Mines Act and DGMS regulations

In short

Safety, health and working conditions in Indian mines are now governed by the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (the OSH Code, Act 37 of 2020), in force from 21 November 2025, together with the OSH&WC (Central) Rules, 2026 (notified 8 May 2026) and the mine regulations that continue under it. The Code repealed the Mines Act, 1952 (section 143), which had been the parent mine-safety statute for seventy years; much of exam material, older textbooks and the course name still say "Mines Act", so a student must know both the former section map and the current one. Enforcement remains with the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), Dhanbad, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, whose officers now act as Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator and Inspector-cum-Facilitators. The law fixes who is responsible for a mine (owner, agent, manager), what qualifications statutory officials need, how hours and leave are regulated, and what powers an inspector has to stop unsafe work. Every manager's certificate examination, mining-engineering degree course and campus interview at Coal India, SCCL, NMDC, Hindustan Zinc, Tata Steel and JSW tests this topic, because a graduate engineer in a mine is a statutory person from day one.

Explained

The legal structure: Code, rules, regulations, bye-laws, circulars

• OSH Code, 2020 — the parent statute since 21 November 2025. It is a general code for factories, mines, docks, construction, plantations and other establishments; mine-specific provisions sit mainly in section 7 (duties of owner, agent and manager), section 38(1)(B) (inspectors' special powers in mines), Chapter XI Part IV, sections 67-73 (manager, exemptions, age, rescue and training) and section 136 (regulations for mines).
• Repeal and savings (section 143) — the Mines Act, 1952 is repealed (s.143(1)(c)), together with the Factories Act, 1948 and eleven other labour Acts. Officers appointed under the repealed Acts are deemed appointed under the Code (s.143(2)), and every rule, regulation, bye-law, notification, order and appointment made under them continues, as if made under the corresponding provision of the Code, to the extent it is not contrary to the Code, until the Central Government repeals it (s.143(3)).
• Rules — the OSH&WC (Central) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 345(E), 8 May 2026) superseded the Mines Rules, 1955, the Mines Rescue Rules, 1985, the Mines Vocational Training Rules, 1966, the Pithead Bath Rules, 1959 and the Mines Creche Rules, 1966. Welfare, medical examination, training, rescue and register matters formerly in those rules are now in the Central Rules.
• Regulations (section 136) — technical safety. The Coal Mines Regulations, 2017 (CMR 2017, which replaced CMR 1957), the Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 1961 (MMR 1961) and the Oil Mines Regulations, 2017 continue under s.143(3) until replaced. Draft successors made under s.136 — the draft OSH&WC (Coal Mines) Regulations, 2026 (G.S.R. 67(E), 28 January 2026) and draft Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 2026 — have been published for comment; quote the 2017/1961 regulations as in force until the final notification.
• Bye-laws (section 139) — mine-specific rules governing particular machinery or methods of working (haulage, man-riding, winding), framed by the employer of the mine, submitted to the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator for approval and posted at the mine; existing bye-laws continue under s.143(3).
• DGMS Circulars — Technical, Legislative, General and Approval circulars. They are not law in themselves but are enforced as the standard of good practice; a departure from a technical circular is hard to defend after an accident.
• Related statutes a mining engineer must distinguish from the OSH Code: Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR — leases, royalty, auctions, DMF), Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, Explosives Act, 1884 with the Explosives Rules, 2008 (PESO, Nagpur), and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Wages, social security and industrial relations for mine workers sit under the other three Labour Codes, also in force from 21 November 2025.

Key definitions — commonly asked

• Mine (s.2(1)(zl) of the Code) — any excavation where any operation for the purpose of searching for or obtaining minerals has been or is being carried on, including borings, bore holes and oil wells, shafts, levels and inclines being driven, open-cast workings, conveyors and aerial ropeways, adits, workshops, dumps, and premises in or adjacent to and belonging to the mine used for dressing or preparing minerals. The definition carries over the substance of section 2 of the 1952 Act.
• Owner, agent, manager — the owner is the immediate proprietor, lessee or occupier; the agent is the person who acts for the owner in superior charge; the manager is appointed under section 67 to be responsible for the overall management, control, supervision and direction of the mine.
• Who may be employed — no person below 18 years may work in any mine or part of a mine (s.70(1)); apprentices and other trainees not below 16 may work under proper supervision, trainees other than apprentices only with the prior approval of the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator or an Inspector-cum-Facilitator (s.70(2)). Under the 1952 Act the same bar was in section 40 — a favourite one-mark question in both forms.
• Code not to apply (s.68) — prospecting excavations not producing mineral for use or sale, and workings for kankar, murrum, laterite, gravel, ordinary sand and clay, building stone and similar minor minerals, are outside most of the Code subject to prescribed conditions; sections 35, 38, 40, 41 and 44 still apply, and the Code applies in full the moment a condition is breached.

