### Mines (Safety) Regulations 《礦場(安全)規例》

18. Prohibition against storing explosives in closed-down mine
(1) When a mine is closed down notice shall be given to the Commissioner of any explosives remaining thereon or therein, and such explosives shall be removed or disposed of in such manner as he may direct in writing.
(2) No other explosives may be stored at or in any such closed-down mine or other works without the permission in writing of the Commissioner and in accordance with the provisions of the Dangerous Goods Ordinance (Cap. 295).
(L.N. 156 of 1963)

19. Prohibition against storing explosives underground in excess of estimated requirements
(1) Explosives in excess of the estimated requirements for 24 hours shall not be stored underground in a mine and such explosives shall only be stored in underground storage boxes. In no case shall detonators and capped fuses be stored in the same box with other explosives.
(2) The following conditions shall apply to all underground storage—
(a) storage boxes shall be kept at a safe distance from working faces in dry and secluded places and at least 2 metres away from each other; (L.N. 87 of 1986)
(b) the boxes shall be stoutly built of wood sufficiently waterproof, and shall be kept in good repair and securely locked. The shot-firer shall keep the keys and only unlock them for the purpose of placing or removing explosives;
(c) on the cover of the box the word “EXPLOSIVES” shall be painted and maintained in distinctly legible letters;
(d) no box shall contain more than 10 kilograms of explosives or 100 detonators or capped fuses; (L.N. 87 of 1986)
(e) no other materials, implements or tools shall be placed in a box in which there are explosives.

20. Prohibition against using explosives other than those supplied by employer
Shot-firers shall not use at their working places any explosives other than those supplied to them by their employers.

21. Method of carrying and cutting explosives
(1) All explosives issuing from a magazine shall be placed, kept and carried in wooden boxes until required for use.
(2) Only bone or wooden knives shall be used to cut up sticks of explosives.

### Mines (Safety) Regulations 《礦場(安全)規例》

23. Duty of manager to retain certificate
Every manager upon engaging a shot-firer shall examine his mine blasting certificate, and shall satisfy himself that the holder is the person whose signature or mark is recorded thereon in accordance with these regulations. The manager shall retain the mine blasting certificate until the determination of the holder’s engagement.

24. Person entitled to blast, and his responsibility
(1) The preparation and firing of charges shall be by a shot-firer.
(2) In the preparation of charges and the firing of such charges a shot-firer may be assisted by reliable persons, who are not shot-firers, when acting under his direct supervision but he shall be personally responsible for any accident occurring through such person’s ignorance, inexperience, or carelessness and in no case shall any person except a shot-firer actually prepare a detonator or charge any hole.
(3) There shall be no simultaneous firing with electric detonators except in the case of shaft sinking, opencast workings or mine workings.

25. Loose ground to be removed before drilling. Working faces to be examined
Before beginning drilling operations the gang foreman shall—
(a) satisfy himself that all overhanging and loose or loosened debris has been removed from the face and immediate vicinity of the place of operations;
(b) see that working faces which are to be drilled are thoroughly scraped and examined for sockets or butts of holes and for charges which may have misfired.

26. Duty of gang foreman to be the first to enter place of operations
(1) Before commencing work either at the beginning of a shift or after blasting, the gang foreman in charge of the shift shall be the first to enter the place of operations and, until he considers it safe, he shall not allow any person to enter therein except those required by him to make the place safe. (L.N. 235 of 1996)
(2) In shaft sinking the gang foreman in charge accompanied, if necessary, by not more than 2 other persons shall carefully examine the shaft from top to bottom after blasting and shall remove all loose debris which may have settled on the shaft timbers or fittings.

27. Action to be taken when blasting takes place within 10 metres of each other
When the distance between approaching workings in either of which blasting is being done is reduced to 10 metres, the workmen shall be withdrawn from both faces whilst blasting operations are taking place at either face.
(L.N. 87 of 1986)

28. Resumption of work after blasting
No person shall return to any working place until such place is free from the dust, smoke and fumes caused by blasting and every gang foreman in charge of workmen shall be responsible for ensuring that the workmen in his charge comply with this regulation. He shall forthwith report to his immediate superior any case of gassing however slight.

### Mines (Safety) Regulations 《礦場(安全)規例》

29. Validity of existing certificates
(1) Mine blasting certificates in force at the date of coming into operation* of these regulations shall remain valid, unless otherwise cancelled, for a period of 1 year from that date.
(2) Any such certificates may be exchanged free of cost for a mine blasting certificate issued under these regulations if surrendered to the Superintendent of Mines within the aforesaid period of 1 year.

Editorial Note:

* Operation date: 15 October 1954. 

30. Prohibition against carbide, and exceptions
(1) No person shall carry or cause or permit to be carried any calcium carbide underground except—
(a) in lamps of a type approved by the Superintendent of Mines; or
(b) in a watertight receptable of a type approved by the Superintendent of Mines.
(2) No person shall store or leave calcium carbide underground on coming off a shift.

31. Angle of slope
The Superintendent of Mines may determine from time to time the angle to be maintained on any mine workings to ensure the safety thereof, and in that event shall give notice in writing to the manager of the angle to be maintained. It shall be the duty of the manager to ensure that the angle is maintained at all times to the satisfaction of the Superintendent of Mines.

32. Duty to station a safety man, and not to deposit spoil near edge
In the case of any excavation which exceeds 1.8 metres in vertical height and 1.2 metres in breadth and is made by hand labour and not wholly by hydraulic or mechanical means—
(a) there shall be a safety man for every gang exceeding 20 men and he shall be stationed on the top of the bank for the purpose of watching for surface cracks and barring down all loose and overhanging ground; and
(b) no spoil shall be deposited within 1 metre of the edge of the top of the vertical or sloped face.
(L.N. 87 of 1986)

33. Power of Superintendent to require stepped benches to be cut into mine face
When the Superintendent of Mines considers that the face of a mine should be stepped in benches in order to ensure the safety thereof, he shall by notice in writing addressed to the manager require such stepped benches to be cut as he may direct.

34. Duty to protect surface where subsidence or cavities occur
Where mining operations have caused subsidence or cavities on the surface, or where they are likely to occur, such places shall be securely fenced in and conspicuous notice boards inscribed “WARNING” shall be erected and maintained thereabouts as long as the danger exists.