83 STAT. ]
PUBLIC LAW 91-173-DEC. 30, 1969
787
used to transport persons shall be examined daily. Where persons are transported into, or out of, a coal mine by hoists, a qualified hoisting engineer shall be on duty while any person is underground, except that no such engineer shall be required for automatically operated cages, platforms, or elevators. (b) Other safeguards adequate, in the judgment of an authorized representative of the Secretary, to minimize hazards with respect to transportation of men and materials shall be provided. (c) Hoists shall have rated capacities consistent with the loads handled and the recommended safety factors of the ropes used. A n accurate and reliable indicator of the position of the cage, platform, skip, bucket, or cars shall be provided. (d) There shall be at least two effective methods approved by the Secretary of signaling between each of the shaft stations and the hoist room, one of which shall be a telephone or speaking tube. (e) Each locomotive and haulage car used in an underground coal mine shall be equipped with automatic brakes, where space permits. Where space does not permit automatic brakes, locomotives and haulage cars shall be subject to speed reduction gear, or other similar devices approved by the Secretary which are designed to stop the locomotives and haulage cars with the proper margin of safety. (f) All liaulage equipment acquired by an operator of a coal mine (m or after one year after the operative date of this title shall be equipped with automatic couplers which couple by impact and uncouI)le without the necessity of persons going between the ends of such equipment. All haulage equipment without automatic couplers in use in a mine on the operative date of this title shall also be so equipped within four years after the operative date of this title. EMERGENCY SHELTERS
SEC. 315. The Secretary or an authorized representative of the Secretary may prescribe in any coal mine that rescue chambers, properly sealed and ventilated, be erected at suitable locations in the mine to which persons may go in case of an emergency for protection against hazards. Such chambers shall be properly equipped with first aid materials, an adequate supply of air and self-contained breathing equipment, an independent communication system to the surface, and proper accommodations for the persons while awaiting rescue, and such other equipment as the Secretary may require. A plan for the erection, maintenance, and revisions of such chambers and the training of the miners in their proper use shall be submitted by the operator to the Secretary for his approval. COMMUNICATIONS
SEC. 316. Telephone service or equivalent two-way communication facilities, approved by the Secretary or his authorized representative, shall be provided between the surface and each landing of main shafts and slopes and between the surface and each working section of any coal mine that is more than one hundred feet from a portal. MISCELLANEOUS
SEC. 317. (a) Each operator of a coal mine shall take reasonable measures to locate oil and gas wells penetrating coalbeds or any underground area of a coal mine. T\Tien located, such operator shall establish and maintain barriers around such oil and SRS wells in accordance
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