§874 Hoisting and Mantrips

Summary

Hoists that carry people in coal mines must have safety devices to stop them if they go too fast, hit the top, or need to stop automatically. Brakes must be able to stop a fully loaded car or platform. Cables must be strong enough and have a proper safety margin. Cages and platforms used in shafts and slopes must have safety catches or other approved devices that act quickly in an emergency, and those catches must be tested at least once every two months. Hoisting equipment, including automatic elevators, must be examined daily. A qualified hoisting engineer must be on duty while anyone is underground, except for automatically operated cages, platforms, or elevators. Other safeguards required by a government safety inspector must be provided. Hoists must have rated capacities that match the loads and ropes, and an accurate position indicator. There must be at least two effective methods of signaling between each shaft station and the hoist room, one of which shall be a telephone or speaking tube. Underground locomotives and haulage cars must have automatic brakes where space permits, or approved speed-reduction devices if space does not permit. Haulage equipment bought on or after one year after the operative date of this subchapter must have automatic couplers that couple by impact and uncouple without a person going between the equipment. Haulage equipment without automatic couplers in use on the operative date of this subchapter must be so equipped within four years after the operative date of this subchapter.