Interpretation

(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires“abandoned mine” means a mine for which all permit obligations have been completed to the satisfaction of the “accident” means an unintended event that results in physical harm to a person, damage to property or pollution of the land and watercourses; “approved type” means any equipment that has been approved for use in a mine by the Inspector; “asbestos free” means containing less than 1% asbestos; 66 “authorized person” means a qualified person appointed or designated by the manager to perform specified duties; “bench” means a horizontal plane above which material is excavated from a contiguous face and on which drilling, blasting and material haulage may be carried out; “blaster” means a person who is certified to conduct blasting operations at a mine; “blasting agent” means a relatively insensitive, ammonium nitrate explosive which includes any ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mixture, emulsion, slurry, or water gel; “blasting machine” means a portable device used to initiate a blast by electricity; “bootleg” means a remnant of a blast hole that remains after a blast was initiated; “catchment berm” means a bench designed to arrest material which sloughs from a face or wall at elevations above the face being worked; “collar” means the start of a drilled hole, adit or shaft “confined space” means a tank, process vessel, underground vault, tunnel, or other enclosure not designed or intended for human occupancy without special protective equipment or “dam” means a barrier on the surface preventing uncontrolled release of either water or loose, solid material, or a barrier underground to prevent the uncontrolled flow of liquid or slurry; “detonator” means a blasting cap, or other device used to initiate detonation of an explosive; 67 “dump” means an accumulation of rock fragments or other unconsolidated material formed by pushing or dropping the loose material over a crest and allowing it to come to rest without further handling; “dump berm” means a barrier or ridge of material other than mud, acting as a guide that will indicate the limit of travel of a vehicle from which material is to be dumped over a drop off of more than 3 meters; “dump block” means a barrier of sufficient size and strength and anchored sufficiently to prevent a vehicle from entering an “dust exposure occupation” means employment in an asbestos mine or where a person is normally required to work more than 20% of the working time in a month– (a) underground in a mine; (b) in the surface mining activity of an open cast mine, crushing plants, assay grinding rooms, coal cleaning plants and dry processing plants; (c) at other locations designated by the Inspector; “electrical grounding” means to connect with the ground to make the earth part of the circuit; “embankment” means a darn, fill, or dump raised from the ground or lying against a hill having an exposed slope comprised of placed material; “explosive” means any chemical compound or mixture which, when detonated, violently decomposes producing a large volume of gas at high temperatures capable of having destructive effects; 68 “face” means a surface of rock, ore, coal, or other material exposed by blasting or excavation which extends from a bench or floor to an upper bench or to the natural land surface; “haulage road” means a part of a mine used for the transport of coal, minerals, or waste rock; “height of slope” means the difference in elevation between the crest or top of the slope and the toe or base of the slope; “impoundment” means a body of water or poorly consolidated solid matter, confined by natural and/or constructed barriers and includes those barriers and related items; “Inspector” means the Inspector of Mines and Minerals appointed under section 5 of the Mines and Minerals Act; “leg wires” means the wires attached to an electric blasting cap used for initiating its detonation; “magazine” means a building, storehouse, or structure where explosive materials are kept or stored but does not include containers used for transporting explosives or day box storage; “manager” means the person appointed under Regulation 9 of these Regulations, by the owner, occupier, or holder of a mine to be responsible for the management and operation of the mine; “non-electric cap” means a detonator which does not require an electric current to initiate its explosive charge; “Occupational Health and Safety Committee” (hereinafter referred to as the “OHSC”) means the joint worker management committee established for each mine under these Regulations; “occupier or holder” means a person having control of a mine on behalf of the owner; 69 “overburden” means all unconsolidated soil material overlying bedrock; “primed cartridge” means an explosive containing a detonator; “qualified person” means a person who, in the opinion of the manager, is– (a) qualified to perform the duties assigned by the manager because of knowledge, training, and experience in the design, organization and supervision of the work; (b) familiar with the provisions of these Regulations that apply to the duties assigned; (c) capable of identifying any potential or actual danger to health or safety in the workplace; “ramp” means a sloping roadway and in the case of a surface mine, connects two levels of excavation or benches; “safety fuse assembly” means a device to convey flame to a non- electric blasting cap and consists of black powder, tightly wrapped and enclosed in a waterproof material, which burns at a constant rate; “shaft” means a vertical or inclined opening in the ground, driven from the surface and includes a winze or incline; “shoulder barrier” means a barrier or ridge of material, other than mud, placed along the edge or crest of a surface roadway, ramp, dump, or stockpile where vehicles operate and where there is a drop off of more than 3 meters (10 feet); “standard guardrail” means a structure comprised of a top rail approximately 1070 mm (42') above floor level, a toe board, and a midrail midway between the top rail and the toe board and 70 designed to withstand a load of 900 N (200 lbs.) applied in any direction on the top rail; “stope and stoping” means the location of underground ore extraction openings and the method of mining; “surficial soil material” means those soils commonly contained in the upper layers of the overburden mass, which are suitable for use in reclamation as a growth medium; “tailing” means the residue remaining from the preparation of a concentrate of minerals or coal; “threshold limit value - time weighted average (TLV-TWA)” means the time weighted average concentration for a normal 8 hour day and a 40 hour work-week, to which nearly all workers can be repeatedly exposed without adverse effect; “threshold limit value - short term exposure limit (TLV-STEL)” means the concentration to which workers can be exposed continuously for a short period of time, provided the daily TLV- TWA is not exceeded. TLV-STEL shall be no longer than 15 minutes, be separated by at least 60 minutes, if repeated, and occur no more than four times per day; “threshold limit value - ceiling (TLV-C)” means the concentration that must not be exceeded during any part of the working exposure; “toe board” means a metal or wood guard strip, approximately 100 mm (4") in height, that is part of a guardrail structure and placed along the floor to prevent tools or other material from falling off; “wall” means a surface of rock or material exposed by the excavation of one or more faces and benches in successive layers; 71 “waste emplacement” means a location of deposited waste including dumps, impoundments, lagoons, piles, tips and impoundments; “workplace” means a place where work is carried out in, on or about a mine. (2) The words and expressions used in these Regulations shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Mines and Minerals Act. CAP. 226.