of exposure to vibration the employer of that employee shall—

    (6) An employee to whom this regulation applies shall, when required by his employer and at the cost of his employer, present himself during his working hours for such health surveillance procedures as may be required for the purposes of paragraph (1).

Information, instruction and training
    
8. —(1) If—

the employer shall provide those employees and their representatives with suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training.

    (2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), the information, instruction and training provided under that paragraph shall include—

    (3) The information, instruction and training required by paragraph (1) shall be updated to take account of significant changes in the type of work carried out or the working methods used by the employer.

    (4) The employer shall ensure that any person, whether or not his employee, who carries out work in connection with the employer's duties under these Regulations has suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training.

Exemption certificates for emergency services
    
9. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Executive may, by a certificate in writing, exempt any person or class of persons from regulation 6(4) in respect of activities carried out by emergency services which conflict with the requirements of that paragraph, and any such exemption may be granted subject to conditions and to a limit of time and may be revoked by a certificate in writing at any time.

    (2) The Executive shall not grant any such exemption unless it is satisfied that the health and safety of the employees concerned is ensured as far as possible in the light of the objectives of these Regulations.

Exemption certificates for air transport
    
10. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Executive may, by a certificate in writing, exempt any person or class of persons from regulation 6(4) in respect of whole-body vibration in the case of air transport, where the latest technical advances and the characteristics of the workplace do not permit compliance with the exposure limit value despite the technical and organisational measures taken, and any such exemption may be granted subject to conditions and to a limit of time and may be revoked by a certificate in writing at any time.

    (2) The Executive shall not grant any such exemption unless—

Exemptions relating to the Secretary of State for Defence
    
11. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary of State for Defence may, by a certificate in writing, exempt any person or class of persons from regulation 6(4) in respect of activities carried out in the interests of national security which conflict with the requirements of that paragraph, and any such exemption may be granted subject to conditions and to a limit of time and may be revoked by a certificate in writing at any time.

    (2) The Secretary of State shall not grant any such exemption unless he is satisfied that the health and safety of the employees concerned is ensured as far as possible in the light of the objectives of these Regulations.

Application within the territorial sea
    
12. Within the territorial sea these Regulations shall apply only to and in relation to the premises and activities to which any of paragraphs 2 to 6 of Schedule 3 applies.

Amendments
    
13. —(1) In the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996[8], paragraph 67 of Schedule 1 shall be omitted.

    (2) In the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999[9], to the end of the list in regulation 12(5) add—



Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment on


18th August 2005.

L.S.


Michael J. Bohill
A senior officer of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment


SCHEDULE 1
Regulations 4(1) and 6(5)


HAND-ARM VIBRATION




PART I

DAILY EXPOSURE TO VIBRATION

The daily exposure to vibration (A(8)) of a person is ascertained using the formula:





where:

To avoid confusion between vibration magnitude and daily exposure to vibration, it is conventional to express daily exposure to vibration in m/s² A(8).

The vibration magnitude, ahv, is ascertained using the formula:





where:

The definition for the frequency weighting Wh is given in British Standard BS EN ISO 5349-1:2001.

Where both hands are exposed to vibration, the greater of the two magnitudes ahv is used to ascertain the daily exposure.

If the work is such that the total daily exposure consists of two or more operations with different vibration magnitudes, the daily exposure, (A(8)) for the combination of operations is ascertained using the formula:





where:



PART II

EXPOSURE TO VIBRATION AVERAGES OVER ONE WEEK

The exposure to vibration averaged over one week (A(8)week) is the total exposure occurring within a period of seven consecutive days, normalised to a reference duration of five 8-hour days (40 hours). It is ascertained using the formula:





where:

The exposure to vibration averaged over one week is for the purposes of regulation 6(5).



SCHEDULE 2
Regulations 4(2) and 6(5)


WHOLE-BODY VIBRATION




PART I

DAILY EXPOSURE TO VIBRATION

The daily exposure to vibration (A(8)) of a person is ascertained using the formula:





where:

To avoid confusion between vibration magnitude and daily exposure to vibration, it is conventional to express daily exposure to vibration in m/s² A(8).

Daily exposure to vibration (A(8)) is evaluated separately for the x, y and z directions of vibration.

For horizontal vibration (x and y directions), k = 1.4 and aw is obtained using the Wd frequency weighting. For vertical vibration (z direction), k = 1.0 and aw is obtained using the Wk frequency weighting.

Definitions for the frequency weighting are given in International Standard ISO 2631-1:1997.

If the work is such that the total daily exposure consists of two or more operations with different vibration magnitudes, the daily exposure (A(8)) for the combination of operations is ascertained using the formula:





where:



PART II

EXPOSURE TO VIRBATION AVERAGED OVER ONE WEEK

The exposure to vibration averaged over one week (A(8)week) is the total exposure occurring within a period of seven consecutive days, normalised to a reference duration of five 8-hour days (40 hours). It is ascertained using the formula:





where:

The exposure to vibration averaged over one week is for use only for the purposes of regulation 6(5).



