S-2.1, r. 14 - Regulation respecting occupational health and safety in mines

Section 40 Disposition versions

2012-09-01

40. Where clay, sand, gravel or other poorly consolidated mineral substance is being worked, and during the stripping of overburden:

(1)  undermining is prohibited;

(2)  trees and vegetation located less than 10 m (32.8 ft) from the rim of the tunnel faces shall be removed;

(3)  mining shall be done in benches whose height shall not exceed:

(a)  3 m (9.8 ft), if loading is done without mechanical equipment;

(b)  by more than 3 m (9.8 ft) the top of the boom or bucket of mechanical equipment when raised to its highest operating position, except for a sandpit operation where the slope of the tunnel face is at all points less than 45º from the horizontal;

(4)  the parameters of the layers of soil required to calculate the critical height of the benches shall be determined and the contours of the tunnel faces and walls shall be fixed so as to secure their stability in the following cases:

(a)  where signs of instability appear in the ground;

(b)  heavy equipment or other overloads act on the rim of a tunnel face or wall;

(c)  the land contains water or layers of clay;

(d)  the width of the berm between two successive benches is less than either 8 m (26.2 ft) or the height of one of the benches;

(5)  material on a berm shall not be allowed to accumulate if workers may be working on a lower bench near the berm.

O.C. 213-93, s. 40; O.C. 782-97, s. 5; O.C. 119-2006, s. 5.