Title 11 — Labor and Industrial Relations

This act shall not repeal any of the mining laws of the state, except wherein it specifically conflicts, but shall be cumulative to all mining laws in force prior to July 1, 1917.

(a) (1) Any person who shall willfully obstruct or hinder the mine inspector in the discharge of his or her duties and every owner, lessee, agent, or manager of a mine who refuses or neglects to furnish the State Mine Inspector the means necessary for making entry, inspection, ex…

It shall be and is made the duty of the prosecuting attorney in the district wherein the State Mine Inspector shall arrest or cause to be arrested any person violating the provisions of the mining laws of the state to at once take charge of and prosecute the person with reasonabl…

(a) The Governor shall appoint a State Mine Inspector, who shall hold office for a term of two (2) years, beginning on July 1 of every odd-numbered year and until his or her successor is appointed and qualified. (b) (1) The mine inspector shall be a citizen of good repute and tem…

(a) The State Mine Inspector shall have an office, which may be located in Fort Smith, and shall safely keep all records, papers, documents, and other property pertaining to or coming into his or her hands by virtue of his or her office and deliver them to his or her successor. (…

(a) In addition to the duties imposed upon him or her by law, the State Mine Inspector shall:(1) Recommend to the various operators of coal mines throughout the state all safety rules that he or she shall deem advisable; and(2) Investigate the necessity and feasibility of purchas…

(a) There is created the office of Assistant State Mine Inspector. (b) His or her term of office shall be for a period of two (2) years, to run coextensively with the term of the State Mine Inspector and until his or her successor has been appointed and qualified. (c) He or she s…

(a) The State Mine Inspector shall devote his or her entire time to the duties of the office. (b) (1) It shall be the duty of the mine inspector to examine all mines as often as necessary and not less often than once every three (3) months.(2) The employees of any mine, as contem…

(a) The owner, agent, or operator of a mine is required to furnish all necessary facilities for entering and making the examinations and inspection, and, if the owner, agent, or operator refuses to permit the inspection or to furnish the necessary facilities for entering and maki…

(a) (1) If the inspector shall, after examination of any mine and the works and machinery pertaining thereto, find the mine worked contrary to the provisions of this act or unsafe for the workmen employed therein, the inspector shall file a complaint before the judge of the circu…

(a) The State Mine Inspector is empowered concurrently with the sheriffs and constables throughout the state to make arrests for any violations of the mining laws of this state, but he or she shall make no arrest until after notice has been given as provided in this act. (b) (1) …

(a) Any miner, workman, or other person who shall knowingly injure any water gauge, barometer, air course, or brattice or shall obstruct or throw open any airway, or carry any open flame lamp, or matches, into any mine or shall handle or disturb any part of the machinery of the h…

(a) For any injury to persons or property occasioned by willful violation of this chapter or willful failure to comply with any of its provisions, a right of action shall accrue to any party injured for any direct damages sustained thereby. (b) Should death ensue from any injury,…

(a) (1) The owner, agent, or operator of each and every coal mine in this state shall make, or cause to be made, an accurate and correct map or plan of the entire workings of the mine and every vein or deposit thereof showing the general inclination of the strata, together with a…

(a) (1) Every underground mine shall have at least two (2) separate surface openings.(2) Main slope and drift openings shall be separated by at least twenty-five feet (25′) of natural ground in all mines opened after June 9, 1949.(3) New shafts and partitions therein, made after …

(a) The owner, agent, or operator of every mine, whether operated by shaft, slope, or drift, shall provide and maintain for every mine a sufficient amount of ventilation, to be determined by the State Mine Inspector, not less than two hundred cubic feet (200 cu. ft.) of air per m…

(a) Air regulation of all slopes, drifts, or shafts used for hoisting or hauling coal shall be made at the intake of air into the mine, except at the option of the owner or by direction of the State Mine Inspector, and all air that goes into the mine shall be so split that not mo…

(a) The owner, agent, lessee, or operator of any coal mine in this state, if the mine is worked on the room and pillar plan, shall cause the work to be prosecuted in the mine in the following manner:(1) Two (2) entries parallel with each other must be driven for the ingress and e…

The owner, agent, or operator shall provide that a bore hole shall be kept twenty feet (20′) in advance of the face of each and every working face and at a forty-five degree (45°) angle at intervals of eight feet (8′) on each rib of the working face when driving toward an abandon…

(a) The owner, agent, or operator of every mine operated by shaft shall provide suitable means for signaling between the bottom and top thereof. (b) (1) He or she shall also provide safe means of hoisting and lowering persons in a cage covered with boiler iron, so as to keep safe…

