Building (Safety, Health and Welfare) Regulations, 1959

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 227/1959
• Year: 1959

S.I. No. 227 of 1959.
BUILDING (SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE) REGULATIONS, 1959.
ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS.
Regulation.
1. Short title and commencement.
2. Definitions.
3. Application and provision for exemption.
4. Scaffolds.
5. Suspended scaffolds.
6. Working platforms, gangways and runs.
7. Ladders.
8. Falling articles and safeguards against persons falling.
9. Safeguards for persons working on roofs.
10. Lifting machines.
11. Outriggers for gin wheels, pulley blocks and hoists.
12. Lifts.
13. Wire ropes, wire-rope slings, fibre ropes and fibre-rope slings.
14. Chains, chain-parts and fittings.
15. Demolition.
16. Excavations.
17. Dangerous parts of machinery.
18. Lighting.
19. Stability of incomplete structures.
20. Provision for rescue from drowning.
21. Protection of the eyes.
22. Offensive dust or fume.
23. Poisonous substances.
24. First Aid.
25. Handling of explosives.
26. Safety officer.
27. Shelters, cloakrooms, facilities for taking meals, etc.
28. Notice of undertaking and completion of building operations.
29. Obligations.
30. Revocation.
Appendix I
Appendix II
Appendix III
Appendix IV
Appendix V
Appendix VI
Appendix VII
Appendix VIII
Appendix IX
Appendix X
Appendix XI
S.I. No. 227 of 1959.
I, JOHN LYNCH, Minister for Industry and Commerce, by virtue of section 8 of the Factories Act, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955), and in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 57 and 71, by virtue of the operation of section 88, of that Act and, in so far as these Regulations are made in exercise of powers conferred by the said section 71, after consultation with the Minister for Health, and after due compliance with the provisions of the Third Schedule to that Act, hereby make as special regulations the following regulations :
	1 Short title and commencement.	1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Building (Safety, Health and Welfare) Regulations, 1959.
(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1960.
	2 Definitions.	2. In these Regulations—
" building site " means any place or building where operations to which these Regulations apply are carried on ;
" chain parts and fittings " means rings, links, hooks, shackles or swivels connected to or used in connection with a chain ;
" handrail " means a rigid member of adequate strength securely supported at a height of between thirty and thirty-six inches above, and parallel to, each edge of a working platform, gangway or run for the purpose of preventing the fall of persons therefrom ;
" lift " means a lifting machine for raising or lowering persons or materials comprising a platform or cage capable of vertical movement and restricted to such movement by guides, and includes any mechanical means used for causing the vertical movement ;
" lifting machine " means an appliance constructed primarily for the purpose of hoisting or lowering, to which when force is suitably applied either by hand or by a prime mover a load can be raised or lowered, but does not include the flexible elements of the mechanism such as ropes, chains, chain parts and fittings, slings and other means used for attaching the load to the appliance or a lift;
" the Minister " means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;
" the register " means the general register required by section 122, by virtue of the operation of section 88, of the FactoriesAct, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955), to be kept at an office of the person undertaking building operations to which these Regulations apply ;
" scaffold " means a platform or platforms, the means of support thereof and the means of access thereto used in building operations to enable workers to reach their work and, where required, to afford facilities for the lifting and carrying of materials ;
" suspended scaffold " means a working platform which is supported by a building or other structure or by a scaffold from points above the platform ;
" toeboard " means a board or plank forming a rim not less than eight inches in height and securely attached round the sides and ends of a working platform or runway to prevent the fall of persons, materials or articles from the platform or runway ;
" trestle scaffold " means a working platform supported on trestles, frames, standards or other appliances.
