The Escape and Rescue from Mines Regulations 1995

PART I INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Escape and Rescue from Mines Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on 28th December 1995.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

“the 1954 Act” means the Mines and Quarries Act 1954(1);

“the 1992 Regulations” means the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992(2);

“the 1993 Regulations” means the Management and Administration of Safety and Health at Mines Regulations 1993(3);

“breathing apparatus” means apparatus designed for use in rescue operations in mines which is of a self-contained closed-circuit type, whereby the concentration of carbon-dioxide in the exhaled air is reduced and the concentration of oxygen increased prior to reinhalation, and is used either with a full facepiece or with a mouthpiece and noseclip;

“the Commission” means the Health and Safety Commission;

“emergency accommodation” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 5;

“emergency instructions” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 11;

“emergency plan” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 4;

“emergency situation” means a situation which renders necessary either or both the evacuation and rescue of persons from a mine;

“the Executive” means the Health and Safety Executive;

“firedamp” means any flammable gas or any flammable mixture of gases occurring naturally in a mine;

“fresh air base” means a place where the air is respirable as near as practicable to the place in which rescue work has to be carried out;

“irrespirable atmosphere” means an atmosphere which it is unsafe for a person to breathe as a result of either oxygen depletion or the presence of toxic fumes or gases;

“management structure” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 10 of the 1993 Regulations;

“manager” means, in relation to any mine, the person appointed under regulation 8 of the 1993 Regulations as the manager of that mine, and in relation to a part of a mine the person appointed under regulation 15 of those Regulations as the manager of that part;

“mine” means a mine within the meaning of the 1954 Act;

“mine rescue scheme” means any scheme or other arrangements the participants in which are entitled, in an emergency, to the services of persons with the expertise and equipment required for rescuing individuals from below ground at a mine;

“owner” means any owner within the meaning of subsection 181(1) or (4) of the 1954 Act;

“safe haven” means a place below ground at a mine which is provided with facilities such that persons may wait there in safety to be rescued;

“self-rescuer” means respiratory protective equipment designed for use while escaping from a mine;

“tourist mine” means a mine the principal activity of which is to demonstrate the mine or the workings of the mine, to persons not employed at the mine, rather than the getting of minerals or the products of minerals.

(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires–

(a) a reference to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered; and

(b) a reference to a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the regulation or Schedule in which that reference appears.

Application of these Regulations

3.—(1) Except where otherwise expressly provided, these Regulations shall apply to all mines.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), Part IV of these Regulations shall apply to–

(a) a mine of coal;

(b) any other mine containing zones below ground in which firedamp whether or not normally present is likely to occur in a quantity sufficient to indicate danger; or

(c) any other mine where an irrespirable atmosphere is likely to occur below ground in a quantity requiring the use of breathing apparatus.

(3) Regulations 12(2), 13 and 14 together with Part IV of these Regulations shall not apply to a tourist mine.

(1)

1954 c. 70; extended by the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969 (c. 10); relevant amending instruments are S.I. 1954/2013, S.I. 1976/2063 and S.I. 1993/1897.

(2)

S.I. 1992/2051; amended by S.I. 1994/2865.

(3)

S.I. 1993/1897.