(a) The owner, agent, or operator shall cause every landing on a level or above the surface of the ground and the entrance to each intermediate vein to be securely fenced by a gate and a bonnet so prepared to cover and protect the shaft and the entrances thereto. (b) The entrance…

The owner, agent, or operator of any mine shall keep a sufficient amount of timber when required to be used as props, so that workmen can at all times be able to properly secure the workings from caving in. It shall be the duty of the owner, agent, or operator to send down all pr…

(a) There shall be kept in the engine room or at some nearby and convenient place at each mine a supply of oils, bandages, blankets or covers for wraps, and a cot or stretcher for the use of and to be used by persons who may receive injuries in or at the mines. (b) The agent, own…

(a) It shall be the duty of every owner or lessee, its officers and agents, or other persons having jurisdiction or direction of any coal mine within the State of Arkansas to provide a suitable building which shall be convenient to the principal entrance of the mine and equipped …

(a) In order to promote safety in coal mines by eliminating the hazards of coal and rock dust in coal mines, it is made the duty of every person, partnership, association, corporation, owner, operator, or lessee of any coal mine in this state to employ and use water on the cutter…

(a) In all mines where a fire boss is employed, all working places and worked-out places adjacent to working places shall be examined, when it can be done, at least once a day by a competent fire boss. It shall be his or her duty to enter a report of existing conditions of the wo…

(a) Whenever and wherever a coal mine in this state becomes dangerous from high water or overflow of streams adjacent thereto, whereby the lives of miners employed therein are jeopardized by reason of the high water, it shall be the duty of the managers of the coal mine to call t…

(a) Whenever loss of life or serious personal injury shall occur by reason of any explosion or of any accident whatever in or about any mine, it shall be the duty of the person having charge of the mine to report the facts thereof without delay to the State Mine Inspector and, if…

No person under the age of eighteen (18) years shall be permitted to enter any mine to work therein.

(a) (1) Every person, firm, association, or corporation engaged in mining or producing coal or in the operation of a coal mine or coal mining business and employing more than three (3) persons in connection therewith shall give a qualified bond with good and sufficient surety to …

A.C.A. § 11-7-401Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) To more effectively carry out the intentions and purposes of this section and §§ 11-7-409 — 11-7-414, the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee may administer oaths to all persons who are applicants, or who may vouch, in any manner, for the…

(a) No fire bosses, hoisting engineers, or mine foremen shall be employed in any mine in the State of Arkansas unless they have been examined by the Division of Labor or the division determines that comparable testing criteria have been met in another jurisdiction. (b) No one sha…

(a) (1) The Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee shall grant certificates after examination by the Division of Labor or a determination by the division that the testing requirements have been satisfied in another jurisdiction.(2) The certifica…

In case of loss or destruction of a certificate, the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee, upon satisfactory proof of the loss or destruction, may issue a duplicate on the payment of the sum of one dollar ($1.00).

(a) All certificates issued pursuant to this subchapter may be revoked by the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee after a hearing upon due notice to the holder of the certificate and upon written charges preferred by the secretary or by some …

Any person who shall forge, alter, or counterfeit a certificate, shall secure or attempt to secure employment by use of the forged, altered, or counterfeited certificate, or shall falsely represent that he is a holder of a certificate regularly issued him shall be guilty of a mis…

(a) Any owner, operator, lessee, or agent of any coal mine in the State of Arkansas violating any of the provisions of § 11-7-401 and §§ 11-7-403 — 11-7-407 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. (b) Upon conviction, he or she shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10.00) n…

(a) The term “coal miner” as used in §§ 11-7-402 and 11-7-410 — 11-7-414, unless the context otherwise requires, shall be construed to mean any person working underground or in development in shafts, slopes, drifts, or tunnels for the extraction or production of coal or rock. (b)…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to work as a coal miner in any coal mine in this state without first having a certificate of qualification and competency to do so from the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee, nor shall any person, fir…

(a) The Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee shall hold sufficient examinations each year in places to be determined by the secretary or his or her designee, which, in his or her opinion, will be most convenient to applicants desiring to engag…

(a) A person making application for a coal miner's certificate of competency and qualification shall be granted a temporary permit to work until such time as an examination is held by the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee and if, in the jud…

(a) Any certified miner may have one (1) person working with him or her and under his or her direction, in addition to any member of his or her immediate family, as an apprentice for the purpose of learning the business of coal mining and becoming qualified to obtain a certificat…

The Secretary of the Department of Labor and Licensing or his or her designee shall possess powers to issue duplicate certificates and revoke certificates in all cases as provided in §§ 11-7-405 and 11-7-406.