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Council Directive 92/104/EEC of 3 December 1992 on the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in surface and underground mineral-extracting industries (twelfth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)

EU Directive 1992/104 · Adopted 3 December 1992 · Extends to United Kingdom

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Council Directive 92/104/EEC

of 3 December 1992

on the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in surface and underground mineral-extracting industries (twelfth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 118a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commissionf1, drawn up after consultation with the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and Other Extractive Industries,

In cooperation with the European Parliamentf2,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committeef3,

Whereas Article 118a of the Treaty provides that the Council shall adopt, by means of Directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, to guarantee a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers;

Whereas, pursuant to that Article, such Directives must avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;

Whereas the improvement of workers’ safety, hygiene and health at works is an objective which should not be subordinated to purely economic considerations;

Whereas Council Directive 89/654/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace (first individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)f4 does not apply to the extractive industries;

Whereas compliance with the minimum requirements designed to guarantee a better standard of safety and health for surface and underground mineral-extracting industries is essential to ensure the safety and health of workers;

Whereas surface and underground mineral-extracting industries constitute an area of activity likely to expose workers to particularly high levels of risk;

Whereas this Directive is an individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at workf5; whereas, therefore, the provisions of the said Directive apply in full to surface and underground mineral-extracting industries without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions contained in this Directive;

Whereas the ancillary surface installations of surface and underground mineral-extracting industries which are not essential to the surface and underground mineral-extracting industries as defined in Article 2 (a) of this Directive are subject to the provisions of Directive 89/654/EEC;

Whereas, on 3 November 1992, the Council adopted Directive 92/91/EEC on the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in the mineral-extracting industries through drilling (eleventh individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)f6;

Whereas this Directive is a practical contribution towards creating the social dimension of the internal market,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

OJ No C 58, 5.3.1992, p. 3.

f2

OJ No C 150, 15.6.1992, p. 128, and OJ No C 305, 23.11.1992.

f3

OJ No C 169, 6.7.1992, p. 28.

f4

OJ No L 393, 30.12.1989, p. 1.

f5

OJ No L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1.

f6

OJ No L 348, 28.11.1992, p. 9.