	3 Application and provision for exemption	3.—(1) These Regulations shall apply to—
(a) the following building operations where undertaken by way of trade or business, or for the purpose of any industrial or commercial undertaking or by or on behalf of the State or any local or other public authority, namely, the construction, structural alteration, repair or maintenance of a building (including re-pointing, re-decoration and external cleaning of the structure), the demolition of a building and the preparation for, and laying the foundation of, an intended building whether or not the building is on or adjacent to the site of work of engineering construction within the meaning of the Factories Act, 1955 (No. 10 of 1955), and
(b) machinery or plant used in those operations, but shall not apply to the work of steeplejacks in the maintenance or repair of spires, steeples, chimney stacks, cooling towers and similar structures.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) of this Regulation, the following shall be deemed not to be buildings, namely, docks, harbours, wharves, quays, piers, sea defence works, lighthouses at sea, river works, canals, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, viaducts, bridges, tunnels, sewers, pipelines, filterbeds, gas holders or pole or lattice structures designed solely for the support of electric lines.
(3) Building operations to which these Regulations apply shall, in the case of any particular class or description of plant or of any special description or method of work used in the operations, be exempt from any requirement of these Regulations relating to safety or health being a requirement in respect of which the following condition is satisfied, namely, that a certificate has been issued by theMinister and is for the time being in force certifying that the application of that requirement to that class or description of plant or that description or method of work is not necessary in the interests of safety or is not reasonably practicable.
(4) The Minister may, at his discretion, revoke a certificate issued under paragraph (3) of this Regulation.
	4 Scaffolds.	4.—(1) Suitable and sufficient material including ladders shall be provided on the building site for the construction of scaffolds and the material shall be sound, of good quality and properly maintained and shall be examined as to its suitability for its purpose by a responsible person immediately prior to being taken into use for the construction of a scaffold.
(2) No material shall be used in the construction of a scaffold which is not of fully adequate strength and suitable for the purpose for which it is to be used. All materials for use in the construction of scaffolds shall, while awaiting use or removal be kept segregated on the building site from other and unsuitable material.
(3) Suitable and sufficient scaffolding shall be provided for all building operations that cannot safely be carried out without it and safe means of access shall be provided to every place on a scaffold to which any person has at any time to go.
(4) In the construction of a scaffold sufficient and suitable material shall be used and all practicable steps shall be taken to secure and maintain the stability of the scaffold having regard to all the circumstances of the case.
(5) All scaffolds shall be so constructed, used and maintained as to secure safety so far as is reasonably practicable and every scaffold other than a suspended scaffold shall be so supported, strutted and braced as to ensure complete stability in all the circumstances in which it may be used.
(6)A trestle scaffold shall not be used unless lashed or strutted to prevent overturning and shall not be erected on a scaffold platform to the detriment of the requirements of a passageway for persons or materials.
(7) No bracket scaffold which is supported or held by dogs or spikes driven into the wall shall be used.
(8) (a) Every employer on a building site shall appoint in writing, in the form set out in Appendix I to these Regulations, a competent person whose duty it shall be to examine all scaffolding used by persons employed by that employer on that site and who shall be responsible to see that workers do not use a scaffold which is defective in materials, construction or maintenance or which does notprovide the safeguards required by these Regulations. An examination of every scaffold shall be made before it is used.
(b) Upon appointing a person under subparagraph (a) of this paragraph, an employer shall give to the person a duplicate of the document appointing him.
	5 Suspended scaffolds.	5.—(1) Every suspended scaffold shall be provided with handrails and toeboards or other effective means to prevent the fall of persons or articles from the platform and shall have a working platform not less than seventeen inches wide.
(2) Where a suspended scaffold is so supported that the working platform is at a fixed distance from the points of support, the platform shall not depend upon friction as a means of support.
(3) Where a suspended scaffold is so supported that the working platform is at a fixed distance from the points of support, safe means of access shall be provided.
(4) Where outriggers are used for the support of a suspended scaffold, they shall be of adequate strength and shall be rigidly fastened to the structure of the building at two points at least.
(5) The means of suspension of a suspended scaffold shall be so attached to the outriggers as to ensure that they can neither slip not become detached.
(6)...