S.I. No. 74/2000 - European Communities (Protection of Workers) (Exposure To Asbestos) (Amendment) Regulations, 2000

I, Mary Harney, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Council Directive 87/217/EEC of 19 March 1987¹ , hereby make the following regulations:

1.       (1)         These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Protection of Workers) (Exposure to Asbestos) (Amendment) Regulations, 2000.

(2)         The Principal Regulations, the Regulations of 1993 and these Regulations may be cited together as the European Communities (Protection of Workers) (Exposure to Asbestos) Regulations, 1989 to 2000.

2.       In these Regulations:

“Principal Regulations” means the European Communities (Protection of Workers) (Exposure to Asbestos) Regulations, 1989 ( S.I. No. 34 of 1989 );

“Regulations of 1993” means the European Communities (Protection of Workers) (Exposure to Asbestos) (Amendment) Regulations, 1993 ( S.I. No. 276 of 1993 ).

3.        The following Regulation is hereby substituted for Regulation 15 of the Principal Regulations, as amended by the Regulations of 1993:

“(1)    Where any demolition or other work involves removing either or both asbestos and products containing asbestos from any building, plant, installation, ship or other structure, whether or not such removal involves total demolition of the structure, such work shall not commence until a plan of work is drawn up in writing which shall, subject to the other provisions of these Regulations -

(a)      prescribe the measures necessary to ensure the safety and health of workers at the place where that work is to be carried out;

(b)      specify the arrangements for the removal, in so far as is reasonably practicable, of all asbestos and products containing asbestos before such demolition is started;

(c)      specify, where necessary for the purposes of paragraph (a), the personal protective equipment to be issued to the workers concerned;

(d)      include information on:

(i)      the nature and probable duration of the work,

(ii)      the place where the work is to be carried out, and

(iii)     the methods to be applied where the work involves the handling of asbestos or of materials containing asbestos;

(e)      include information on the characteristics of the equipment to be used for:

(i)       protection and decontamination of the employees carrying out the work, and

(ii)      protection of other persons present on or near the worksite.

(2)      The plan of work referred to in paragraph (1) shall prescribe and include information on all the necessary preventive measures to be taken to ensure that the demolition of buildings, structures and installations containing asbestos and the removal therefrom of asbestos or materials containing asbestos fibres or dust do not cause significant asbestos environmental pollution.

(3)      The plan of work shall be made available, on request, to an inspector within the meaning of these Regulations or, as the case may be, to an authorised person within the meaning of -

(i)      the Air Pollution Act, 1987 (No. 6 of 1987), or

(ii)      the European Communities (Asbestos Waste) Regulations, 1990 ( S.I. No. 30 of 1990 ).

(4)      Every plan made in accordance with this Regulation shall be complied with.”.

4.        The Principal Regulations are hereby amended -

(a)      by the substitution of “40 years” for “30 years” in Regulation 17(5)(a),

(b)      by the substitution of “40 years” for “30 years” in Regulation 23(2),

and

(c)      by the substitution of “£1,500” for “£1,000” in Regulation 36(1).

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 implement Article 7 of Council Directive 87/217/EEC on the prevention and reduction of environmental pollution by asbestos by amending the requirements of the plan provided for in Article 12 of Directive 83/477/EEC which must be prepared prior to any demolition work involving asbestos. They also amend the length of time that medical records and the occupational health register must be maintained.

¹ O.J. No. L85, 28.3.1987, p. 40