Article 15. Mines and Tunnels; Quarries;Compressed Air

Title 1 - MINES, TUNNELS AND QUARRIES

Section 400. Notice of beginning.

Every operator opening a new shaft, incline, tunnel or quarry shall report in writing its location and the name of its owner to the commissioner before the excavation reaches a depth of twenty-five feet.

Section 401. Notice of abandonment or discontinuance.

Every operator abandoning or permanently discontinuing any shaft, incline, tunnel or quarry shall immediately notify the commission in writing of such abandonment or discontinuance.

Section 402. Blasting.

When explosives are used in a mine, tunnel or quarry, the manner of storing, keeping, moving, charging and firing, or in any manner using such explosives, shall be in accordance with the rules prescribed by the board.

Section 403. Storage of inflammable supplies.

No powder or oils shall be stored in any mine, tunnel or quarry, or in or around any shaft, engine or boiler house. All inflammable or destructive supplies shall be stored at safe distances from mine or tunnel openings.

Section 404. Washrooms.

Every mine, tunnel or quarry with more than twenty-five employees shall maintain a washroom properly heated and equipped and accessible to its employees.

Title 2 - MINES AND TUNNELS ONLY

Section 410. Riding on vehicles.

No person shall ride upon, or be permitted to ride upon, any loaded car, cage or bucket into or out of any mine or tunnel in process of construction.

Section 411. Ingress and egress.

The commissioner shall require that a mine operating through either a vertical or inclined shaft, or a horizontal tunnel, shall have not less than two adequate and accessible outlets, at least one hundred and fifty feet apart, as a condition precedent to employment of any person in the mine. The subterranean workings shall connect such outlets with each other. They shall at all times provide safe and separate passage between the subterranean workings and the surface.

Section 413. Hoists.

Every engine, brake, cage, bucket, rope, and chain shall be kept in good order and shall be inspected daily. Every lift, hoist, rope and other mechanical device shall be capable of sustaining the weight intended to be borne by it, in accordance with factors of safety generally accepted by competent engineers. Every car and lift shall have a safety brake. No hoisting rope shall be subjected to a load heavier than one-fifth of the weight it can sustain without breaking.

Section 414. Ways around shafts.

At necessary points traveling ways shall be cut out around the sides and bottom of each mine shaft to afford passage from side to side without crossing the shaft under or above the cage or hoist. Each such traveling way shall be at least five feet high and three feet wide.

Section 415. Head house and trap doors.

Every underground working over forty feet deep shall have a proper head house and proper trap doors which, when installed subsequent to the effective date of this act, shall be constructed of fire-resistant material.

Section 416. Timbering.

The roofs and sides of each passageway and working place in every mine and tunnel shall be properly timbered and shall be kept secure. No person shall work in an unsafe place except to make it safe.

Section 417. Ventilation.

An air current sufficient to remove smoke and noxious gases and to insure the safety of every employee shall be conducted along every passageway and working place.

Title 3 - COMPRESSED AIR

Section 425. Definition of pressure.

The term "pressure" means gauge air pressure in pounds per square inch.

Section 426. Equipment.

Every employer of persons for work in compressed air shall:

1. Connect at least two air pipes with the working chamber and keep such pipes in perfect working condition;

2. Attach to the working chamber in accessible positions all instruments necessary to show its pressure and keep such instruments in charge of competent persons, with a period of duty for each such person not exceeding eight hours in any twenty-four;

3. Place in each shaft a safe ladder extending its entire length;

4. Light properly and keep clear each passageway;

5. Provide independent lighting systems for the working chamber and shaft leading to it, when electricity is used for lighting;

6. Guard lights other than electric lights;

7. Protect workmen by a shield erected in the working chamber when such chamber is less than ten feet long and is suspended with more than nine feet space between its deck and the bottom of the excavation;

8. Provide for and keep accessible to employees working in compressed air a dressing room heated, lighted and ventilated properly and supplied with benches, lockers, sanitary waterclosets, bathing facilities and hot and cold water;

9. Establish and maintain a medical lock properly heated, lighted, ventilated and supplied with medicines and surgical implements, when the maximum air pressure exceeds seventeen pounds.

Section 427. Officers and nurses.

Every employer of persons for work in compressed air shall:

1. Keep at the place of work at all necessary times one or more duly qualified medical officers to care for cases of illness and to strictly administer and enforce sections four hundred and twenty-six, four hundred and twenty-eight and four hundred and twenty-nine.

2. Keep at a medical lock required by subdivision nine of section four hundred and twenty-six a certified nurse selected by the medical officer or officers required by subdivision one of this section and qualified to give temporary relief in cases of illness.

Section 428. Physical examinations.

If an employee is a new employee, an absentee for ten or more successive days, an employee who has worked in compressed air continuously for three months or a beginner in compressed air who has worked but a single shift as required by section four hundred and thirty, the officer or officers required by subdivision one of section four hundred and twenty-seven shall examine him and declare him physically fit to work in compressed air before permitting him to enter or re-enter the working chamber.

Section 429. Users of intoxicants.

Excessive users of intoxicants shall not be permitted to work in compressed air.

Section 430. Working time.

The working time in compressed air in any twenty-four hours shall be specified by the board in its rules. No person shall be subjected to pressure exceeding fifty pounds except in emergency. The maximum number of hours for any pressure, shall be as specified by the board in its rules.

Section 431. Decompression.

The employer or person in charge shall not permit any person to pass from compressed air to normal pressure without passing through a period of decompression. Such periods of decompression shall be as specified by the board in its rules.

Section 432. Rules of the board.

The board shall adopt rules and establish further requirements and standards for work in compressed air to provide reasonable and adequate protection to the lives, health and safety of those employed therein, in addition to the requirements of this title.

Title 4 - ENFORCEMENT OF ARTICLE

Section 435. Responsibility.

Except as otherwise provided the owner, agent, lessee, manager, operator and superintendent shall be responsible for the observance of the provisions of this article.

Section 436. Penalties.

Violation of or noncompliance with any provision of this article shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars or by imprisonment for one year or by both.

Section 437. Proceedings to restrain operation.

The commissioner may serve a written notice upon the owner, agent, manager or lessee of a mine or tunnel requiring him to comply with a specific provision of this article. The commissioner shall begin an action in the supreme court to enforce compliance with such provision, and upon such notice as the court directs an order may be granted restraining the working of such mine or tunnel during such time as may be therein specified.