Railway Safety Act 2005

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PART 7

Enforcement

Inspectors.

73.—(1) The Commission may appoint any of its officers, consultants, advisors or other persons as it deems appropriate to be inspectors for the purposes of this Act and such appointment may be revoked by the Commission.

(2) Each commissioner shall, on his or her appointment, be deemed to be an inspector for the purposes of this Act.

(3) A person appointed under subsection (1) shall, on his or her appointment, be furnished with a warrant of his or her appointment and when exercising any power conferred on an inspector by this Act shall, if requested by any person thereby affected, show the warrant to that person.

(4) For the purpose of the exercise of functions of the Commission under this Act, an inspector may—

(a) travel on any train or any part of a train of any railway undertaking,

(b) enter, inspect, examine and search at all times, any place or premises which he or she has reasonable cause to believe is railway property,

(c) enter into any place, premises or vehicle which he or she has reasonable cause to believe contains records or information relevant to and necessary for the exercise of functions of the Commission under this Act and therein carry out such searches, inspections and examinations as he or she considers reasonable and necessary,

(d) have a member of the Garda Síochána accompany him or her if the inspector has reasonable cause to apprehend any serious obstruction in the execution of his or her duty,

(e) take with him or her any other person or any equipment or materials required for any purpose for which the power of entry is being exercised,

(f) where he or she has reasonable cause to believe that at or in any railway property an offence under this Act has been or is being committed, use reasonable force where necessary in order to enter that property,

(g) make such examination and inquiry as may be necessary,

(h) require the production of any record (and, in the case of information in non-legible form, to reproduce it in legible form) which in the opinion of the inspector is necessary for him or her to inspect, examine and copy or require that a copy of it or of any entry therein be provided to him or her,

(i) inspect and take copies of or extracts from any such records (including, in the case of information in non-legible form, a copy of or extract from such information in permanent legible form),

(j) remove and retain such records for such period as may be reasonable for further examination,

(k) require any person whom he or she has reasonable cause to believe to be able to give information relevant for the purposes of this Act, to answer such questions with respect to matters under this Act as he or she thinks fit to ask and to sign a declaration of the truth of the answers given,

(l) direct that any railway property or part thereof and anything therein shall be left undisturbed for so long as it is reasonably necessary for the purpose of this Act,

(m) take samples or, as regards any article or substance he or she finds, require the railway undertaking or any member of staff of, or other person engaged by, the railway undertaking or any person who appears to him or her to be in possession of the article or substance, to supply without payment, for test, examination or analysis sufficient samples thereof,

(n) cause any article or substance found which appears to him or her to be reasonably necessary for the purpose of this Act to be dismantled or subjected to any process or test (but not so as to damage or destroy it unless this is in the circumstances necessary for the purposes of the process or test) and where an inspector proposes to exercise the power conferred by this paragraph in the case of an article or substance found, he or she shall, if so requested by a person who at the time is present and who may have responsibilities in respect of such article or substance, cause anything which is to be done by virtue of that power to be done in the presence of that person,

(o) in relation to any article or substance found at or in railway property in accordance with paragraph (n), take possession of it and detain it for so long as is necessary for all or any of the following purposes, namely—

(i) to examine or arrange for the examination of it and do to it anything which he or she has power to do under paragraph (n),

(ii) to ensure that it is not tampered with before the examination of it is completed, or

(iii) to ensure that it is available for use as evidence in any proceedings,

(p) take any measurements, photographs or video recordings or make any sound, electrical or other recordings which he or she considers necessary for the purposes of this Act,

(q) require any person to afford him or her such facilities and assistance within his or her control or responsibilities as are reasonably necessary to enable him or her to exercise any of the powers conferred on him or her under this Act,

(r) require any person by or on whose behalf data equipment is or has been used or any person having charge of, or otherwise concerned with the operation of, the data equipment or any associated apparatus or material to afford the inspector all reasonable assistance in relation to its use, and

(s) require any railway undertaking to have any train, railway infrastructure, equipment, system, or procedure examined and tested at the undertaking's expense where, in his or her opinion, this is necessary for the purposes of this Act.

(5) A person who is being interviewed under subsection (4)(k) or section 74 may, if he or she requests—

(a) where the person is a member of the staff of the railway undertaking or a person engaged by the undertaking, be accompanied—

(i) by one other member of the staff of the railway undertaking, or of the person engaged by the undertaking,

(ii) by one other person from an organisation which represents, as the case may be, the staff of the undertaking or the person engaged by the undertaking, or

(iii) at his or her own expense, by a legal or other adviser,

or

(b) where the person is not a member of the staff of the railway undertaking or a person engaged by the undertaking, be accompanied, at his or her own expense, by a legal or other adviser.

(6) The sole function of a person permitted to accompany another person in accordance with subsection (5) shall be the provision of advice to the person being interviewed.

(7) A person permitted to accompany another person in accordance with subsection (5) shall, if directed by the inspector concerned, desist from doing anything which, in the opinion of the inspector, frustrates the orderly and efficient conduct of the interview.

(8) Before exercising the power conferred by subsection (4)(n) in the case of any article or substance, an inspector shall, in so far as it is reasonably practicable to do so, consult such persons as appear to him or her to be appropriate for the purpose of ascertaining what dangers, if any, there may be in doing anything which he or she proposes to do under that power.

(9) Where, under the power conferred by subsection (4)(o), an inspector takes possession of any article or substance found at or in any railway property, he or she shall, if it is practicable for him or her to do so, take a sample thereof and give to a responsible person at the place of work a portion of the sample marked in a manner sufficient to identify it.

(10) An inspector, for the purpose of carrying out his or her functions under this Act, shall have unhampered access to a railway incident site.

(11) The Commission shall consult with railway undertakings in relation to procedural arrangements for entry by inspectors upon railway property.

(12) An inspector shall not, except under a warrant under subsection (14) or with the consent of the occupier, enter a domestic dwelling for the purposes of this section.

(13) Where an inspector in the exercise of his or her powers under this section is prevented from entering any premises, place or vehicle, an application may be made under subsection (14) authorising such entry.

(14) If a judge of the District Court is satisfied on the sworn information of an inspector that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that information required by an inspector for the purpose of this Act is held at any premises, place or vehicle, the judge may issue a warrant authorising the inspector, accompanied if the inspector considers it necessary by other inspectors or members of the Garda Síochána, at any time or times within one month from the date of issue of the warrant, on production of the warrant if so required, to enter, if need be by reasonable force, the premises, place or vehicle and exercise all or any of the powers conferred on an inspector under this Part.

(15) In this section, “railway property” means all land, buildings, railway infrastructure, rolling stock and vehicles under the control of a railway undertaking.