Contents

  1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
  2. 1Subject
  3. 2Definitions
  4. EMPLOYERS’ OBLIGATIONS
  5. 3General obligations
  6. 4Protection from fire, explosions and health-endangering atmospheres
  7. 5Escape and rescue facilities
  8. 6Communication, warning and alarm systems
  9. 7Keeping workers informed
  10. 8Health surveillance
  11. 9Consultation of workers and workers’ participation
  12. 10Minimum requirements for safety and health
  13. OTHER PROVISIONS
  14. 11Adjustments to the Annex
  15. 12Mineral-extraction by dredging
  16. 13Final provisions
  17. 14Article 14
  18. Annex: MINIMUM SAFETY AND HEALTH REQUIREMENTS AS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 10 OF THE DIRECTIVE
  19. Preliminary note
  20. COMMON MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO SURFACE AND UNDERGROUND MINERAL-EXTRACTING INDUSTRIES AND TO ANCILLARY SURFACE INSTALLATIONS
  21. Supervision and organization
  22. Organization of workplaces
  23. 1.1.1Division 1.1.1
  24. 1.1.2Division 1.1.2
  25. 1.1.3Division 1.1.3
  26. 1.2Person in charge
  27. 1.3Supervision
  28. 1.4Competent workers
  29. 1.5Information, instructions and training
  30. 1.6Written instructions
  31. 1.7Safe working methods
  32. 1.8Work permits
  33. 1.9Regular review of safety and health measures
  34. Mechanical and electrical equipment and plant
  35. 2.1General
  36. 2.2Specific provisions
  37. Maintenance
  38. 3.1General maintenance
  39. 3.2Safety equipment maintenance
  40. Protection from explosion risks, harmful atmospheres and fire hazards
  41. General
  42. 4.1.1Measures must be taken for assessing the presence of harmful and/or potentially explosive substances in the atmosphere and for measuring the concentration of such substances.
  43. 4.1.2Smoking is forbidden in areas subject to particular fire or explosion hazards.
  44. Protection from explosion risks
  45. 4.2.1Division 4.2.1
  46. 4.2.2Division 4.2.2
  47. 4.2.3Division 4.2.3
  48. Protection from harmful atmospheres
  49. 4.3.1Where harmful substances accumulate or may accumulate in the atmosphere, appropriate measures must be taken to ensure:
  50. 4.3.2Without prejudice to Directive 89/656/EEC, appropriate and sufficient breathing and resuscitation equipment must be available in areas where workers may be exposed to atmospheres which are harmful to health.
  51. 4.3.3Division 4.3.3
  52. Protection from fire hazards
  53. 4.4.1Wherever workplaces are designed, constructed, equipped, commissioned, operated or maintained, adequate measures must be taken to prevent fires from starting and spreading from the sources identified in the safety and health document.
  54. 4.4.2Division 4.4.2
  55. 4.4.3Division 4.4.3
  56. 4.4.4Division 4.4.4
  57. 4.4.5The fire-fighting equipment must be indicated by signs in accordance with the national regulations transposing Directive 92/58/EEC into law.
  58. 5Explosives and initiating devices
  59. Traffic routes
  60. 6.1Division 6.1
  61. 6.2Division 6.2
  62. 6.3Division 6.3
  63. 6.4Division 6.4
  64. 6.5Division 6.5
  65. 6.6Division 6.6
  66. Outdoor workplaces
  67. 7.1Division 7.1
  68. 7.2Division 7.2
  69. 7.3Division 7.3
  70. Danger areas
  71. 8.1Division 8.1
  72. 8.2Division 8.2
  73. 8.3Division 8.3
  74. Emergency routes and exits
  75. 9.1Division 9.1
  76. 9.2Division 9.2
  77. 9.3Division 9.3
  78. 9.4Division 9.4
  79. 9.5Division 9.5
  80. 9.6Division 9.6
  81. 9.7Division 9.7
  82. Means of evacuation and escape
  83. 10.1Division 10.1
  84. 10.2Division 10.2
  85. 11Safety drills
  86. First-aid facilities
  87. 12.1Division 12.1
  88. 12.2Division 12.2
  89. 12.3Division 12.3
  90. 12.4Division 12.4
  91. 12.5Division 12.5
  92. Natural and artificial lighting
  93. 13.1Division 13.1
  94. 13.2Division 13.2
  95. 13.3Division 13.3
  96. 13.4Division 13.4
  97. Sanitary installations
  98. Changing rooms and lockers
  99. 14.1.1Appropriate changing rooms must be provided for workers if they have to wear special work clothes and where, for reasons of health or propriety, they cannot be expected to change in another room.
  100. 14.1.2Changing rooms must be sufficiently large and have facilities to enable each worker to lock away his/her clothes during working hours.
  101. 14.1.3Division 14.1.3
  102. 14.1.4Division 14.1.4
