Quarries (General) Regulations, 1974

JurisdictionIreland
CitationIR SI 146/1974
Year1974

S.I. No. 146 of 1974.

QUARRIES (GENERAL) REGULATIONS, 1974.

ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS.

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

Regulation.

1. Short title.

2. Commencement.

3. Interpretation.

4. Application.

5. Exemption.

6. Revocation.

PART II.

Safety (General Provisions).

7. Daily inspections.

8-11. Working of the quarry.

12. Control of vehicles.

13-20. Persons employed

21. Dangerous substances.

PART III.

Health and Welfare Provisions.

22-25 Medical examinations—general.

26. Medical examinations—special.

27. Health register.

28. First aid.

29. Changing, messing and washing facilities—general.

30. Changing, messing and washing facilities—special.

31. Sanitary conveniences.

32. Noise control.

33. Gas control.

34. Eye protection.

35. Respiratory protective equipment.

36. Protective clothing.

PART IV.

Plant, Machinery and Buildings.

37. Machinery in motion.

38. Guarding of machinery.

39. Construction of gantries, gangways, platforms, stairs, floors, etc.

40. Lifting gear.

41. Lifting appliances.

42. Air receivers.

43. Steam boilers.

44. Exceptions as to air receivers and steam boilers.

45-46. Fire-fighting equipment, etc.

47. Inspection and maintenance of vehicles, and protection for drivers.

48. Training and certification of drivers of mechanically propelled vehicles.

49. Use of hydraulic and pneumatic systems.

50. Reports, Certificates, etc.

First Schedule.

Forms.

Second Schedule.

Third Schedule.

Fourth Schedule.

Fifth Schedule.

S.I. No. 146 of 1974.

QUARRIES (GENERAL) REGULATIONS, 1974.

I, MICHAEL O'LEARY, Minister for Labour, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 11 , 29 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 85 , 90 , 96 , 97 , 112 , 122 and 127 of the Mines and Quarries Act, 1965 (No. 7 of 1965) and the Labour (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 1966 ( S.I. No. 164 of 1966 ) and after due compliance with the provisions of that Act relating to the procedure for making general regulations, hereby make the following regulations:

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Quarries (General) Regulations, 1974.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of July, 1974.

3. (1) In these Regulations—

"the Act" means the Mines and Quarries Act, 1965 (No. 7 of 1965);

"driving-belt" includes any driving strap or rope;

"inspector" means an inspector appointed under Section 130 of the Act;

"lifting appliance" means a crab, winch, pulley block or gin wheel used for raising or lowering and also a crane, sheer legs, excavator, dragline, piling frame, aerial cableway, aerial ropeway or overhead runway;

"lifting gear" means a chain sling, rope sling, or similar gear, and a ring, link, hook, plate clamp, shackle, swivel or eye-bolt;

"machinery" includes any driving-belt;

"manager" means a person appointed under section 23 of the Act;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Labour; "owner" has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 of the Act;

"plant or equipment" includes machinery, gear, apparatus and appliance, or any part thereof;

"safe working load" means either the relevant safe working load required to be specified in the latest certificate of test obtained for the purpose of Regulations 40 and 41 of these Regulations, or where no such certificate is required, the relevant safe working load required to be marked or exhibited on the lifting appliance, lifting gear, chain, rope or other article of plant or equipment by Regulations 40 and 41 of these Regulations;

"special regulations" means regulations applicable to a particular quarry only.

"unconsolidated material" means any mineral other than a mineral which has been dried, compacted or indurated by natural pressures operating since deposition.

4. Subject to Regulation 5 hereof, these Regulations shall apply to every quarry.

5. Subject to Regulation 44 of these Regulations, the Minister or an inspector may, by notice served on the owner, exempt any quarry or part thereof, or any thing or class or description of things thereat, from the application of any provision of these Regulations if he is satisfied that the safety of persons employed at the quarry will not be prejudiced in consequence of the granting of the exemption.

6. (1) The Quarries (General) Regulations, 1956 ( S.I. No. 274 of 1956 ) are hereby revoked.

(2) All special rules established under section 25 of the Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 1872 (as applied to quarries by section 2 of the Quarries Act, 1894) and in force immediately before the coming into operation of these Regulations shall on the 30th day of June, 1974, cease to have effect.

