UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Mines (Safety of Exit) Regulations 1988

the instrument as a whole of The Mines (Safety of Exit) Regulations 1988

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Mines (Safety of Exit) Regulations 1988.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
5 October 1988
In force from
1 April 1989
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

The Regulations apply below ground to mines (regulation 2), and provide for safe ways of leaving a mine. Regulation 3 provides for two separate exits from the mine to the surface. It imposes duties on the manager in respect of exits available for use, and requires a scheme and precautions to apply where only one exit is available due to accident, dangerous occurrence or breakdown. This regulation also requires the manager to restrict the number of persons below ground where only one exit is available due to maintenance which is planned. Regulation 4 imposes duties on the owner of the mine when apparatus and equipment used by persons to leave the mine is unavailable or breaks down and provides for auxiliary apparatus and equipment. It requires the manager to make rules for the use of auxiliary apparatus and equipment. Regulation 5 provides for a road, ladderway or stairway between landings at shafts or outlets used as exits. Regulation 6 imposes duties on the manager in relation to the construction and maintenance of certain roads which persons walk along and ladder-ways and stairways. With the exceptions provided for by paragraph (4), regulation 7 requires the manager to ensure that workplaces have two different ways out, that the ways out are marked and that a scheme familiarizes persons with two ways out. Where more than nine but not more than eighteen persons work at a heading without two separate ways out, paragraph (5) requires the manager to give certain notices and make rules for safe working in and exit from the heading. Regulation 8 requires the provision of barriers and enclosures to prevent persons inadvertently entering an unsafe part of the mine. It imposes duties on the manager and other persons in relation to those barriers and enclosures. Where more than 50 employees are below ground (apart from shift changes) regulation 9 requires the manager to ensure either that there are two separate intake airways connected so as to prevent fire in one affecting the other so far as is reasonably practicable, or one fire resistant intake airway. Regulation 10 allows the Health and Safety Executive to exempt a mine, part of a mine or a class of mines from the Regulations. Regulation 11 disapplies section 157 of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 (defence in certain legal proceedings). Regulation 12 repeals certain provisions of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 namely, sections 22 to 25 (shafts and outlets in coal etc. mines) and sections 33 to 35 (unfit parts of a mine, construction, maintenance, etc. of roads); section 70 (fire precautions for single intake airways) is repealed with effect from 1st April 1994. The Coal and Other Mines (Height of Travelling Roads) Regulations 1956 and parts of the Mines (Emergency Egress) Regulations 1973 are revoked. Provision is also made for references to the Mines and Quarries Act 1954, the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969 and the Mines Management Act 1971, in those Acts, in regulations made under those Acts and in health and safety regulations to include a reference to these Regulations. The Schedule sets out provisions modified by these Regulations.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source