Explanatory note

These regulations apply to mines of stratified ironstone, shale and fireclay.

Part II of the regulations prohibits the firing of shots below ground except by persons appointed by the manager to be shot firers or (with respect to the firing of shots by means of safety fuse only) by persons appointed to fire shots by those means. The qualifications required by shot firers are specified.

Under Part III explosives, detonators and safety fuse must be stored on the surface at an explosives store, and provision is made for the appointment of places, with competent persons in charge, for the deposit of explosives and detonators brought out of the mine, and for the issue thereof. Part III also provides for the control of the issue of detonators, the conveyance and care of explosives and detonators, and the making by the manager of a “scheme of transit” (containing provisions for securing safety with respect to specified matters) for the conveyance of explosives in bulk.

Part IV relates to the provision, use and care of equipment, apparatus and material for firing shots electrically. Defective electric shot firing apparatus must be dealt with as provided in reg. 16, and maintenance and testing must be carried out at regular intervals as specified in reg. 17.

Part V regulates the placing, drilling, cleaning, charging and stemming of shot holes, and the firing of shots electrically and by fuse. Provision is made for the giving of warning in every case where a shot may blow through into another place; for the withdrawal from the danger zone likely to be created by the shot of persons within that zone, or the taking of proper shelter; and for the taking of appropriate precautions after the firing of any shot to ensure that working may be resumed safely.

Additional provisions relating to shot firing in shafts and staple-pits are contained in Part VI.

Miss-fires are dealt with in Part VII. Reg. 40 lays down when a shot is to be treated as a miss-fire, and reg. 41 specifies the general precautions to be taken in the event of a miss-fire. There must, under reg. 42, at all times be in force a scheme specifying the procedure to be followed after any miss-fire.

Part VIII of the regulations contains miscellaneous additional provisions applicable only to parts of mines which are parts in which no lamps or lights, other than locked safety-lamps, are permitted to be used.

Part IX deals with apparatus and explosives for killing horses below ground.

The Chief Inspector of Mines is empowered, under Part X, to exempt any mine or any part of a mine from the application of any provision of the regulations, if he is satisfied that the application of the provision is inappropriate in the circumstances of the particular case.

The regulations will replace the Explosives in Coal Mines Order, 1934 (S.R. & O. 1934/6), as amended, the Explosives (Stratified Ironstone Mines) Order, 1944 (S.R. & O. 1944/945) and the Explosives in Coal Mines (Horse Killers) Order, 1931 (S.R. & O. 1931/521), made under the Coal Mines Act, 1911. Those Orders are now in operation only in so far as they apply to mines of stratified ironstone, shale and fireclay; they will cease to have effect upon the coming into operation of the Mines and Quarries Act, 1954.