Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 83.djvu/818

 790

Self-rescue device.

Identification check system.

Tunnels under water.

Drinking water.

PUBLIC LAW 91-173-DEC. 30, 1969

[83 STAT.

persons. Emergency communications shall be provided to the nearest point of assistance. Selected agents of the operator shall be trained in first aid and first aid training shall be made available to all miners. Each coal mine shall have an adequate supply of first aid equipment located on the surface, at the bottom of shafts and slopes, and at other strategic locations near the working faces. In fulfilling each of the requirements of this subsection, the operator shall meet at least minimum requirements prescribed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Within two months after the operative date of this title, each operator shall file with the Secretary a plan setting forth in such detail as the Secretary may require the maimer in which such operator has fulfilled the requirements in this subsection. (n) A self-rescue device approved by the Secretary shall be made available to each miner by the operator which shall be adequate to protect such miner for one hour or longer. Each operator shall train each miner in the use of such device. (o) The Secretary shall prescribe improved methods of assuring that miners are not exposed to atmospheres that are deficient in oxygen. (p) Each operator of a coal mine shall establish a check-in and check-out system which will provide positive identification of every person underground, and will provide an accurate record of the persons in the mine kept on the surface in a place chosen to minimize the danger of destruction by fire or other hazard. Such record shall bear a number identical to an identification check that is securely fastened to the lamp belt worn by the person underground. The identification check shall be made of a rust resistant metal of not less than sixteen gauge. (q) The Secretary shall require, when technologically feasible, that devices to prevent and suppress ignitions be installed on electric face cutting equipment. (r) AVhenever an operator mines coal from a coal mine opened after the operative date of this t'tle, or from any new working section of a mine opened prior to such date, in a manner that requires the construction, operation, and maintenance of tunnels under any river, stream, lake, or other body of water, that is, in the judgment of the Secretary, sufficiently large to constitute a hazard to miners, such operator shall obtain a permit from the Secretary which shall include such terms and conditions as he deems appropriate to protect the safety of miners working or passing through such tunnels from cave-ins and other hazards. Such permits shall require, in accordance with a plan to be approved by the Secretary, that a safety zone be established beneath and adjacent to such body of water. No plan shall be approved unless there is a minimum of cover to be determmed by the Secretary, based on test holes drilled by the operator in a manner to be prescribed by the Secretary. No such permit shall be required in the case of any new working section of a mine which is located under any water resource reservoir being constructed by a Federal agency on the date of enactment of this Act, the operator of which is required by such agency to operate in a manner tnat adequately protects the safety of miners working in such section from cave-ins and other hazards. (s) An adequate supply of potable water shall be provided for drinking purposes in the active workings of the mine, and such water shall be carried, stored, and otherwise protected in sanitary containers. (t) Within one year after the operative date of this title, the Secretary shall propose standards for preventing explosions from explosive gases other than methane and for testing for accumulations of such gases.

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