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PART V

GENERAL DUTIES OF DESIGNERS, MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS

20. General duties of manufacturers, etc. as regards plant for use at work.

(1) It shall be the duty of a person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any plant for use at work

(a) to ensure, so far as is practicable, that the plant is so designed and constructed as to be safe and without risks to health when properly used;

(b) to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be necessary for the performance of the duty imposed on him by paragraph (a); and

(c) to take such steps as are necessary to secure that there will be available in connection with the use of the plant at work adequate information about the use for which it is designed and has been tested, and about any condition necessary to ensure that, when put to that use, it will be safe and without risks to health.

(2) It shall be the duty of a person who undertakes the design or manufacture of any plant for use at work to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is practicable, the elimination or minimization of any risk to safety or health to which the design or plant may give rise.

(3) It shall be the duty of a person who erects or installs any plant for use by persons at work to ensure, so far as is practicable, that nothing about the way in which it is erected or installed makes it unsafe or a risk to health when properly used.

21. General duties of manufacturers, etc. as regards substances for use at work.

(1) It shall be the duty of a person who formulates, manufactures, imports or supplies any substance for use at work

(a) to ensure, so far as is practicable, that the substance is safe and without risks to health when properly used;

(b) to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be necessary for the performance of the duty imposed on him by paragraph (a); and

(c) to take such steps as are necessary to ensure that there will be available in connection with the use of the substance at work adequate information about the results of any relevant test which has been carried out on or in connection with the substance and about any condition necessary to ensure that it will be safe and without risks to health when properly used.

(2) It shall be the duty of a person which undertakes the manufacture or supply of any substance for use at work to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is practicable, the elimination or minimization of any risk to safety or health to which the substance may give rise.

22. Explanations to section 20 and 21.

(1) Nothing in section 20 and 21 shall be taken to require a person to repeat any testing, examination or research which has been carried out otherwise than by him or at his instance, in so far as it is reasonable for him to rely on the results thereof for the purposes of the section.

(2) Any duty imposed on a person by any of the preceding provisions of this Part shall extend only to things done in the course of a trade, business or other undertaking carried on by him, whether for profit or not, and to matters within his control.

(3) Where a person designs, formulates, manufactures, imports or supplies any plant or substance for or to another on the basis of a written undertaking by that other to take specified steps sufficient to ensure, so far as is practicable, that the plant or substance will be safe and without risks to health when properly used, the undertaking shall have the effect of relieving the first-mentioned person from the duty imposed by paragraphs 20 (1)(a) and 21(1)(a) to such extent as is reasonable having regard to the terms of the undertaking.

(4) Where a person (hereinafter referred to as the "ostensible supplier") supplies any plant or substance for use at work to another (hereinafter referred to as the "customer") under a hire-purchase agreement, conditional sale agreement or credit-sale agreement, and the ostensible supplier

(a) carries on the business of financing the acquisition of goods by others by means of such agreements; and

(b) in the course of that business acquired his interest in the plant or substance supplied to the customer as a means of financing its acquisition by the customer from a third person (hereinafter referred to as the "effective supplier"),

the effective supplier and not the ostensible supplier shall be treated for the purposes of this Part as supplying the plant or substance to the customer, and any duty imposed by sections 20 and 21 on suppliers shall accordingly fall on the effective supplier and not on the ostensible supplier.

(5) For the purposes of this Part a plant or substance is not to be regarded as properly used where it is used without regard to any relevant information or advice relating to its use which has been made available by a person by whom it was designed, manufactured, imported or supplied.

23. Penalty for an offence under section 20 or 21.

A person who contravenes the provisions of section 20 or 21 shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both.