Duties and accountability

• Section 7(1) — the owner and agent of every mine are jointly and severally responsible for making financial and other provisions and taking the steps needed to comply with the Code and the rules, regulations, bye-laws and orders relating to mines.
• Section 7(2)-(3) — on any contravention, the supervising officials, the manager, and the owner and agent are each deemed guilty unless they prove due diligence; it is no defence for the owner or agent that a manager and officials have been appointed.
• Section 67 — every mine must be under a sole manager holding the prescribed qualifications; the owner or agent may appoint himself if qualified. Instructions from the owner or agent must be confirmed in writing, and except in an emergency no instruction affecting statutory duties may bypass the manager. Failure to appoint a manager is an offence under section 105 (imprisonment up to three months, fine up to one lakh rupees, or both). These carry over sections 17 and 18 of the 1952 Act.
• Statutory officials under the regulations: assistant manager, under-manager, engineer, surveyor, ventilation officer, safety officer, overman, mining mate (sirdar), shotfirer, winding engine driver, electrical supervisor, gas-testing officer, mine foreman. Each has duties and a prescribed register.
• Competent person — a person appointed in writing by the manager, holding the prescribed qualification, to carry out a specified duty (for example testing for gas, examining ropes, inspecting haulages).
• Safety officers (s.22(2)(d)) — compulsory in every mine where 100 or more workers are ordinarily employed; the Code also lets the appropriate Government require a Safety Committee with at least as many worker as employer representatives (s.22(1)). The Internal Safety Organisation (ISO) at company level remains a DGMS-driven practice in major coal and metal companies.
• Workmen's inspectors and pit safety committees — worker representatives for safety, ventilation and support, with powers to inspect and record in a register; formerly under the Mines Rules, 1955 and the regulations, now carried by the OSH&WC (Central) Rules, 2026 and the continuing regulations. Every employee also has the right to safety information and to report imminent danger to the employer and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator (s.14).
• Registers and records are statutory (s.33 and the Rules): attendance and employment registers, overman's and sirdar's reports, gas-testing register, ventilation and support plans, shotfiring register, rope examination register, and survey and statutory plans updated at prescribed intervals.

Powers of inspectors and the DGMS machinery

• DGMS continues as the mine-safety inspectorate. Its head, the Director General of Mines Safety, was the Chief Inspector of Mines under the 1952 Act; officers appointed under the repealed Act are deemed appointed under the Code (s.143(2)), and the Code's terms are Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator and Inspector-cum-Facilitator (appointed under s.34). The service has Deputy DGs, Directors and Deputy/Assistant Directors in mining, electrical, mechanical and occupational-health cadres, organised into zones and regions from the Dhanbad headquarters.
• Section 35 — general powers to enter, examine, inspect, take samples, examine documents and persons; section 40 — facilities the employer must afford; section 41 — a person authorised by special written order may enter to survey, level or measure a mine or its output after at least three days' notice to the manager.
• Section 38(1)(B) — the mine-specific special powers, the strongest field powers and routinely asked:
  • (a) a written notice requiring a dangerous or defective matter, thing or practice to be remedied within a set time;
  • (b) if the notice is not complied with, an order prohibiting the employment of persons not needed to secure compliance;
  • (c) an order prohibiting the extraction or reduction of pillars or blocks where crushing, premature collapse, fire or flooding is threatened;
  • (d) where there is urgent and immediate danger to life or safety, an order prohibiting employment, until the danger is removed, of everyone not needed to remove it;
  • (e) persons whose employment is prohibited under (b) or (d) are entitled to full wages (or alternative employment at the same wages);
  • (f) the employer may appeal within ten days to the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator, who may confirm, modify or cancel; the prohibition operates meanwhile. These replace sections 22 and 22A of the 1952 Act; contravening an order under section 38 is dealt with specially under section 104.
• Accident inquiries — the appropriate Government may direct an inquiry by persons with legal or special knowledge into an accident with serious potential or an occupational disease outbreak (s.121), and publish the report (s.122). The 1952 Act's Court of Inquiry was in section 24.
• Advisory bodies — the National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board (s.16) replaces the advisory committee under the 1952 Act; nationally, the tripartite Conference on Safety in Mines, the National Council for Safety in Mines and the Standing Committee on Safety in Coal Mines continue to shape practice.
• Penalties — Chapter XII (sections 94-114). Where a contravention causes an accident or dangerous occurrence, section 103 provides for imprisonment up to two years or a fine of not less than five lakh rupees, or both, for a death, and up to one year or a fine of two to four lakh rupees for serious bodily injury; section 107 governs prosecution of the owner, agent or manager of a mine.

