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

88 (1) No single-link chain, other than a coupling attached to a cage or mine car, shall be installed on any equipment that is used for transporting persons.

(2) Subject to subsection 89(2), the couplings of a cage or mine car shall be used only in conjunction with safety chains or safety ropes that are of sufficient strength to hold the maximum load for which the cage or mine car is designed in the event that the coupling chain breaks.

(3) Every draw-bar of a three-draw-bar man car and every coupling, pin, safety chain, rope clamp and other tackling equipment that is used on a cage or mine car shall be made of steel.

(4) The steel referred to in subsection (3) shall be

• (a) certified by its manufacturer not to require heat treatment to remove stresses that are due to cold working; or

• (b) heat treated at least once every six months in accordance with the recommendations of the manufacturer.

(5) The employer shall keep a record of the heat treatment referred to in paragraph (4)(b) at the coal mine in which the equipment that is heat treated is used.

(6) No draw-bar, coupling, pin, safety chain, rope clamp or other tackling equipment shall be used on a cage or mine car unless

• (a) its design has been tested by the manufacturer to withstand a proof load of 40 per cent of its breaking strength without any permanent set;

• (b) a certificate of the test referred to in paragraph (a) has been provided to the employer by the manufacturer; and

• (c) the equipment has been legibly and permanently marked to identify it with the manufacturer’s certificate.