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MINES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 158

General interpretation provisions.

158.(1) In this Act

"bodily injury" includes injury to health;

["central rescue station" means a station providing facilities common to a
number of mines for the conduct of fire-fighting and rescue operations;]

"contravention" includes, in relation to

(a)a direction, prohibition, restriction or requirement given or imposed by a
notice served under or by virtue of this Act by the Ministry or an inspector;
or

(b)a condition attached to an exemption, consent, approval or authority
granted or given under or by virtue of this Act by the Ministry or by an
inspector exercising any function conferred on him under section 120(3); [or

(c)a prohibition or requirement imposed by or under
health and safety regulations which expressly apply to all mines, any class of
mine or a particular mine;]

a failure to comply with the direction, prohibition, restriction, requirement
or condition, and the expression "contravene" shall be construed accordingly;

"doctor" means a fully registered person within the meaning of the Medical Act
1956;

"gas" includes fume or vapour;

"gravity operated rope haulage apparatus" means rope haulage apparatus worked
solely by the action of gravity on a vehicle or vehicles attached to a rope
forming part of the apparatus;

"gravity operated winding apparatus" means winding apparatus worked solely by
the action of gravity on a part of it in which a load is carried;

["health and safety regulations" has the meaning assigned to it by Article
17(1) of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978;]

"inset" means, in relation to shaft or outlet of a mine, a heading, chamber or
other space driven or excavated from the shaft or outlet, being a heading,
chamber or space to which access can only be had from the shaft or outlet and
not being a heading, chamber or space the sole or main purpose of the driving
or excavation of which is the getting of minerals or products of minerals;

["inspector" means an inspector appointed by the Department of Commerce under
Article 21 of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 for
carrying into effect the provisions of the Act of 1969;]

"legal proceedings" includes arbitration;

"mechanically operated rope haulage apparatus" means rope haulage apparatus
worked by a stationary engine;

"mechanically operated winding apparatus" means winding apparatus worked by a
stationary engine;

"minerals" includes stone, slate, clay, gravel, sand and other natural
deposits except peat;

"the Ministry" has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(2);

"notice" means a notice in writing;

"parent" means a parent or guardian of, or persons having the legal custody
of, or the control over, a young person, and includes, in relation to any
young person, a person having direct benefit from his wages;

"permitted lights" means, in relation to a mine or a part of a mine, locked
safety-lamps and any other means of lighting the use of which below ground in
mines generally, in mines of a class to which that mine belongs or in that
mine is authorised by regulations;

"prescribed" has the meaning assigned to it by section 120(5);

"railway company" means any person working a railway that is used for the
purposes of public traffic, whether passenger, goods or other traffic;

"regulations", "general regulations" and "special regulations" have, subject
to subsection (5) of section 120 the meanings respectively assigned to them by
that subsection;

"road" does not include an unwalkable outlet;

"rope" includes chain;

"rope haulage apparatus" means apparatus for transporting loads in vehicles
attached to ropes;

"safety-lamp mine" means a mine in no part of which below ground is the use of
lamps or lights other than permitted lights lawful;

"safety-lamp part of a mine" means a part of a mine other than a
safety-lamp mine, being a part below ground in which either the use of lamps
or lights other than permitted lights is unlawful or safety-lamps are for the
time being in use by way of temporary precaution;

"sanitary conveniences" includes urinals, water-closets, earth-closets,
ash-pits, privies and any similar convenience;

"shaft" means a shaft the top of which is, or is intended to be, at the
surface;

"staple-pit" means a shaft connecting two or more levels of underground
working and not connecting any such level directly to the surface, and
includes a winze;

"statutory responsibilities" means responsibilities under this Act, orders
made thereunder and regulations;

"support rules" has the meaning assigned to it by section 54(1);

"transport rules" has the meaning assigned to it by section 37(1);

"unwalkable outlet" means an outlet which, owing to the gradient thereof or of
any part thereof (whether alone or in combination with other circumstances),
persons cannot walk up with reasonable convenience;

"winding apparatus" means, in relation to a mine shaft or staple-pit,
apparatus for lowering and raising loads through the shaft or staple-pit;

"woman" means a woman who has attained the age of eighteen years;

"young person" means a person who is over compulsory school age but has not
attained the age of eighteen years.

(2) For the purposes of this Act mine workings having a common system of
ventilation, or any part of a system of ventilation in common, shall be deemed
to form part of the same mine.

(3) For the purposes of this Act

(a)the working of a mine shall be deemed to include the operation of driving a
shaft or outlet therefor;

(b)a mine shall be deemed to be worked notwithstanding that the only
operations carried on thereat are operations carried on with a view to
abandoning the mine or for the purpose of removing, or of preventing the flow
therefrom of, water or material that flows when wet, but shall not be deemed
to be worked by reason only that pumping operations are carried on thereat for
the purpose of supplying water to any person.

(4) References in this Act to the use of safety-lamps by way of temporary
precaution shall, in relation to a mine, be construed as references to the
occasional or intermittent use of locked safety-lamps by workmen employed
below ground in the mine in a place in which the use of naked lights might be
dangerous and, in relation to a part of a mine below ground, be construed as
references to the occasional or intermittent use of locked safety-lamps by
workmen employed in that part in such a place.


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