Hours, leave and employment provisions

• Section 25 — no worker may be required or allowed to work more than 8 hours in a day; for mines, persons employed below ground may not work beyond the daily hours notified by the Central Government, below-ground work must run in shifts not spread over more than that daily maximum, and no person may be present below ground outside the periods of work shown for him in the register.
• Section 26 — no worker may work more than 6 days in a week, with weekly and compensatory holidays; section 27 — overtime is paid at twice the ordinary rate of wages, counted daily or weekly, whichever favours the worker, and overtime needs the worker's consent.
• Section 28 — night shifts; section 29 — overlapping shifts prohibited; section 30 — no one may work in a mine or factory if he has worked in another such establishment within the preceding 12 hours; section 31 — notice of periods of work to be displayed.
• Section 43 — women are entitled to be employed in all establishments for all types of work, and with their consent before 6 a.m. and beyond 7 p.m., subject to prescribed conditions on safety, holidays and hours; section 44 lets the Government require safeguards before women are employed in a dangerous operation. This replaces the blanket bar on women below ground in section 46 of the 1952 Act, which DGMS relaxations had already eased for opencast and technical, supervisory and managerial work.
• Section 32 — annual leave with wages: a worker who has worked 180 days or more in a calendar year earns one day for every 20 days of work, an adolescent one day for every 15, and a worker employed below ground in a mine one day for every 15 days of work. (Under the 1952 Act the qualifying service was 190 days below ground or 240 days elsewhere, at the same 1-in-15 and 1-in-20 rates.)
• Section 69 — in an emergency, accident, act of God or urgent breakdown work, the manager may permit employment beyond these limits, subject to the inspector's powers and with records kept.
• Welfare — drinking water, latrines and urinals, first aid, canteens, rest shelters, creches and pithead baths are required under section 24 and the Central Rules (formerly sections 19-21 of the 1952 Act and the separate welfare rules).

Training, rescue and certification

• Vocational training and rescue (s.72) — the Central Government prescribes vocational training and rescue and recovery services for persons employed in mines; these are now in the OSH&WC (Central) Rules, 2026, replacing the Mines Vocational Training Rules, 1966 and the Mines Rescue Rules, 1985. The training structure is unchanged in substance: initial (basic) training before a person is employed on any job, refresher training at prescribed intervals, special training on transfer to a new job, and training on return after a long absence; mines meeting the prescribed criteria must be served by a rescue station or rescue room with rescue-trained persons, breathing apparatus and a brigade available at call.
• Certificates of competency — Manager's First Class and Second Class (coal and metalliferous separately), Overman, Sirdar/Mining Mate, Shotfirer, Surveyor, Winding Engine Driver and Gas-testing certificates are granted through the Board of Mining Examinations (BME), administered by DGMS. Under the Code the qualification, examination and certificate system rests on regulations under section 136(c), (e) and (f), with the CMR 2017 and MMR 1961 provisions continuing meanwhile (the 1952 Act had constituted the Board under section 13).
• A degree in mining engineering with the prescribed period of practical experience is the normal route to a First Class Manager's Certificate; the experience requirement is shorter for degree-holders than for diploma-holders, and the exact months are set by the regulations and BME notifications and have been revised — check the current notification before quoting.

Reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences

• Section 10 — where an accident causes death, or bodily injury preventing the person from working for 48 hours or more immediately following the accident, or is of a prescribed nature, the owner, agent or manager of the mine must send notice to the prescribed authorities in the prescribed manner and time; the site must be preserved as prescribed.
• Section 11 — notice of prescribed dangerous occurrences, even without injury; section 12 — notice of notifiable occupational diseases (listed in the Third Schedule).
• Dangerous occurrences typically prescribed for mines: ignition or explosion of gas or dust, outbreak of fire, inrush of water or other liquid matter, premature collapse of workings, breakage of a winding rope or safety hook, overwinding, failure of a ventilating fan, dangerous emission of gas, explosives accidents, air-blast and rockburst, failure of a dump or embankment.
• The 1952 Act's categories — serious bodily injury and reportable injury (enforced absence of 72 hours or more), with notice under section 23 — still appear in older DGMS statistics and exam papers; quote them as the former definitions.
• Statistics follow from these notices: DGMS publishes annual accident statistics by cause, and the fatality rate per 1,000 persons employed and per million tonnes of output are the standard measures used in reports and interviews.

Key points

• OSH Code, 2020 - parent safety statute for Indian mines since 21 November 2025; it repealed the Mines Act, 1952 (s.143(1)(c)).
• Savings (s.143(3)) - regulations, bye-laws, orders and appointments under the 1952 Act continue to the extent not contrary to the Code, until repealed.
• OSH&WC (Central) Rules, 2026 (8 May 2026) - superseded the Mines Rules 1955, Mines Rescue Rules 1985, Mines Vocational Training Rules 1966, Pithead Bath Rules 1959 and Mines Creche Rules 1966.
• Regulations (s.136) - CMR 2017 for coal, MMR 1961 for metal mines and Oil Mines Regulations 2017 continue; 2026 draft successors published.
• DGMS - enforcement agency at Dhanbad under the Ministry of Labour and Employment; its officers act as Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator and Inspector-cum-Facilitators.
• Owner, agent, manager - owner and agent jointly and severally responsible (s.7); a sole qualified manager is compulsory (s.67), failure to appoint one is an offence (s.105).
• Section 38(1)(B) - notice to remedy, prohibitory orders for non-compliance and for urgent and immediate danger, ban on pillar extraction; appeal within 10 days; full wages for those stopped.
• Section 10 - notice of death or injury causing 48 hours or more off work; s.11 dangerous occurrences; s.12 notifiable diseases.
• Hours - 8 h a day (s.25), below-ground hours as notified and worked in shifts; not more than 6 days a week (s.26); overtime at twice the wage (s.27); no work in another mine or factory within 12 hours (s.30).
• Leave with wages (s.32) - after 180 days worked in the year: 1 day per 15 days below ground, 1 day per 20 days otherwise.
• No one below 18 in any mine (s.70); apprentices and trainees from 16 under supervision.
• Women (s.43) - may be employed in all types of work, with consent before 6 a.m. and after 7 p.m., on prescribed conditions; the 1952 Act's s.46 bar is gone.
• Safety officers in every mine with 100 or more workers (s.22(2)(d)); safety committee on Government order (s.22(1)).
• Board of Mining Examinations - grants manager, overman, sirdar, shotfirer, surveyor and winding-engine-driver certificates under the mine regulations.
• Bye-laws (s.139) - mine-specific operating rules framed by the employer, approved by the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator and displayed at the mine.
• DGMS circulars - technical, legislative, general and approval; not statute but the enforced standard of good practice.
• MMDR Act, 1957 vs OSH Code - MMDR regulates leases, auctions and royalty; the OSH Code regulates safety, health and conditions of work.

Formulas and examples

The topic is largely statutory, but the rates and statistics reported under it are computed as follows.

• Worked example 1 - annual leave. An underground loader worked 215 days below ground in 2025.
  • Qualifying threshold = 180 days worked; 215 > 180, so he qualifies.
  • Leave earned (below ground, 1 day per 15 days worked) = floor(215/15) = floor(14.33) = 14 days of leave with wages.
  • Had the same 215 days been worked above ground, the rate would be 1 per 20 days → floor(215/20) = 10 days.

