UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Coal and Other Safety-Lamp Mines (Explosives) Regulations 1993

the instrument as a whole of The Coal and Other Safety-Lamp Mines (Explosives) Regulations 1993

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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. Not doing what the provision requires under the Coal and Other Safety-Lamp Mines (Explosives) Regulations 1993, by the time it requires it to be done.
  2. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

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
4 February 1993
In force from
1 April 1993
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.

These Regulations (“the Regulations”) impose a series of requirements and prohibitions in relation to the use of explosives and associated material and equipment in safety-lamp mines. In so doing, they replace a number of Regulations relating to the use of explosives in coal mines and in other mines where flammable gas is likely to be present, which Regulations have been revoked or, where appropriate, modified. The expressions “explosives” and “safety-lamp mine” are, together with other words and phrases used in the Regulations, defined in regulation 2(1). Regulation 4– requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to appoint shotfirers at the mine and enables him to appoint trainee shotfirers there; requires him to ensure that records are made of such appointments; specifies the qualifications a person must have before being appointed as a shotfirer under the Regulations; and prohibits a person’s wages depending on the number of shots he fires or the amount of mineral obtained by such shots. Regulation 5– requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to ensure that– no explosives or associated equipment are provided for use or used at the mine unless they are safe and, in certain cases, of a type approved by the Health and Safety Executive, equipment provided for use in connection with shotfiring operations at the mine is properly maintained and is stored when not in use, exploders are regularly cleaned, overhauled and tested and are only issued when the most recent of such tests proves them to be satisfactory, a record is made each time an exploder is overhauled or tested as aforesaid, the issue, use and return of explosives and associated equipment is properly controlled, and a record is made each time explosives and associated equipment are issued, used or returned; imposes restrictions on persons– issuing or using material or equipment in connection with shotfiring operations, and using carriages, containers or certain vehicles to keep or carry explosives and associated equipment; prohibits persons from tampering with explosives and associated equipment; and requires shotfirers to take certain precautionary steps if they consider any exploder to be defective. Regulation 6 requires persons who handle or use explosives and detonators, or who supervise their handling or use, to treat them with care and keep them apart until used to prime cartridges. Regulation 7 requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine– to take all reasonable steps to ensure that explosives and detonators at the mine are stored, handled and used safely and securely; and to ensure that (except as provided below) explosives and detonators are stored only at an explosives store. However, the manager may under regulation 7(3) to (5) designate places for the temporary storage underground of explosives brought from an explosives store pending their use in connection with shotfiring operations. He may also under regulation 7(6) designate places above ground for the temporary storage of unused explosives and detonators pending their return to an explosives store following shotfiring operations. Regulation 8 requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to make rules for the purpose of ensuring the safe and secure conduct and control of, first, bulk movements of explosives at the mine and, second, movements of detonators to and from explosives stores there. Regulation 9– requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to ensure that no container is issued at the mine unless it has a serial number unique to that mine; prohibits persons from issuing explosives or detonators unless they are locked in containers or, alternatively (in the case of explosives only), locked in carriages; requires persons issuing containers of explosives or detonators to ensure that they hold specified material only; and prohibits persons having control of containers of explosives or detonators from placing specified extraneous material in them. Regulation 10– requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to arrange for the adequate control of explosives left unused there at the end of a shotfirer’s shift; prohibits persons from issuing or taking control of containers of explosives except in connection with their duties at the relevant mine; specifies the persons who may open containers of explosives or handle explosives; and specifies what a person who has been issued with a container of explosives may do with the explosives concerned. Regulation 11 specifies– the persons who– may have charge of containers of detonators, and may open containers of detonators or handle detonators; the circumstances in which detonators may be removed from containers other than at explosives stores; what shotfirers and trainee shotfirers who have been issued with containers of detonators must do with such containers in the course of their respective periods of duty; and what shotfirers and trainee shotfirers must do with any detonators issued to them which remain unused at the end of their respective periods of duty. Regulation 12 provides that nothing in the Regulations is to be taken as preventing– a person who finds explosives or associated material from taking them to a competent person; or the competent person concerned from receiving those explosives or that material. Regulation 13 requires shotfirers to take all reasonable steps to ensure that shotfiring operations are carried out safely. Regulation 14 requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine– to identify safety risks present during shotfiring operations there which arise out of stray electrical currents or voltages; and to set up a shotfiring system at the mine which will minimise those risks. Regulation 15 requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine– to identify health and safety risks arising out of toxic fumes produced by shotfiring operations there; and to take specified measures in respect of those risks. Regulation 16– imposes conditions with respect to who may prime or assist in priming cartridges; specifies what a person must do before priming cartridges; and specifies what steps a person must take if he primes a cartridge at the place where it is to be