Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Maintenance, examination and testing of control measures

9.—(1) Every employer who provides any control measure to meet the requirements of regulation 7 shall ensure that, where relevant, it is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, in good repair and in a clean condition.

(2) Where engineering controls are provided to meet the requirements of regulation 7, the employer shall ensure that thorough examination and testing of those controls is carried out–

(a) in the case of local exhaust ventilation plant, at least once every fourteen months, or for local exhaust ventilation plant used in conjunction with a process specified in Column 1 of Schedule 4, at not more than the interval specified in the corresponding entry in Column 2 of that Schedule; or

(b) in any other case, at suitable intervals.

(3) Where respiratory protective equipment (other than disposable respiratory protective equipment) is provided to meet the requirements of regulation 7, the employer shall ensure that thorough examination and, where appropriate, testing of that equipment is carried out at suitable intervals.

(4) Every employer shall keep a suitable record of the examinations and tests carried out in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3) and of repairs carried out as a result of those examinations and tests, and that that record or a suitable summary thereof shall be kept available for at least five years from the date on which it was made.

(5) Every employer shall ensure that personal protective equipment, including protective clothing, is–

(a) properly stored in a well-defined place;

(b) checked at suitable intervals; and

(c) when discovered to be defective, repaired or replaced before further use.

(6) Personal protective equipment which may be contaminated by a substance hazardous to health shall be removed on leaving the working area and kept apart from uncontaminated clothing and equipment.

(7) The employer shall ensure that the equipment referred to in paragraph (6) is subsequently decontaminated and cleaned or, if necessary, destroyed.