The Quarries Regulations 1999

Made: 12th July 1999

Laid before Parliament: 27th July 1999

Coming into force in accordance with regulation 1

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 15(1), (2), (3)(a), (5)(b) and 82(3)(a) of, and paragraphs 1(1) and (2), 3(1) and (2), 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15(1), 16, 18, 20 and 21(b) of Schedule 3 to, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974[^f00001] and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf for the purpose of giving effect without modifications to proposals submitted to him by the Health and Safety Commission under section 11(2)(d) of the 1974 Act after the carrying out by the said Commission of consultations in accordance with section 50(3) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:

PART I — INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL

Citation and commencement

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Quarries Regulations 1999 and subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) shall come into force on 1st January 2000.

• (2) Regulation 32, with the exception of paragraph (4), shall come into force on 1st January 2001 with respect to any tip which was not a classified tip for the purposes of regulation 2(1) of the 1971 Regulations.

• (3) Regulation 32(4) shall come into force on 1st January 2002 with respect to any notifiable tip which was not a classified tip for the purposes of regulation 2(1) of the 1971 Regulations.

Interpretation

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• (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the 1954 Act” means the Mines and Quarries Act 1954[^f00002];

• “the 1969 Act” means the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969[^f00003];

• “the 1971 Regulations” means the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Regulations 1971[^f00004];

• “the 1999 Regulations" means the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999;

• “appoint” in relation to a person means appoint in writing with a written statement summarising his duties and authority, and “appointed” shall be construed accordingly;

• “competent” in relation to a person means a person with sufficient training, experience, knowledge and other qualities to enable him properly to undertake the duties assigned to him, and “competence” shall be construed accordingly;

• “detonator” means an initiator for explosives that contains a charge of high explosive fired by means of a flame, spark, electric current or shock tube;

• “excavation” means any place at the quarry where minerals are or have been extracted and includes the ground, faces or sides of the quarry and any other incline;

• “excavations and tips rules” means the rules referred to at regulation 31;

• “the Executive” means the Health and Safety Executive;

• “exploder” means a device designed for firing detonators;

• “explosive article” means an article containing one or more explosive substances;

• “explosive substance” means—a solid or liquid substance; ora mixture of solid or liquid substances or both, which is capable by chemical reaction in itself of producing gas at such a temperature and pressure and at such a speed as could cause damage to surroundings or which is designed to produce an effect by heat, light, sound, gas or smoke or a combination of these as a result of non-detonative self-sustaining exothermic chemical reactions;

• “explosives” means explosive articles or explosive substances;

• “explosives store” means a building, enclosed area or metal structure where explosives are stored under a licence granted under the Explosives Regulations 2014;

• “geotechnical assessment” has the meaning given to it in regulation 33(1);

• “geotechnical specialist” means a chartered engineer or chartered geologist who has—three or more years relevant experience in soil mechanics, rock mechanics or excavation engineering; andis competent to perform a geotechnical analysis to determine the hazard and risk arising from the excavation or tip being assessed,

• “hazard” in relation to an excavation or tip means having the potential to cause harm to the health and safety of any person;

• “health and safety document” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 7;

• “maintained” with respect to the quarry and its plant means maintained, where necessary to secure the health and safety of any person, in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, and “maintenance” shall be construed accordingly;

• “management structure” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 8;

• “mine” means any mine within the meaning of the 1954 Act;

• “minerals” includes stone, slate, clay, gravel, sand and other natural deposits except peat;

• “misfire” means an occurrence in relation to the firing of shots where—testing before firing reveals broken continuity which cannot be rectified; ora shot or any part of a shot fails to explode when an attempt is made to fire it;

• “notifiable excavation” and “notifiable tip” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 34(3);

• “operator” in relation to a quarry means the person in overall control of the working of the quarry;

• “preparation for sale” includes the crushing, screening, washing, drying and bagging of minerals;

• “public road” means (in England and Wales) a highway maintainable at public expense within the meaning of section 329 of the Highways Act 1980[^f00008] and (in Scotland) a public road within the meaning assigned to that term by section 151 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984[^f00009];

• “quarry” has the meaning given to it by regulation 3;

• “railway company” means any person authorised by an enactment to construct, work or carry on a railway and for the purposes of this definition the expression “enactment” includes a provision of an order or scheme made under or confirmed by an Act;

• “safety fuse” means a flexible cord that contains an internal burning medium by which fire is conveyed at a continuous and uniform rate for the purpose of firing plain detonators or blackpowder, without initiating burning in a similar fuse that may be in lateral contact alongside;