• Worked example 2 - hours and overtime. A below-ground shift starts at 06:00; the daily limit is 8 hours. The worker's ordinary wage is Rs 960 for an 8-hour day.
  • Latest end of normal underground work = 06:00 + 8 h = 14:00.
  • Ordinary hourly rate = 960 / 8 = Rs 120; overtime rate = 2 × 120 = Rs 240 an hour.
  • If 2 hours of overtime are worked with his consent, overtime pay = 2 × 240 = Rs 480, and the day's total wage = 960 + 480 = Rs 1,440.
  • He may not then be employed in any other mine or factory within 12 hours of this work (s.30).

• Worked example 3 - fatality rates. A coal company employing 42,000 persons produced 68 million tonnes in a year and had 14 fatal accidents.
  • Per 1,000 employed = 14 × 1,000 / 42,000 = 0.333.
  • Per million tonnes = 14 × 10⁶ / 68 × 10⁶ = 14/68 = 0.206.
  • Both must be quoted together: a mine that mechanises raises output faster than employment, so the per-tonne rate can improve while the per-person rate worsens.

• Worked example 4 - frequency and severity rate. A metal mine worked 3.6 million man-hours in a year, recorded 18 reportable injuries and lost 1,260 man-days.
  • Frequency rate = 18 × 10⁶ / 3.6 × 10⁶ = 5.0 injuries per million man-hours.
  • Severity rate = 1,260 × 1,000 / 3,600,000 = 0.35 man-days lost per 1,000 man-hours.
  • Average days lost per injury = 1,260 / 18 = 70 days.

• Worked example 5 - weekly rest. A mine runs 3 shifts, 7 days a week, and needs 90 persons per shift.
  • Each person may work at most 6 days a week (s.26), so weekly person-days required = 90 × 3 × 7 = 1,890.
  • Person-days available per worker per week = 6.
  • Minimum strength = 1,890 / 6 = 315 persons, before any allowance for leave, absenteeism or training.

Where it is used

• Statutory posts in PSUs and private miners - manager, under-manager, safety officer, overman and sirdar at Coal India subsidiaries (ECL, BCCL, CCL, NCL, WCL, SECL, MCL, NEC), SCCL, NLC India, NMDC, HCL, Hindustan Zinc, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and ACC/Ambuja limestone mines.
• Internal Safety Organisations and corporate HSE cells - compliance audits against the Code, the continuing regulations and DGMS circulars, accident investigation, and the returns and registers now prescribed under the Central Rules.
• DGMS itself and the Board of Mining Examinations - inspectors of mines (mining, electrical, mechanical cadres) recruited through UPSC; the certification examinations that every mining graduate eventually sits.
• Mine planning and project approvals - support plans, ventilation plans, bye-laws, permissions for man-riding, deep-hole blasting, high-wall mining, and dump design all require DGMS approval or a prescribed notification.
• Consultancies and contractors - CMPDI, MECON and large opencast contractors must build statutory manpower, training and rescue cover into tenders; contract labour in mines is governed by Chapter XI Part I of the Code.
• Transition work - companies are re-mapping registers, returns, training schedules and standing orders from the 1952 Act and Mines Rules 1955 to the Code and the 2026 Central Rules, and commenting on the draft 2026 coal and metalliferous regulations.
• Court inquiries and litigation - post-accident inquiries (for example the major coal mine inundation and inrush inquiries of past decades) turn on these duties, orders and registers; incidents before 21 November 2025 are still judged under the 1952 Act (s.143(4) applies section 6 of the General Clauses Act).

