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

Hoist Attachments

• 77 (1) Detaching hooks of a hoist shall be

  • (a) installed between the socket and safety chains on all cages; and

  • (b) cleaned, refitted and tested by a qualified person at least once every month.

• (2) The detaching plate of a hoist shall be

  • (a) placed as high as is practicable above the decking level;

  • (b) capable of holding the mass of the cage if overwinding occurs; and

  • (c) tested once every month by a qualified person using calipers or gauges.

• (3) The clearance between the head sheave and the top of a cage that is stopped at the top of the run shall be not less than 5 m.

• (4) The qualified person referred to in paragraph (1)(b) or (2)(c) shall record the results of the tests in a hoisting machinery record book kept for that purpose.

• 78 (1) All hoist ropes, other than endless hoist ropes, shall be connected to their loads by means of a socket that is designed and installed in accordance with good engineering practice.

• (2) Hoist ropes shall, at least once every month, be fitted with new sockets or sockets that have been cleaned and tested.

• (3) The drum end of a hoist rope shall be fastened to the drum by not less than two clamps.

• 79 (1) The connecting attachments between a newly installed or newly cut hoist rope and a cage or trip and between the hoist rope and the drum shall be inspected by a qualified person before the hoist is used.

• (2) No hoist rope referred to in subsection (1) shall be used for the transportation of persons in a shaft unless two trial winds have been made with the cage or trip loaded to the maximum authorized load of the hoist.

• (3) The trial winds referred to in subsection (2) shall be made over the lesser of

  • (a) the complete run of the cage or trip, or

  • (b) 1 500 m.

• 80 (1) The qualified person referred to in subsection 79(1) shall record the results of the inspection of the connecting attachments in the hoisting machinery record book referred to in subsection 77(4).

• (2) The results of the trial winds referred to in subsection 79(2) shall be recorded by the hoist operator in a hoist operator’s record book kept for that purpose.

Cage and Mine Car Construction

81 Every mine car shall be so constructed that any coupling, shackle pin or safety chain is visible for inspection.

82 Effective on October 1, 1993, every mine car shall have a name-plate that indicates

• (a) the manufacturer’s name and address;

• (b) the tare weight of the fitted mine car;

• (c) the maximum load for which the mine car is designed, expressed

  • (i) in the case of a material car, in tonnes, and

  • (ii) in the case of a man car, in number of persons, calculated on the basis of 81.7 kg per person;

• (d) the maximum speed for which the mine car is designed, expressed in metres per second; and

• (e) the month and year of manufacture.

Man Cars

• 83 (1) Every man car shall be equipped with seats that are secured to the body of the man car.

• (2) At least one man car that is part of a trip of man cars shall be designed to transport an injured person on a stretcher.

• (3) The first man car of a trip shall be secured by a primary fastening arrangement that is

  • (a) in the case of a direct hoist rope system, a rope socket;

  • (b) in the case of an endless hoist rope system, a rope clamp; and

  • (c) in the case of a locomotive system, a coupling.

• 84 (1) Where a man car is used on a gradient exceeding 4 per cent, it shall, for the purpose of coupling it with other mine cars, be equipped with

  • (a) three continuous draw-bars made of steel; or

  • (b) a single draw-bar composite of rolled steel sections and rolled steel plate.

• (2) The continuous draw-bars referred to in paragraph (1)(a) shall be

  • (a) extended the full length of the man car;

  • (b) securely bolted to the floor and base sills of the man car; and

  • (c) visible for inspection.

• (3) Where man cars of a trip are used on a gradient exceeding 4 per cent, the man cars shall be equipped with safety brakes that are

  • (a) interconnected and operated simultaneously with the safety brakes of the other man cars of the trip;

  • (b) manually operable from at least one man car of the trip;

  • (c) automatically operable by an overspeed governor on one of the man cars of the trip in the event of a 20 per cent overspeed;

  • (d) capable of stopping the maximum load of the man car at the maximum gradient of the roadway at the maximum overspeed governor setting; and

  • (e) of a fail-safe design.

• 85 (1) Where man cars that are equipped with three continuous draw-bars are adjacent in a trip, they shall be connected to each other by

  • (a) couplings at the centre draw-bar; and

  • (b) safety chains at the two side draw-bars.

• (2) Where man cars that are equipped with a single draw-bar are adjacent in a trip, they shall be connected to each other by

  • (a) couplings at each end of the draw-bars; and

  • (b) safety chains at two attachments on the chassis of each adjacent man car.

• (3) The safety chains referred to in paragraphs (1)(b) and (2)(b) shall be slack during normal operation.

86 Effective on October 1, 1993,

• (a) every man car shall be equipped with a canopy; and

• (b) the first man car of a trip on a direct hoist rope system shall be secured, in addition to the primary fastening arrangement referred to in paragraph 83(3)(a), by a secondary fastening arrangement that is capable of holding at least 200 per cent of the maximum tensile load of the trip in the event of a failure of the primary fastening arrangement.

Material Cars

87 Effective on October 1, 1993, where material cars of a trip are used on a gradient exceeding 4 per cent,

• (a) material cars that are adjacent in the trip shall be connected by

  • (i) in the case of a material car that is equipped with three continuous draw-bars, safety chains at the two side draw-bars, and

  • (ii) in the case of a material car that is equipped with a single draw-bar composite, safety chains at two attachments on the chassis of each adjacent mine car; and

• (b) at least one material car of the trip shall be equipped with brakes that are

  • (i) capable of stopping the trip in the event of a runaway,

  • (ii) manually operable,

  • (iii) automatically operable by a speed governor in the event of a 20 per cent overspeed, and

  • (iv) of a fail-safe design.

Tackling Equipment

• 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.

• 89 (1) Couplings, pins and rope clamps shall be designed with a factor of safety of not less than six.

• (2) Safety chains and safety ropes shall be designed with a factor of safety of not less than two.

• (3) Draw-bars that are manufactured from steel that is certified by the manufacturer not to require heat treatment to remove stresses that are due to cold working shall be designed with a factor of safety of not less than six.

• (4) Draw-bars that are manufactured from steel that requires heat treatment every six months to remove stresses that are due to cold working and draw-bars that are made of rolled steel sections and plates shall be designed with a factor of safety of not less than 10.

• (5) Subsections (1) to (4) apply on and after October 1, 1993.

Operation and Inspection of Mine Cars

• 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.

Vertical Shafts and Airways

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.