Contravention of The Mines (Shafts and Winding) Regulations 1993

the instrument as a whole of The Mines (Shafts and Winding) Regulations 1993

Status not determined
Strict liability
Set by another provision
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheries

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Mines (Shafts and Winding) Regulations 1993.

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.

Sentencing organisations: fines and the means of a corporate defendant All courts in England and Wales
How a fine on a company is arrived at from its turnover. Relevant far beyond the guidelines that state it, because a very large share of the offences in this corpus can only be committed by an organisation.
Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016
Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: 18 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

These Regulations make provisions with respect to health and safety in mine shafts, including the installation and use of winding apparatus and associated apparatus. The Regulations apply to all mines which are being worked (regulation 3(1)) and are also applied as mentioned below. The Regulations come into force on 1st April 1993 except with respect to mines of tin or tin ore for which they come into force on 1st January 1996. Regulation 4 imposes requirements on the owner of a mine with respect to the specification, planning and design of the sinking of a shaft and on the manager with respect to the construction or sinking of the shaft. Regulation 3(2) applies regulation 4 to the specification, planning or design of the sinking of the shaft. Regulation 5 places requirements on the owner of a mine with respect to the equipment of a shaft. It also places duties on the manager with respect to maintenance of the shaft and the appointment of competent persons to inspect and examine the shaft and its fixtures and to carry out such maintenance as is necessary. Each competent person is required to record the result of any inspection or examination (regulation 5(4)(c)). Regulation 6 imposes a requirement on the manager of a mine with respect to the safe use of a shaft or its fixtures; and regulation 7(2) requires the manager to ensure that sufficient suitable safety harnesses are available and that there are suitable anchorages. Regulation 7(1) imposes requirements with respect to the wearing of safety harnesses. Duties are imposed on the manager of a mine with respect to preventing persons entering or remaining in an uncovered space at the bottom of a shaft and to ensure that there is a suitable barrier at each entrance to a shaft (regulations 8 and 9). The owner of a mine is required to ensure that winding apparatus is suitable for its purpose and that specified elements of it are effective (regulation 10). He is also required to appoint competent persons to examine all aspects of the installation of the apparatus and make a written report (regulation 11(1)). “Winding apparatus” is one of the expressions used in the Regulations which are defined in regulation 2(1). Requirements are placed on the manager to appoint competent persons to examine winding apparatus when it is modified and to ensure that winding apparatus is not used unless specified reports have been made (regulation 11(2) to (4)). Regulation 12 imposes duties on the owner and manager with respect to the installation or use of keps in connection with winding apparatus. Regulation 13 requires the owner to prepare specifications for ropes intended for use in a shaft and specified associated equipment and to specify the maximum life of any winding rope. The manager is required to ensure that no rope is used for winding after the expiry of the life so specified. Regulation 14 imposes requirements on the owner with respect to the provision and location of specified means of signalling and communication, and on the manager with respect to their use. Regulation 15 imposes requirements on the manager as to the safe use of winding apparatus including requirements to make suitable rules and requirements with respect to winding apparatus while it is operating automatically. A prohibition is placed on any person controlling winding apparatus by radio except with suitable equipment and in a suitable manner. Regulation 16 imposes requirements on the manager with respect to the appointment of competent persons (including winding enginemen) and with respect to the recording of hours worked by winding enginemen. Regulation 17 makes provision with respect to the examination, inspection, testing and maintenance of winding apparatus, the appointment of competent persons, and the writing of reports by such persons. Regulation 18 makes provision with respect to the keeping of specified reports and records under the Regulations. Regulation 19 requires the manager to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that other persons at the mine comply with their obligations under the Regulations. Regulation 20 provides for exemptions from the Regulations. Regulation 21 disapplies section 157 of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 (c. 70) to any prosecution or other legal proceedings based on an allegation of a contravention of a requirement or prohibition imposed by or under these Regulations. Regulations 22 and 23 repeal and revoke the enactments set out in Schedules 1 and 2 of these Regulations. Those enactments will be replaced by these Regulations, to the extent specified in those Schedules. Specified provisions of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 are disapplied in relation to shafts (regulation 22(2)).

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
The Mines (Shafts and Winding) Regulations 1993 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Health and safety, environment, waste and fisheriesOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1993