• “shot” means a single shot or a series of shots fired as part of one blast;

• “shotfirer” means a person appointed pursuant to regulation 25(2)(a)(ii) to be responsible for shotfiring operations;

• “shotfiring operations” includes—checking to ensure that the blasting specification is still appropriate for the site conditions at the time the blasting is to take place;mixing explosives;priming a cartridge;charging and stemming a shothole;linking or connecting a round of shots;withdrawal and sheltering of persons;inspecting and testing a shotfiring circuit;firing a shot; andchecking for misfires;

• “tip” means an accumulation or deposit of any substance at a quarry (whether in a solid or liquid state or in solution or suspension) and includes, but is not limited to, overburden dumps, backfill, spoil heaps, stock piles and lagoons, and where any wall or other structure retains or confines a tip then it shall be deemed to form part of the tip;

• “trainee shotfirer” means a person appointed pursuant to regulation 25(2)(a)(ii) to undergo training in shotfiring operations under the close personal supervision of a shotfirer;

• “vehicle” means any mechanically propelled vehicle (including mechanically propelled plant);

• “vehicle rules” means the rules referred to at regulation 14.

• (2) Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to—

• (a) a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered;

• (b) a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in the regulation or Schedule in which that reference occurs; and

• (c) any specified document shall operate as a reference to that document as revised or reissued from time to time.

Meaning of quarry

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• (1) In these Regulations “quarry” means—

• (a) subject to paragraph (2), an excavation or system of excavations made for the purpose of, or in connection with, the extraction of minerals (whether in their natural state or in solution or suspension) or products of minerals, being neither a mine nor merely a well or borehole or a well and borehole combined;

• (b) any reclamation site (and for this purpose “reclamation site” means a site where the extraction of minerals forms part of the process whereby that site is restored for agricultural, industrial or domestic use) from which minerals are being extracted for sale or further use; or

• (c) any disused tip which is not at a mine being worked within the meaning of regulation 2(2) of the Mines Regulations 2014 from which minerals are being extracted for sale or further use.

• (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(a), in these Regulations “quarry” does not include—

• (a) an excavation or system of excavations made for the purpose of or in connection with the extraction of such minerals or products of minerals where the exclusive purpose of that extraction is to enable the minerals or products of minerals so extracted to be used for the purpose of carrying out any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work on the site at which the extraction has taken place;

• (b) a public road; or

• (c) a railway line which is exclusively under the control of—

• (i) a railway company, or

• (ii) a person who carries on an undertaking which consists of, or the main activity or one of the main activities of which consists of, the management of a network within the meaning of subsection (1) of section 83 of the Railways Act 1993[^f00011].

• (3) For the purposes of these Regulations, the following shall be deemed to form part of a quarry—

• (a) so much of the surface (including buildings, structures and works thereon) surrounding or adjacent to the quarry as is occupied for the purpose of, or in connection with—

• (i) the working of the quarry,

• (ii) the consumption, use, storage or preparation for sale of the minerals or products thereof extracted from the quarry, or

• (iii) the removal from the quarry of any substance extracted from the quarry; and

• (b) any tip—

• (i) for the time being used in conjunction or connection with the operation of the quarry, or

• (ii) subject to paragraph (4)(a), (whether or not it is for the time being in use) situated on premises occupied by the operator of the quarry;

• (4) For the purposes of these Regulations, where

• (a) a tip is for the time being used in conjunction or connection with the operation of two or more quarries and is situated on premises occupied exclusively by the operator of one of those quarries, it shall be treated as forming part of that quarry unless—

• (i) the operator of one of the other quarries in conjunction or connection with which the tip is for the time being used has agreed that the tip should be treated as forming part of the quarry of which he is the operator, and

• (ii) notice to that effect has been given to the Executive by that operator;

• (b) a tip is for the time being used in conjunction or connection with the operation of two or more quarries and is situated on premises occupied jointly by the operators of two or more of those quarries, the last-named operators shall, for the purposes of these Regulations, be treated as being in joint and several control of that tip and as being jointly and severally responsible therefore unless—

• (i) the said operators have agreed that one of their number should be treated as being in control of that tip and responsible therefore, and

• (ii) notice to that effect has been given to the Executive by the operator who is to be so treated;

• (5) Upon receipt of a notice given in accordance with paragraphs (4)(a)(ii) or (4)(b)(ii), the tip named in that notice shall be treated as forming part of the quarry specified in the said notice.

Application

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• (1) Subject to paragraph (2) and save where the contrary intention appears, these Regulations shall apply to all quarries where persons work.

