Mines and Quarries Act 1954

Section 122.

FIRST SCHEDULE Public Inquiries into Accidents, &c

1 A public inquiry which the Minister directs to be held under section one hundred and twenty-two of this Act into an accident or other occurrence at a mine or quarry shall be held by a competent person appointed by the Minister who may conduct the inquiry either alone or with the assistance of an assessor or assessors so appointed.

2 The Minister may pay to the person appointed to hold the inquiry and to any assessor appointed to assist him such remuneration and allowances as the Minister may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.

3 The person appointed to hold the inquiry (hereafter in this Schedule referred to as " the court") shall hold the inquiry in public in such manner and under such conditions as the court thinks most effectual for ascertaining the causes and circumstances of the accident or other occurrence and for enabling the court to make the report hereafter in this Schedule mentioned.

4 The court shall, for the purposes of the inquiry, have power—

(a) to enter and inspect any place or building the entry or inspection whereof appears to the court requisite for the said purposes ;

(b) by summons signed by the court to require any person to attend, at such time and place as is specified in the summons, to give evidence or produce any documents in his custody or under his control which the court considers it necessary for the purposes of the inquiry to examine;

(c) to require a person appearing at the inquiry to furnish to any other person appearing thereat, on payment of such fee, if any, as the court thinks fit, a copy of any document offered, or proposed to be offered, in evidence by the first-mentioned person;

(d) to take evidence on oath, and for that purpose to administer oaths, or, instead of administering an oath, to require the person examined to make and subscribe a declaration of the truth of the matter respecting which he is examined;

(e) to adjourn the inquiry from time to time; and

(f) subject to the foregoing sub-paragraphs, to regulate the procedure of the court.

5 A person attending as a witness before the court shall be entitled to be paid by the Minister such expenses as would be allowed to a witness attending on subpoena before a court of record, and any dispute as to the amount to be so allowed shall be referred by the court to a master of the Supreme Court who, on request signed by the court, shall ascertain and certify the proper amount of the expenses.

6 The court shall make a report to the Minister stating the causes and circumstances of the accident or other occurrence, adding any observations which the court thinks it right to make, and the Minister shall lay copies of the report before Parliament.

7 If a person—

(a) without reasonable excuse (proof whereof shall lie on him) fails, after having the expenses (if any) to which he is entitled tendered to him, to comply with any summons or requisition of the court; or

(b) does any other thing which would, if the court had been a court of law having power to commit for contempt, have been contempt of that court;

the court may, by instrument signed by the court, certify the offence of that person to the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session, and the High Court or Court of Session may thereupon inquire into the alleged offence and after hearing any witnesses who may be produced against or on behalf of the person charged with the offence, and after hearing any statement that may be offered in defence, punish or take steps for the punishment of that person in like manner as if he had been guilty of contempt of the High Court or, as the case may be, the Court of Session.

8 In the application of this Schedule to Scotland, for references to a master of the Supreme Court, to a witness attending on subpoena before a court of record, and to a summons there shall be respectively substituted references to the Auditor of the Court of Session, to a witness attending on citation the High Court of Justiciary and to an order.