COSHH in Ireland

No. COSHH does not apply in the Republic of Ireland. There, the equivalent law is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Chemical Agents) Regulations 2001 (S.I. No. 619/2001). Northern Ireland is a separate case: it has its own COSHH instrument, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, but I couldn't open that text to confirm its terms.

Republic of Ireland: the Chemical Agents Regulations 2001 (Irish Statute Book, S.I. 619/2001)

• They were made under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 "for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive 98/24/EC and Commission Directive 2000/39/EC". Directive 98/24/EC is the EU chemical agents directive.
• Scope (Reg. 3(1)): they "apply where hazardous chemical agents are present or may be present in the workplace". Under Reg. 3(4) they also "shall apply to a self-employed person".
• The duties map closely onto COSHH:
  • Reg. 4: risk assessment, which "shall be recorded in writing". For a new activity, work "shall not commence" until the assessment is done and the control measures are in place.
  • Regs. 5 and 6: prevention and control. Substitution comes first, then engineering controls, then PPE. Exposure must be measured, and an OELV in the relevant code of practice "shall not be exceeded".
  • Reg. 8: emergency arrangements.
  • Reg. 9: information, training and consultation.
  • Reg. 10: health surveillance and health and exposure records.
  • Reg. 11 and Schedule 3: prohibitions.
• Exposure limits are set through the HSA's approved Code of Practice, not a document like EH40 (Reg. 2 and the explanatory note).
• The made text was later amended (the Irish Statute Book lists amendments). That page shows the 2001 text as originally made. I could not consolidate the later amendments here.

Northern Ireland: legislation.gov.uk lists a "Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003" (NISR 2003/288). HSENI publishes COSHH guidance at hseni.gov.uk. I couldn't open either page, so I can't quote the NI regulations' text.

Approach: I read S.I. 619/2001 on the Irish Statute Book. I couldn't check the extent provision of GB COSHH 2002 (SI 2002/2677) or the NI COSHH text this time; neither the COSHH text in our records nor legislation.gov.uk would load.