Interview questions

• Q: Which law now governs safety in Indian mines, and what happened to the Mines Act, 1952? A: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, in force from 21 November 2025; section 143 repealed the Mines Act, 1952, but saved its regulations, bye-laws and orders to the extent they are not contrary to the Code.
• Q: Who are the three statutory persons responsible for a mine? A: The owner, the agent and the manager; under section 7 the owner and agent are jointly and severally responsible for providing the means to comply, and section 67 requires a sole qualified manager responsible for overall management and direction.
• Q: What is the difference between the OSH Code and the MMDR Act, 1957? A: The OSH Code governs safety, health, hours and conditions of work in mines and is enforced by DGMS; the MMDR Act governs mineral concessions, leases, auctions and royalty and is administered by the Ministry of Mines and the states.
• Q: What are the limits on working hours in a mine under the Code? A: Not more than 8 hours a day (section 25), with below-ground hours as notified by the Central Government and worked in shifts, not more than 6 days a week (section 26), overtime at twice the ordinary wage (section 27), and no work in another mine within 12 hours (section 30).
• Q: What can an inspector do on finding urgent danger in a mine? A: Under section 38(1)(B)(d) he may, by written order stating his grounds, prohibit the employment of everyone not needed to remove the danger until he is satisfied it is removed; the persons stopped are entitled to full wages, and the employer may appeal within ten days to the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator, the order operating meanwhile.
• Q: Which regulations apply to a coal mine and which to an iron ore mine today? A: The Coal Mines Regulations, 2017 for coal and the Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 1961 for iron ore and other metalliferous minerals, both continued under section 143(3) of the Code until their 2026 successors are finally notified; oil and gas fall under the Oil Mines Regulations, 2017.
• Q: Which accidents must be notified? A: Under section 10, any accident causing death or an injury that keeps the person off work for 48 hours or more, or of a prescribed nature; prescribed dangerous occurrences under section 11 even without injury; and notifiable diseases under section 12.
• Q: Name five dangerous occurrences notifiable even when nobody is injured. A: Ignition or explosion of gas or coal dust, outbreak of fire, inrush of water, breakage of a winding rope or overwinding, and failure of a main ventilating fan.
• Q: Who issues a First Class Manager's Certificate and what does it need? A: The Board of Mining Examinations under DGMS, on the basis of a recognised mining degree or diploma plus the prescribed practical experience and success in the written and oral examinations; the qualifications are set by regulations under section 136 of the Code and current BME notifications.
• Q: Is a DGMS circular legally binding? A: It is not a statute, but it states the standard of safe practice DGMS enforces; departing from a technical circular is treated as a failure of the duty under section 7 and the regulations, especially after an accident.
• Q: Can women work below ground in an Indian mine? A: Yes, under section 43 of the Code women may be employed in all types of work, and with consent before 6 a.m. and after 7 p.m., subject to prescribed safety and other conditions; the former blanket bar below ground in section 46 of the 1952 Act no longer applies.
• Q: When must a mine appoint safety officers? A: Where 100 or more workers are ordinarily employed, under section 22(2)(d), with the qualifications and duties prescribed by the Government.
• Q: Who is a competent person and why does the term matter? A: A person appointed in writing by the manager, holding the prescribed qualification, to perform a specified statutory duty such as gas testing or rope examination; only a competent person's examination satisfies the regulation, so an unqualified substitute makes the act itself a contravention.

Common mistakes

• Teaching the Mines Act, 1952 as current law - it was repealed by section 143 of the OSH Code from 21 November 2025; quote its sections only as the former provision.
• Assuming the repeal wiped out the mine regulations - CMR 2017, MMR 1961 and the Oil Mines Regulations 2017 continue under section 143(3) to the extent consistent with the Code.
• Still citing the Mines Rules, 1955, Mines Rescue Rules, 1985 or Mines Vocational Training Rules, 1966 as in force - they were superseded by the OSH&WC (Central) Rules, 2026.
• Confusing the OSH Code with the MMDR Act, 1957, or attributing lease and royalty matters to DGMS.
• Quoting the Coal Mines Regulations as "1957" - they were replaced by the Coal Mines Regulations, 2017; MMR, however, is still 1961.
• Quoting old leave thresholds (190 days below ground, 240 elsewhere) - the Code's qualifying period is 180 days worked in the calendar year.
• Saying women may never work below ground - that was section 46 of the repealed Act; section 43 of the Code permits it on prescribed conditions.
• Treating a DGMS circular as unenforceable, or conversely quoting a circular as a section of the Code.
• Computing leave on calendar days instead of days actually worked, or applying the 1-in-20 rate to a person employed below ground, who earns 1 day for every 15.
• Reporting only the fatality rate per million tonnes, which flatters a mechanised mine, without the rate per 1,000 persons employed.

Related topics

Mine safety and gas hazards · Mine fires, explosions and inundation · Mine environment and reclamation · Mine ventilation and ventilation surveys · Underground and opencast mining methods · Explosives, blasting practice and the Explosives Rules