Mines and Quarries Act 1954

8 Daily supervision by mine managers and under-managers

(1) No mine shall be worked unless daily personal supervision thereover is exercised by the manager thereof or, during any period during which he is absent on leave or is prevented from exercising such supervision by sickness or other cause beyond his control, by a person appointed by the owner of the mine to exercise such supervision during any such period, being a person who is or could be an under-manager of the mine without the working of the mine thereby being rendered unlawful by or by virtue of subsection (5) of section six of this Act:

Provided that the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not authorise the working of a mine by virtue of the exercise of daily personal supervision by a person other than the manager thereof for any period exceeding seventy-two days (or such longer period as an inspector may allow).

(2) No such mine as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) of section six of this Act (not being a mine with respect to which a direction under subsection (2) of that section is in force) shall be worked unless daily personal supervision is exercised by each under-manager thereof or, during any period during which he is absent on leave or is prevented from exercising such supervision by sickness or other cause beyond his control, by a person appointed by the owner of the mine to exercise such supervision during any such period, being a person who either is or could be an under-manager of the mine without the working of the mine thereby being rendered unlawful by or by virtue of subsection (5) of section six of this Act or has such other qualifications as may be prescribed.

(3) A person appointed as mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) of this section shall, so far as regards any period during which he acts in exercise of his appointment, be treated for the purposes of this Act, orders made thereunder and regulations in all respects as if he were the manager of the mine to which the appointment relates or, as the case may be, the under-manager thereof in whose place he is acting, so, however, that nothing in the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall be construed as divesting the manager or an under-manager of a mine of any power, or relieving him from any duty or liability, conferred or imposed on him by or by virtue of this Act.