219. Belowground face equipment, continuous mining and coal cutting machines.
(1)All self propelled face equipments, including shuttle cars, which are used in belowground coal mines shall be equipped with substantially constructed canopies or cabs, located and installed in such a manner that when the operator is at the operating control of such equipment he shall be protected from falls of roof, face or side.(2)Methane monitors shall be installed on all roof bolting machines and cutting machines, continuous miners, longwall face equipments, loading machines and other mechanised equipments used to extract or load coal.(3)Roof bolting machines, continuous miners and coal loading equipments shall be equipped with adequate lighting to illuminate the workplace.(4)All face equipments used to cut coal of drill holes for roof support shall be equipped with engineering controls such as water sprays, dust collector and air-scrubber system to control respirable coal mine dust.(5)Where remote controlled devices are used in belowground coal mines and on coal faces to operate continuous mining machines or other such equipment, the owner, agent and manager shall ensure-(a)testing of the remote controlled devices to ensure they are all on separate frequencies and will not accidentally Cause a machine not been intentionally operated to activate or move;(b)proper training of all operators on the use of the remote control device; and(c)designing of a mining plan for the use of remote control mining equipment which include the safe location for the machine operators and any other workers in the area to prevent crushing accidents while the machine is in movement, and from respirable dust and noise hazard.