SCHEDULE 3
Regulation 12


PREMISES AND ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE TERRITORIAL SEA


Interpretation
     1. —(1) In this Schedule—

    (2) For the purposes of this Schedule, any structures and devices on top of a well shall be treated as forming part of the well.

    (3) Any reference in this Schedule to premises and activities includes a reference to any person, article or substance on those premises or engaged in, or, as the case may be, used or for use in connection with any such activity, but does not include a reference to an aircraft which is airborne.

Offshore installations
     2. —(1) This paragraph shall apply to and in relation to—

    (2) Subject to sub-paragraph (3), in this paragraph, "offshore installation" means a structure which is, or is to be, or has been, used while standing or stationed in water, or on the foreshore or other land intermittently covered with water—

together with any supplementary unit which is ordinarily connected to it, and all the connections.

    (3) Any reference in sub-paragraph (2) to a structure or unit does not include—

Wells
     3. —(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), this paragraph applies to and in relation to—

    (2) Sub-paragraph (1) includes keeping a vessel on station for the purpose of working on a well but otherwise does not include navigation or an activity connected with navigation.

Pipelines
     4. —(1) This paragraph applies to and in relation to—

    (2) In this paragraph—

but not including a pipeline of which no initial or terminal point is situated in the United Kingdom, within the territorial sea adjacent to the United Kingdom, or within a designated area;

Mines
     5. —(1) This paragraph applies to and in relation to a mine within the territorial sea or extending beyond it, and any activity in connection with it, while it is being worked.

    (2) In this paragraph "mine" has the same meaning as in the Mines Act (Northern Ireland) 1969[12].

Other activities
     6. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), this paragraph applies to and in relation to—

    (2) This paragraph shall not apply—



EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)


     1. These Regulations implement as respects Northern Ireland Council Directive 2002/44/EC (O.J. No. L177, 6.7.2002, p. 13) on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (vibration) (sixteenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC). The Regulations impose duties on employers to protect employees who may be exposed to risk from exposure to vibration at work, and other persons who might be affected by the work, whether they are at work or not.

     2. The Regulations apply to both hand-arm and whole-body vibration. They make provision for—

     3. There are transitional periods for the commencement of the operation of regulation 6(4) concerning limit values. In the case of work equipment first provided before 6th July 2007 commencement is postponed for all vibration until 6th July 2010 (regulation 3(2)), and for whole-body vibration in the agriculture and forestry sectors only until 6th July 2014 (regulation 3(3)).

     4. The Regulations give powers to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland to grant exemptions from regulation 6(4) on limit values in respect of the activities of emergency services (regulation 9) and in respect of whole-body vibration in the case of air transport (regulation 10), and to the Secretary of State for Defence in respect of activities carried out in the interests of national security (regulation 11).

     5. The Regulations amend—

     6. Copies of British Standard BS EN ISO 5349-1:2001, relating to measurement and evaluation of human exposure to hand-transmitted mechanical vibration, referred to in Schedule 1, and International Standard ISO 2631-1:1997, relating to measurement and evaluation of human exposure to whole-body mechanical vibration and shock, referred to in Schedule 2, are obtainable from British Standards Institution, BSI House, 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL.

     7. In Great Britain the corresponding Regulations are the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/1093). The Great Britain Health and Safety Executive has prepared a regulatory impact assessment in respect of those Regulations and a copy of that assessment together with a Northern Ireland supplement prepared by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, are held at the offices of that Executive at 83 Ladas drive, Belfast, BT6 9FR from where copies may be obtained. A copy of the Transposition Note in relation to the implementation of Council Directive 2002/44/EC can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive, International Branch, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS.


Notes:

[1] Formerly the Department of Economic Development; See S.I. 1982/846 (N.I. 11), Article 3 and S.I. 1999/283 (N.I. 1), Article 3(5)back

[2] See Article 2(2) of S.I. 1978/1039 (N.I. 9)back

[3] S.I. 1978/1039 (N.I. 9); Article 17 must be read with Articles 3(2) and 4(2) of S.I. 1992/1728back

[4] Article 13(1) was substituted by S.I. 1998/2795 (N.I. 18), Article 4back

[5] Article 46(3) was amended by Article 6(1) of S.I. 1998/2795 (N.I. 18), and paragraphs 8 and 18(c) of Schedule 1back

[6] S.R. 1999 No. 90 as amended by S.R. 2000 No. 375 and S.R. 2003 No. 33back

[7] S.R. 2000 No. 388, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulationsback

[8] S.R. 1996 No. 228, amended by S.R. 1998 No. 47back

[9] S.R. 1999 No. 305back

[10] 1964 c. 29; section 1 was amended by the Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982 (1982 c. 23), Schedule 3, paragraph 1back

[11] S.R. 2005 No. 45back

[12] 1969 c. 6 (N.I.)back



ISBN 0 337 96143 3


 © Crown copyright 2005

Prepared 1 September 2005


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