The Mines Miscellaneous Health and Safety Provisions Regulations 1995

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

1.  These Regulations give effect (to the extent specified below), in relation to mines, to Council Directive 92/104/EEC concerning the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in surface and underground mineral-extracting industries. The Regulations also contain other provisions.

2.  The Regulations implement the Directive with respect to—

(a) safety instructions (Article 3.1(d)), the drawing up of a “health and safety document” and the carrying out of work in accordance with it (Article 3.2 and Point 1 of Part C) and the co-ordination of health and safety measures (second paragraph of Article 3.3);

(b) health surveillance (Article 8);

(c) the following matters in Part A of the Annex to the Directive:

(i) written instructions (Point 1.6) and work permits (Point 1.8);

(ii) smoking and the use of open flame (Point 4.1.2), protection from explosion risks (Point 4.2), protection plans where toxic gases are present in the atmosphere (Point 4.3.3), fire protection plans (Point 4.4.4) and fire-equipment signs (Point 4.4.5);

(iii) provision of emergency lighting and personal lamps (Point 13.4);

(d) operating plans for rockbursts and gas outbursts (Point 10.1, Part C of the Annex);

(e) flammable materials (Point 11.2, Part C of the Annex) and hydraulic fluids (Point 11.3, Part C of the Annex).

3.  Regulation 4 requires the owner of every mine to ensure that no work is carried out at the mine unless a health and safety document has been prepared which demonstrates that the risks to which persons at work at the mine are exposed have been assessed and that adequate measures have and will be taken to safeguard their health and safety. The Regulations also provide that, where appropriate, specified plans should be included in the document. The owner is required to ensure that the measures set out in the document are taken and that any plans included in the document are followed.

4.  Regulation 5 provides that the owner shall co-ordinate the implementation of all measures relating to the health and safety of the persons at work at the mine.

5.  Regulation 6 provides that every employer of persons at work at a mine and every owner of a mine shall ensure that the additional health and safety requirements, set out in Parts I and II of Schedule I respectively, are, as appropriate having regard to specified matters, complied with.

6.  Regulation 7 requires an employer of a person engaged in work at a mine to ensure that that person is provided with such health surveillance as is appropriate.

7.  Regulation 8 requires the manager of every mine to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable that only hydraulic fluids which are difficult to ignite and satisfy fire resistance and hygiene specifications approved by the Health and Safety Executive are used at the mine. Where not reasonably practicable the manager is required to ensure that appropriate action is taken to avoid any increased risk from the use of the hydraulic fluid.

8.  Regulation 9 provides that section 157 of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 (which provides a defence in legal proceedings in certain circumstances), shall not apply to prosecutions or other proceedings based on an alleged contravention of the Regulations.

9.  Regulation 10 provides for the modifications of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, the Management and Administration of Safety and Health at Mines Regulations 1993 and the Mines (Shafts and Winding) Regulations 1993 set out in Schedule 2.

10.  Regulation 11 revokes the Coal and other Mines (Working Plans) Rules 1956 and the Coal and other Mines (Abandonment Plans) Rules 1956.