Mines and Quarries Act 1954

39 Provisions for securing safety of foot-passengers in transport roads

(1) The following provisions shall have effect with respect to every length of road in a mine, being a length in which run vehicles moved otherwise than by hand or by animal traction (whether or not vehicles moved by those means also run therein):—

(a) during any period during which vehicles are moving in that length of road otherwise than by those means, no person employed at the mine (other than an authorised person) shall, except in accordance with the provisions of regulations in that behalf, pass on foot along that length of road or any part thereof unless the movement of vehicles in that length of road, other than vehicles moved by those means, is specially stopped for the purpose of allowing him to do so ;

(b) if that length of road is used at the beginning or end, or at the beginning and end, of a shift by not less than ten persons for the purpose of walking to or from their working places in the mine, it shall be the duty of the manager of the mine to fix a period or periods for the purpose of enabling them to do so in safety, and no person shall cause or permit a vehicle (whether loaded or not) to move, otherwise than by those means, in that length of road during a period fixed in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this paragraph:

Provided that—

(i) provision may be made by regulations for exempting from the provisions of either or both of the foregoing paragraphs any such lengths of road as aforesaid of a prescribed class in mines to which the regulations apply, and an inspector may, by notice served on the manager of a particular mine, exempt from the provisions of either or both of those paragraphs any such length of road as aforesaid in that mine ; and

(ii) in any prosecution instituted in respect of a person's passing along a length of road or part thereof in contravention of paragraph (a) of this subsection, it shall be a defence to prove that that person had reasonable cause to believe that it might be necessary for repairs to be carried out forthwith in that length of road and was so passing for the purpose of verifying his belief and of ascertaining the nature or extent of the repairs which he believed it might be necessary to carry out.

(2) Except with the written permission of the manager of a mine, no person shall, otherwise than in such circumstances and in accordance with such conditions (if any) as may be specified in transport rules having effect with respect to the mine, accompany on foot below ground in the mine a vehicle which is moving as part of any rope haulage apparatus.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section the expression " authorised person" means, in relation to a length of road in a mine,—

(a) an official of the mine;

(b) a person employed in connection with the running of vehicles in that length of road ;

(c) a person engaged in, or in connection with, the carrying out in that length of road of repairs which it is necessary to carry out forthwith ; or

(d) a person engaged in carrying out, by virtue of the provisions of this Act relating to workmen's inspections or of any such agreement as is mentioned in those provisions, an inspection at the mine.