used. Regulation 17– specifies who may– prime cartridges away from the place where they are to be used, open containers of primed cartridges, and handle primed cartridges; and imposes requirements on persons who prime cartridges at a priming station. Regulation 18– requires persons who are to fire single or multiple shots to test for firedamp and make general safety examinations immediately before firing the shots and charging the shotholes for them; (where the above tests reveal the presence of firedamp in specified concentra tions) requires the persons who made those tests to desist from charging or firing until those concentrations have been reduced; and requires those persons to take specified additional steps where those concentrations cannot be reduced. Regulation 19– requires shotfirers and persons having control of mining operations who find or have reported to them the presence in the general body of the air of a specified concentration of firedamp to take certain safety precautions (including in particular informing the person in charge of the mine of that presence); requires persons in charge who are informed as aforesaid to take specified safety precautions as regards the charging of shotholes and the firing of shots; and requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to notify the Health and Safety Executive whenever persons in charge who are informed as aforesaid ensure that the charging of shotholes or the firing of shots ceases or is prohibited at the mine. Regulation 20– requires persons who drill shotholes to take specified safety precautions; and imposes restrictions with respect to the charging of shotholes. Regulation 21 prohibits persons from removing parts of a charge from a charged shothole unless they are dealing with a misfire. Regulation 22– specifies who may carry out shotfiring operations (whilst at the same time expressly permitting other specified activities in connection with shotholes); and requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to ensure that all shotfiring operations there are carried out by or under the supervision of a single shotfirer. Regulation 23– imposes requirements on shotfirers who are about to fire shots or rounds of shots (including in particular requirements for them to identify danger zones and to ensure that sentries are posted or fencing is erected); and imposes restrictions on the coupling of shotfiring cable to detonator circuits in certain shafts and staple pits. Regulation 24 imposes requirements on persons appointed to act as sentries (including in particular a requirement for them to forbid certain persons to enter danger zones). Regulation 25 prohibits persons from passing sentries who have forbidden them to enter danger zones and restricts the power of persons to pass fencing erected by or on behalf of shotfirers. Regulation 26 imposes conditions with regard to the use of shotfiring cable. Regulation 27 specifies the steps a person must take before firing a shot or round of shots. Regulation 28 imposes conditions with regard to the use by shotfirers and trainee shotfirers of exploders. Regulation 29– requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to give shotfirers there written notice of how many shots they may fire or have fired during their respective periods of duty; provides that the maximum number of shots so notified shall be consistent with the requirements of safety; and imposes ancillary requirements on such a manager with regard to the giving of such notices (in particular where he is the manager of a coal mine and gives a shotfirer who is also a pit deputy notice that he may fire or have fired more than 10 shots during his period of duty). Regulation 30 imposes restrictions on– the firing of shots in the roof of a longwall working; and the firing of detonators or primed cartridges. Regulation 31 requires shotfirers to make examinations for safety after shots or rounds of shots have been fired and states when those examinations are to take place. In the case of a coal mine, the shotfirer who fired the shot or round or supervised its firing shall make the examination, but in the case of other safety-lamp mines any shotfirer may make the examination. Regulation 32 requires– the shotfirer in charge of the shot; and the manager of the relevant safety-lamp mine, to take specified steps in the event of a misfire. Regulation 33 imposes further duties– on shotfirers with respect to the firing of charged shotholes and primed cartridges; and on shotfirers and other persons senior to them relating to the inability of shotfirers and trainee shotfirers (through circumstances beyond their control) to comply with specified requirements of the Regulations. Regulation 34 requires shotfirers to make specified records. Regulation 35– provides that regulations 4 to 35 do not apply to explosives or detonators used in an approved barrier; and requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to make specified arrangements with regard to approved barriers at the mine. Regulation 36 imposes requirements on the manager of a safety-lamp mine with regard to the keeping of records. Regulation 37 provides that in criminal proceedings under regulations 4(3), 5(1), (3), (4), (5), (6) or (7), 7(2), (4) or (5), 9(4), 22(3), 31(2) or 36, it shall be a defence for the accused (in each case the manager of a safety-lamp mine) to prove that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. Regulation 38 requires the manager of a safety-lamp mine to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that other persons at the mine comply with their obligations under the Regulations. Regulation 39 enables the Health and Safety Executive to grant exemptions from any requirements or prohibitions imposed by the Regulations. Regulation 40– disapplies section 69(3) and (4) of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 [c.70] (which subsections place restrictions on the taking or use below ground in mines of blasting materials and devices) in respect of safety-lamp mines; and disapplies section 157 of the above Act of 1954 (which provides a defence in certain legal proceedings) in relation to any legal proceedings based on an allegation of a contravention of a requirement or prohibition imposed by or under the Regulations. Regulation 41– revokes the instruments specified in column 1 of the Schedule to the Regulations to the extent specified in the corresponding entry in column 3 thereof; and modifies the Stratified Ironstone, Shale and Fireclay Mines (Explosives) Regulations 1956 (S.I. 1956/1943) and the Miscellaneous Mines (Explosives) Regulations 1959 (S.I. 1959/2258). Regulation 42 lays down transitional and saving provisions respecting persons who were employed as shotfirers at safety-lamp mines before the coming into force of the Regulations.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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