PART II. Safety (General Provisions).

7. (1) Every working day the manager of a quarry shall inspect or cause to be so inspected by a competent person appointed for that purpose by him, each of the following, namely:

( a ) every working place and every road used by persons employed at the quarry for the purpose of their work or of getting to and from their working places,

( b ) the top of each working face of the quarry; provided that where a quarry is worked by a system of benches, the sides and tops of the faces of such benches, which for the time being are not being worked, shall be likewise inspected at intervals of not less than once in every thirty days, and

( c ) the external parts of all machinery and appliances forming part of the equipment of the quarry,

and the manager shall daily examine, or cause to be examined by such a person, any face, side or overburden of the quarry which may cause danger at any such place or road.

(2) If any danger is revealed by an inspection carried out to comply with the requirements of paragraph (1) of this regulation, the manager shall ensure that all practicable steps are taken at once to remove it and, except for that purpose, any person exposed to the danger shall be withdrawn.

(3) A true report of every such inspection made under paragraph (1) of this regulation shall be entered and signed forthwith by the person making the inspection, in a book which shall be in Form No. 1 set out in the First Schedule to these Regulations, which book shall be provided by the owner and shall be kept readily available at the quarry.

(4) A true report of any danger revealed in the course of an inspection under this regulation, or any other danger observed by or notified to the manager or competent person, together with the steps taken to remove the danger, shall be made in the book mentioned in paragraph (3) of this regulation and shall be signed and dated by the person making the entry.

8. The manager of a quarry shall take all practicable steps to ensure that—

( a ) the overburden at or near the top of a face or a side of the quarry is cleared back to a sufficient distance and depth to avoid the danger of falls of the minerals worked or any other substance, and that all unconsolidated materials such as clay, earth, sand, gravel or loose rock lying within 1.83 metres (6 feet) of the edge of the quarry are removed, and

( b ) on the completion of any overburden stripping operations all overburden lying more than 1.83 metres (6 feet) from the edge of the quarry is sloped to an angle less than its natural angle of repose.

9. (1) In workings at a quarry of clay, sand and gravel or other types of unconsolidated material where mechanical loading equipment is not used the following provisions shall be complied with, namely:

( a ) material shall not be removed by undermining,

( b ) a working place shall not have a vertical height of more than 3.05 metres (10 feet), unless the material is at a suitable angle to ensure safety,

( c ) where the thickness of the material exceeds 3.05 metres (10 feet) in vertical depth, the work shall be done either in benches or at a suitable angle to ensure safety.

(2) Where mechanical equipment is used at a quarry in loading unconsolidated material, unless the material is at a suitable angle of repose, no working place shall have a vertical height of more than 1.52 metres (5 feet) above the top of the boom or the bottom of the bucket when raised by the equipment to its highest operating position.

10. (1) Unless permission in writing is first obtained from the Minister or an inspector by the manager of a quarry to quarry otherwise, all quarry operations over 19.8 metres (65 feet) in height shall be worked in benches not more than 19.8 metres (65 feet) high.

(2) The manager shall ensure that all practicable measures are taken to maintain the faces, benches and broken material at a quarry in a safe working condition.

11. In case a quarry is dangerous by reason of its depth, as far as practicable, the manager of the quarry shall ensure that the following points and places in the quarry are securely fenced or otherwise protected against inadvertent access by persons employed at the quarry, namely;

( a ) any point which such persons may have to pass in the course of their employment, and

( b ) any place where they may have to work in the course of their employment.

12. (1) Where any mechanically propelled vehicle or a mechanically propelled trailer vehicle is used at a quarry for tipping material on to a stock-pile or tip or into any excavation or pit or over the edge of any embankment or earthwork, the manager of the quarry shall ensure that all practicable measures are taken where necessary to prevent such vehicle or trailer from overturning and from over-running the edge of such stock-pile, tip, excavation, pit, embankment or earthwork.

(2) Where any mechanically propelled vehicle or a mechanically propelled trailer vehicle is used at a quarry in such a manner that the driver of the vehicle has not a clear and unrestricted view in the direction of motion of the vehicle, the manager...

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