Draft Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Electromagnetic Fields) Regulations 2016

The Health and Safety Authority requests comments and observations on the proposals for the Draft Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Electromagnetic Fields) Regulations 2016 prior to submission of the proposals to the Minister of State for Business and Employment at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr. Ged Nash, for his consideration.

A Directive on the protection of workers exposed to electromagnetic fields was first adopted in 2004 with the intention of being carried into law in all Member States by 30 April 2008. The EU’s Council of Social Affairs Ministers decided to review the Directive’s substantive provisions in light of the findings of new studies on the human health impacts of non-ionizing radiation, taking into account work in progress in the WHO and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The Council argued that transposition needed to be postponed in order to examine the potential impact of implementing the Directive on the use of electromagnetic fields in medical imaging and certain industrial activities. The deadline for transposition of Directive 2004/40/EC was postponed a first time until 30 April 2012 with Directive 2008/46/EC. In June 2011, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new directive to replace Directive 2004/40/EC, but in May2012, with the EU institutions still looking for consensus on the matter, the deadline for transposition of Directive 2004/40/EC was postponed a second time until 31 October 2013 with Directive 2012/11/EU. During the intervening time consensus was reached on the outstanding matters and as a result Directive 2013/35/EU was established.The purpose of the proposed Regulations is to transpose Directive 2013/35/EU of The European Parliament and of The Council of 26th June 2013 implementing the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (electromagnetic fields) (20th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) and repealing Directive 2004/40/EC. As Directive 2013/35/EU is an individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 (the framework Directive) it is proposed that these transposing Regulations will be made under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, and hence the fines/penalties regime of that Act may apply.

The text of the proposed Regulations and the associated Regulatory Impact Analysis may be accessed at the link below:

The closing date for receiving submissions is 5.00 p.m. on Thursday 13th August 2015.

Those wishing to make submissions are advised that submissions will be made available for viewing by the Public, with the exception of information referring to the personal / home addresses of individuals making submissions, at the close of the Consultation Process and at the same time as the Authority publishes its response to the Consultation Process, in accordance with the Health and Safety Authority's Consultation Policy, which can be read here.
It should also be noted that the Authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and the Data Protection Acts 1998 and 2003.

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