Jurisdiction: England, Wales, Scotland
Commencement: 2nd March 2020
Amends: The Mines Regulations 2014
The Mines Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/3248) consolidate the law in relation to health and safety in mines and also implements Directive 1992/104/EEC on the protection of workers in surface and underground mineral extracting industries.
Adjustments are made to the Mines Regulations 2014 (‘the 2014 Regulations’), to implement new European limit values for respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust below ground level in coal mines.
The workplace exposure limit (WEL) for RCS dust under The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, is now set at 0.1mg/m3. This limit now applies to coal mines below ground level, removing the previous WEL of up to 0.3mg/m3.
All references to RCS dust are removed as the need for remedial action will no longer be required under the new limits.