INTRODUCTION

Because of its international status and because some of its activities are unique in Europe, CERN has its own specific safety regulations. These are based on those of the Member States, with a bias in favour of the most advanced ones.

In all cases, CERN is required to comply with the rules in force on the territory of the Host States and to ensure that a level of safety is maintained that is at least equivalent to that provided for by the latters’ own regulations.

CERN's general safety policy is laid down by the Director-General in the document entitled "Safety Policy at CERN", SAPOCO/42. This document covers all aspects of safety at CERN, ranging from its legal status as an international organisation down to the practical problems of organising safety in our daily work. Its basic message is:

each of us is responsible for safety in our work;
each of us must limit the risks we take in our work to the minimum and obtain as much information as possible to this end;

It should be noted that, in accordance with Article R III 2.02 of the Staff Rules and Regulations, "Each member of the personnel shall familiarise himself and comply with the safety provisions applying to his field of activity. Non-compliance with mandatory safety provisions shall constitute a breach of the Staff Rules and Regulations".

anyone responsible for the work of a team is also responsible for the safety of both the worksite and the team members;
No one may relinquish his safety responsibilities in delegating part of his duties;
The Organization has the obligation to supply its personnel with everything needed to guarantee their safety in performing the duties entrusted to them.

This means that, as a general rule, everyone working at CERN must know:

and implement the safety rules applying to his particular field of activity and to the protection of the environment;
and implement, if applicable, the procedures to be followed in the event of an accident;
the location of safety equipment (fire extinguishers, emergency stops, red telephones, first-aid boxes, etc.) in the vicinity of his place of work;
the first-aiders working in the vicinity of his place of work;
the emergency exits and the procedures for evacuating his place of work;
the Territorial Safety Officer (TSO) for his work area.

In accordance with document SAPOCO/42, this general policy is supplemented by other safety documents, in particular:

documents having legal force, such as safety codes, safety instructions and the associated annexes;
information documents, such as safety notes and safety bulletins.

In compliance with the guidelines set out in Annex 1 of document SAPOCO/42, each department must draw up a Departmental Safety Plan, whose main objectives are:

to summarise the guiding principles of safety policy at CERN;
to describe the various aspects of how safety is organised within the department;
to set out the department's own specific safety rules;
to explain the procedures governing relations with the various services of the Safety Commission SC;
to specify the measures to be taken in the event of accidents or dangerous occurrences;
to make the members of the department aware of the risk-prevention and risk-management requirements of their particular working environment.