Coal Mining Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/90-97)

• 90. (1) Every trip shall be under the supervision of a qualified person who shall

  • (a) verify that all couplings and safety chains are secured to the mine cars;

  • (b) verify that all persons are properly seated;

  • (c) verify that all loads are secured;

  • (d) signal for the trip to stop or start; and

  • (e) operate track switches and sampsons.

• (2) No person shall get into or out of a trip while it is in motion.

• (3) Before a mine car is detached from its rope or locomotive and is parked on an incline, its wheels shall be sampsoned and braked or shall be spragged.

• 91. (1) At least once every day of operation of a coal mine, a qualified person shall inspect the couplings, pins, safety chains, draw-gear, rope clamps and safety brakes of all mine cars in use on gradients exceeding four per cent.

• (2) At least once every month, a qualified person shall test the overspeed governor referred to in paragraph 84(3)(c).

• (3) At least once every three months, a qualified person shall carry out a dynamic test on the safety brake system referred to in subsection 84(3).

• (4) The qualified person referred to in subsections (1) to (3) shall make a record of each inspection and test carried out by the person in a book kept for that purpose.

92. At least once every three months, the position of the clamps that attach a trip to the hoist rope on an endless hoist rope system shall be moved to a new point of attachment that is at a distance of not less than the maximum length of the trip, and each movement of the position shall be made in the same direction along the hoist rope.

93. Every opening to a vertical shaft or to an airway that is used only for ventilation shall be fenced.

94. Every vertical shaft that is a working shaft shall be provided with stops or gates that prevent a cage or mine car from being pushed unintentionally beyond the landings of the shaft.

95. All landings of vertical shafts that are working shafts shall be lighted with permanent light fixtures.

• 96. (1) Every working shaft shall be provided with a means of communication between the top, bottom and landings of the shaft, and, where applicable, with the hoist operator.

• (2) The mine manager shall establish a code of signals for the purposes of subsection (1).

• (3) The employer shall post a copy of the code referred to in subsection (2) in a conspicuous place at all locations where a means of communication is provided.

97. Where a cage or mine car in a vertical shaft is used for transporting persons and is also used for transporting materials, the cage or mine car shall not be used for transporting persons at the same time as materials are being transported.

• 98. (1) A cage or mine car that is used for transporting persons shall be in the charge of a qualified person.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3), no person shall be transported underground at a speed greater than 6 m/s unless

  • (a) the hoisting engine, including the safety devices connected thereto, is designed for speeds greater than 6 m/s; and

  • (b) where rail tracks are used, the rail track is ballasted, graded and fish-plated and is designed for mine cars travelling at speeds greater than 6 m/s.

• (3) No person shall be transported underground at a speed greater than the speed for which the cage or mine car is designed.