• (2) These Regulations shall not apply to any—

• (a) quarry at which there has been no extraction or preparation for sale of minerals within the previous 12 months;

• (b) quarry in relation to which notice of abandonment or ceasing of operations has been given to the Executive in accordance with regulation 45(1), provided that the quarry is no longer being used for the extraction or preparation for sale of minerals; or

• (c) part of a quarry which is being used exclusively by a person for a work activity unconnected with—

• (i) the extraction of minerals, or

• (ii) the preparation for sale of minerals,

provided that no work activity set out in paragraph (3) is being carried on at that quarry.

• (3) The work activities mentioned in paragraph (2) are any work carried on—

• (a) with a view to abandoning that quarry; or

• (b) for the purpose of preventing the flow from that quarry into an adjacent quarry of water or material that flows when wet.

• (4) These Regulations shall apply to a self-employed person as they apply to an employer and as if that self-employed person were both an employer and a person at work.

PART II — HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT

Duties of the person entitled to work the quarry

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• (1) The person entitled to work a quarry shall not permit another person to be the operator of that quarry unless that person is suitable and has sufficient resources to be able to operate the quarry safely.

• (2) Where the person entitled to work a quarry permits another person to be the operator of that quarry, he shall make a written record of that permission which record shall be signed by the person so entitled and the operator and a copy of which shall be provided to the operator.

• (3) The said record and copy shall be kept by the person so entitled and the operator respectively for the duration of the said permission.

• (4) The person so entitled shall provide the operator with any relevant information available to him which might affect the health and safety of persons at work at the quarry.

General duties of the operator

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• (1) It shall be the duty of the operator of every quarry to take the necessary measures to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the quarry and its plant are designed, constructed, equipped, commissioned, operated and maintained in such a way that persons at work can perform the work assigned to them without endangering their own health and safety or the health and safety of others.

• (2) The operator shall co-ordinate the implementation of all measures relating to the health and safety of persons at work at the quarry.

• (3) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), where necessary to ensure the health and safety of any person the operator shall ensure that any building (whether temporary or permanent) or structure—

• (a) is designed, constructed, erected, operated, supervised and maintained so as to withstand any reasonably foreseeable environmental forces; and

• (b) has a construction and solidity which is appropriate to the nature of its use.

• (4) The operator shall ensure that in the event of the abandonment of or ceasing of operations at a quarry, the quarry is left, so far as is reasonably practicable, in a safe condition.

The health and safety document

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• (1) The operator shall ensure that no work is carried out at the quarry unless a document (in these Regulations referred to as the “health and safety document”) has been prepared which—

• (a) demonstrates that the risks to which persons at work at the quarry are exposed have been assessed in accordance with regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999;

• (b) demonstrates that adequate measures, including measures concerning the design, use and maintenance of the quarry and of its plant, will be taken to safeguard the health and safety of persons—

• (i) at the quarry, and

• (ii) in the area immediately surrounding the quarry who are directly affected by the activities of the quarry;

• (c) includes a statement of how the measures referred to in sub-paragraph (b) will be co-ordinated;

• (d) gives details of the management structure and sets out the authority and duties of each person in the management structure; and

• (e) records the following information—

• (i) the rules required by regulation 10(1)(a),

• (ii) the arrangements for the review of safety measures in accordance with regulation 11,

• (iii) details of the inspection, maintenance and testing schemes prepared in accordance with regulation 12,

• (iv) the rules controlling risks from vehicles required by regulation 14,

• (v) details of the permit to work system required by regulation 18,

• (vi) the shotfiring rules required by regulation 25(2),

• (vii) the excavations and tips rules required by regulation 31,

• (viii) the conclusions of any appraisal or assessment of an excavation or tip undertaken in accordance with regulation 32, and

• (ix) the arrangements for health surveillance required by regulation 43.

• (2) In addition to the matters referred to in paragraph (1), the health and safety document shall where appropriate also include—

• (a) a plan detailing the equipment and measures required to protect persons at work at the quarry from the risk of explosion;

• (b) where toxic gases are or may be present in the atmosphere at the quarry in such concentration that the atmosphere may be harmful to the health of persons at work, a plan detailing the protective equipment and measures required to protect persons at work at the quarry from the harmful atmosphere; and

• (c) a diagram of the quarry indicating those areas to which these Regulations do not apply by virtue of regulation 4(2)(c).

• (3) The operator shall ensure that the health and safety document, including any information recorded therein pursuant to paragraph (1)(e), is—

• (a) kept up to date; and

• (b) made available to each employer of persons at work at the quarry and to all persons at work at the quarry.