The Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 and shall come into operation on 14th June 2010.

(2) In these Regulations—

“the 2000 Regulations” means the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000(1);

“artificial optical radiation” means any electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range between 100nm and 1mm which is emitted by non-natural sources;

“the Directive” means Directive 2006/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to risks arising from physical agents (artificial optical radiation) (19th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC), and references in these Regulations to the Annexes to the Directive are to those Annexes as amended from time to time;

“enforcing authority” means the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland or district council, determined in accordance with the provisions of the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999(2);

“the exposure limit values” means—

(a)

for non-coherent radiation, those exposure limit values set out in Annex 1 of the Directive; and

(b)

for laser radiation those exposure limit values set out in Annex II of the Directive;

“health surveillance” means assessment of the state of health of an employee, as related to exposure to artificial optical radiation and its effects on the skin;

“irradiance” means the radiant power incident per unit area upon a surface expressed in watts per square metre (W m^-2);

“laser” (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) means any device which can be made to produce or amplify electromagnetic radiation in the optical radiation wavelength range primarily by the process of controlled stimulated emission;

“laser radiation” means artificial optical radiation from a laser;

“non-coherent radiation” means any artificial optical radiation other than laser radiation;

“radiance” means the radiant flux or power output per unit solid angle per unit area expressed in watts per square metre per steradian (W m^-2 sr^-1);

“radiant exposure” means the time integral of the irradiance, expressed in joules per square metre (J m^-2); and

“territorial sea” means the territorial sea of the United Kingdom adjacent to Northern Ireland and “within the territorial sea” includes on, over and under it.

(3) Where a word or expression is defined in the Directive and is not defined in these Regulations, it has the meaning as in the Directive.

(4) A reference to an employee being exposed to artificial optical radiation is a reference to that exposure which arises while the employee is at work, or arises out of, or in connection with, the employee’s work.

(5) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(1)

S.R. 2000 No. 388 amended by S.R. 2001 No. 348, S.R. 2003 No. 454, S.R 2006 No. 255 and revoked in part by S.R. 2007 No. 291

(2)

S.R. 1999 No. 90 amended by S.R. 2000 No. 375, S.R. 2003 No. 33, S.R. 2006 No. 205, S.R. 2006 No. 425, S.R. 2007 No. 31, S.R. 2007 No. 291 and S.R. 2009 No. 238

(3)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.), as amended by S.I. 1999/663