Mining Accident Claims*
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Mines) Regulations, SI 133 of 2018 apply to all mines where people work.
They define duties for mine owners, operators, managers and employees with respect to people at or in the region adjacent to a mine.
Ireland has three underground mines that are currently in operation, namely Tara, Lisheen, and Drummond.
Some of the mining techniques used include stopping, benching, and backfilling.
Duties of Mine Operator
Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Mines) Regulations 2018 Section 9, the general duties of an operator are to ensure:
1. The mine and machinery, tools and other articles are designed, built, equipped, operated and maintained in a way that doesn’t endanger workplace safety.
2. Any articles located in a fire or explosion prone zone within a mine is suitable for use in that specific area and fitted with appropriate protective devices.
3. Mechanical machinery and plant in the mine are adequately strong and free from defects and suitable for their intended purpose.
4. Electrical equipment and plant in the mine have a sufficient capacity for their intended purpose.
5. All work is planned and performed putting into consideration the elements of safety.
6. All mining activities are organized in order to provide protection against hazards and safeguard worker safety and health.
7. Work stations are designed and built according to the needs of employees.
8. A sufficient number of people with the necessary competence to do the work assigned to them are available.
9. The necessary supervision or communication means is provided in workstations with only one person.
10. The mine is left in a safe condition if mining activities are seized for good.
11. Enough safety equipment is kept in good working condition and available for use always.
Duties of Shift Boss
According to Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Mines) Regulations 2018 Section 16, the duties of a shift boss at a mine are to:
- Manage and control employees and tasks within his or her duty area.
- Discharge duties are provided to him or her by the mine operator.
- Adhere to all mine instructions, regulations and working procedures issued by the operator.
- Perform or have a qualified individual conduct an inspection of the area of operation for ventilation, toxic gases, stability and general safety within two hours before work commencement.
- Ensure inspections are done at intervals not going beyond twelve hours at the working areas.
- Make a written record of the inspections.
- Visit working areas where employees under his or her direct charge are working at intervals of a maximum of four hours.
- Confirm, during the work hours of people under his or her direct supervision, the existence of hazardous gases and the ventilation condition of the working area.
- Fence off or assign competent people to fence off hazardous working areas and provide details in the general inspection report.
- Ensure all people entering working areas with at least two egress points are aquatinted with all of them.
- Give instructions to stop using any machinery or apparatus that is in an unsafe condition.
- Ensure that all workplaces of people under his or her immediate supervision are left in a safe condition at the end of the shift.
- Create, within sixty minutes after the end of their shift, a written record of all tasks carried out by everyone under his or her direct charge.
- Give all the relevant safety and health information to the oncoming shift boss.
- Acquire all the relevant details for safety and health reasons from the vacating shift boss before work starts.
Operating Procedures
Section 17 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Mines) Regulations 2018 mandates that the mine operator shall make sure that:
- Written guidelines specifying regulations are paid attention to and operating procedures are set up in order to secure workplace safety.
- All necessary instructions, regulations and operating procedures are kept at the mine and issued to workers.
- All feasible measures are enforced so that every person working at the mine acknowledges the instructions, regulations and operating procedures.
Ventilation Duty
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Mines) Regulations 2018 Section 42 define the duties for adequate ventilation. Mine operators should ensure that:
- Sufficient ventilation is available constantly in all underground mine areas where people work, or travel through.
- The atmosphere has adequate oxygen levels.
- Any flammable gas is rendered harmless through dilution.
- Working conditions have reasonable temperature and humidity levels.
- All mine exposure limit values are adhered to.
- Restrict or prevent access to areas that do not meet the ventilation requirements.
- Provide an automatic alarm that works in the event of an unplanned fan stoppage caused by an interruption to the primary ventilation system.
- Prevent harm to the health of people working underground from the detrimental impact of heat or extremes.
- Provide training on measures for avoiding the harmful effects of hot and humid conditions.
- Implement extra environmental controls for hot and humid mine conditions.
- Monitor the health of workers operating in areas that are likely to have hot and humid conditions.
Excavations
Sections 48 and 49 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Mines) Regulations 2018 mandate operators to:
- Ensure correct design, operation and maintenance of excavations, tips and lagoons.
- Ensure tips and lagoons are built in order to avoid instability or movements that can endanger employee safety, health and welfare.
- Prepare operating procedures for the safe running of excavations, tips and lagoons, and specify how the operations will be performed.
Frequently Asked Questions
The injuries relevant to the accident as diagnosed by your doctor.
There is a limit regarding how long an injured person has to initiate legal action. This limit is pursuant to the statute of limitations act and if surpassed, it can cause your claim to be what’s termed as statute-barred from court. One has two years from the date of the accident to initiate the legal action.
Such claims are made to the Injuries Board. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board is a statutory body that carries out its own private, independent assessment of a person’s personal injury* claim. It will not assess claims regarding the provision of any medical or surgical procedure in relation to a person, or the provision of any medical advice or treatment to a person.
A purely paper-based system, it never carries out oral hearings but assesses claims with regard to medical evidence, such as the medical report furnished by the injured party to the Board.
If the person who caused the injury consents to the Injuries Board assessing the application, or if they fail to state in writing whether they consent to the assessment or not, the Injuries Board will proceed to carry out the assessment.
If the person who causes the accident states in writing that they do not consent to the Injuries Board making an assessment, the Injuries Board will issue whats termed an authorisation, which permits the applicant (injured party) to bring legal proceedings. If legal proceedings commence you may have to attend court yes.
Here is more information about the personal injury claims* process.
Case Assessment Advice of Mining Claims
If you are suffering from a mining accident at work, you can contact us by telephone or email and we will have an initial meeting with you to explore the facts and furnish a case opinion to you in respect of a mining accident claim.
Disclaimer
Please be advised that the above-mentioned material is intended as an overview and as a broad outline of the topic discussed. It should not be considered as complete and comprehensive legal advice, nor act as an appropriate substitute.
Due care has been taken in the publication of this article and we do not accept legal liability as a result of reliance on any material covered in the above article.
In contentious business, a Solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.