  103. Showers and washbasins
  104. 14.2.1Adequate and suitable showers must be provided for workers if required by the nature of the work or for health reasons.
  105. 14.2.2The shower rooms must be sufficiently large to permit each worker to wash without hindrance in conditions of an appropriate standard of hygiene.
  106. 14.2.3Where showers are not required under the first subparagraph of 14.2.1, adequate and suitable washbasins with hot and cold water must be provided in the vicinity of the workstations and the changing rooms.
  107. 14.3Lavoratories and washbasins
  108. 15Overburden dumps and other tips
  109. Ancillary surface installations (additional special provisions)
  110. 16.1Stability and solidity
  111. Floors, walls, ceilings and roofs of rooms
  112. 16.2.1The floors of workplaces must have no dangerous bumps, holes or slopes and must be fixed, stable and not slippery.
  113. 16.2.2Division 16.2.2
  114. 16.2.3Division 16.2.3
  115. 16.2.4Division 16.2.4
  116. Room dimensions and air space in rooms —freedom of movement at the workstation
  117. 16.3.1Division 16.3.1
  118. 16.3.2Division 16.3.2
  119. Windows and skylights
  120. 16.4.1Windows, skylights and ventilation devices which are meant to be opened, adjusted or secured must be designed so that these operations can be carried out safely.
  121. 16.4.2Division 16.4.2
  122. Doors and gates
  123. 16.5.1Division 16.5.1
  124. 16.5.2Division 16.5.2
  125. 16.5.3Division 16.5.3
  126. 16.5.4Division 16.5.4
  127. 16.5.5Division 16.5.5
  128. 16.5.6Division 16.5.6
  129. 16.5.7Doors along escape routes must be appropriately marked.
  130. 16.5.8Division 16.5.8
  131. 16.5.9Mechanical doors and gates must function without risk of accident to workers.
  132. Ventilation of enclosed workplaces
  133. 16.6.1Steps shall be taken to ensure that there is sufficient fresh air in enclosed workplaces, having regard to the working methods used and the physical demands placed on the workers.
  134. 16.6.2If air-conditioning or mechanical ventilation installations are used, they must operate in such a way that workers are not exposed to draughts which cause discomfort.
  135. Room temperature
  136. 16.7.1Division 16.7.1
  137. 16.7.2Division 16.7.2
  138. 16.7.3Division 16.7.3
  139. Rest rooms
  140. 16.8.1Where the safety or health of workers, in particular because of the type of activity carried out or the presence of more than a certain number of employees, so requires, workers must be provided with an easily accessible rest room.
  141. 16.8.2Division 16.8.2
  142. 16.8.3Division 16.8.3
  143. 16.8.4If working hours are regularly and frequently interrupted and there is no rest room, other rooms must be provided in which workers can stay during such interruptions, wherever this is required for the safety or health of workers.
  144. 17Pregnant women and nursing mothers
  145. 18Disabled workers
  146. SPECIAL MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO SURFACE MINERAL-EXTRACTING INDUSTRIES
  147. General
  148. 1.1Division 1.1
  149. 1.2Division 1.2
  150. Operation
  151. 2.1Division 2.1
  152. 2.2Division 2.2
  153. 2.3Division 2.3
  154. 2.4Division 2.4
  155. SPECIAL MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO UNDERGROUND MINERAL-EXTRACTING INDUSTRIES
  156. General
  157. 1.1Division 1.1
  158. 1.2Division 1.2
  159. Plans of underground workings
  160. 2.1Division 2.1
  161. 2.2Division 2.2
  162. 3Outlets
  163. 4Workings
  164. Transport
  165. 5.1Division 5.1
  166. 5.2Division 5.2
  167. 6Support and ground stability
  168. Ventilation
  169. 7.1Division 7.1
  170. 7.2Division 7.2
  171. 7.3Division 7.3
  172. Gassy mines
  173. 8.1Division 8.1
  174. 8.2Division 8.2
  175. 8.3Division 8.3
  176. 8.4Division 8.4
  177. 8.5Division 8.5
  178. 8.6Division 8.6
  179. 8.7Division 8.7
  180. Mines containing flammable dusts
  181. 9.1Division 9.1
  182. 9.2Division 9.2
  183. 9.3Division 9.3
  184. 9.4Division 9.4
  185. Gas outbursts, rockbursts and water inrushes
  186. 10.1Division 10.1
  187. 10.2Division 10.2
  188. Fires, combustions and heatings
  189. 11.1Division 11.1
  190. 11.2Division 11.2
  191. 11.3Division 11.3
  192. 12Precautions for withdrawal of workers
  193. 13Lighting
  194. 14Underground workforce accounting
  195. 15Rescue organization