Section 96: Special provisions as to evidence

96. Special provisions as to evidence (1) Subject to subsection (2), where a person is found in a place of work at any time at which work is going on or the machinery is in motion, he shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been employed in the place of work. (2) Subsection (1) shall not apply to a place of work in which the only persons employed therein are members of the same family. (3) Where any entry is required by this Act to be made in a register by the employer or on his behalf, the register shall be admissible as evidence of the facts therein stated, and the fact that any entry so required with respect to the observance of any provision of this Act has not been made, shall be admissible as evidence that provision has not been observed. (4) No answer given by a person in pursuance of a requirement imposed under section 24 (3) (b) shall be admissible in evidence against that person or the spouse of that person in any proceedings under this Act. (5) For the purposes of this Act, “members of the same family”, in relation to the occupier, means his— (a) spouse; (b) child; (c) father or mother; (d) brother or sister; or (e) any other relative; where such person is wholly or partially maintained by, and dwells in the house of the occupier. (6) In any proceedings for an offence under any provision of this Act consisting of a failure to comply with a duty or requirement to do something so far as is practicable or so far as is reasonably practicable, or to use practicable means or to take practicable steps to do something, it shall be for the accused to prove that it was not practicable or not reasonably practicable to do more than was in fact done to satisfy the duty or requirement, or that there was no better practicable means or step than was in fact used or taken to satisfy the duty or requirement, as the case may be.