Mining Laws of Ohio, 1921 | Page 7

shall, in addition to the foregoing, provide and maintain not less than fifty cubic feet of air per minute for each person working therein. (Sec. 923, 924, 952; Penalty, Sec. 976.)
Sec. 923. [=Ventilating appliances.=] In each mine, the doors used in assisting or directing the ventilation thereof, shall be hung so that they will close themselves, and shall be kept closed except while persons or cars are passing through same. Each door, not operated automatically, through which cars are required to pass, shall have an attendant, whose first duty shall be to open it for transportation, and prevent it from standing open longer than necessary for cars to pass through, and, persons in charge of cars passing through automatic doors shall be required to keep a close watch over such doors, and if any such door fails to close, they shall promptly close same and report such fact to the mine foreman. This shall not prevent the attendant from performing other duties, provided the door is not kept open longer than is necessary for cars to pass through. Where necessary, a refuge place shall be provided at each door for the safety of the attendant. (Sec. 943, 958; Penalty, Sec. 976.)
Sec. 924. [=Ventilation of mines while persons working therein.=] At each mine where the ventilation is not continuous, it shall be started a sufficient length of time prior to the appointed time for any person, or persons, working therein to enter, to clear the mine of explosive, poisonous and noxious gases, and shall be kept in operation a sufficient length of time after the appointed time for such employes to leave their working places, for all persons to be out of the mine. (Sec. 922, 923, 952; Penalty, Sec. 976.)
[=Pressure gauges.=] At each mine generating fire-damp so as to be detected by a safety lamp, and wherein twenty or more persons are employed, a recording pressure gauge for the purpose of recording the pressure or vacuum of the main air current, shall be provided and maintained, which shall be kept in constant use, and records preserved for ninety days, subject to the inspection of the chief inspector of mines and the district inspector of mines. (Penalty, Sec. 976.)
Sec. 925. [=Competent person or persons shall be designated as fire-boss.=] The owner, lessee or agent of a mine generating fire-damp so as to be detected by a safety lamp, shall designate a competent person or persons as fire boss or fire bosses, who shall make a thorough examination of each working place in the mine every morning with a standard safety lamp, not more than three hours prior to the appointed time for the employes to enter the mine. As evidence of such examination, the fire boss shall mark with chalk upon the face of the coal, or in some other conspicuous place, his initials and date of the month upon which the examination is made. If there is any standing gas discovered, he must leave a danger signal across every entrance to such place.
[=Examination of other than working places.=] Each mine generating fire-damp so as to be detected by a safety lamp, shall be kept free from standing gas. All traveling ways, entrances to old workings, and places not in the actual course of working, shall be carefully examined with a safety lamp by the fire boss not more than three hours before the appointed time for persons employed therein to enter. Parts of the mine not in the actual course of working and available, shall be examined not less than once each three days, and shall be so fenced as to prevent persons from inadvertently entering therein. (Sec. 955, 959; Penalty, Sec. 976.)
Sec. 926. [=Breakthroughs and brattices.=] From a point where the seam is reached in the opening of a mine, to a point not exceeding a distance of four hundred feet therefrom, breakthroughs shall be made between main entries, where there are no rooms worked, not more than one hundred feet apart, provided such entries are not advanced beyond the point where the breakthrough will be made until the breakthrough is complete. Breakthroughs between entries, except as hereinbefore provided, shall be made not exceeding sixty feet apart. Where there is a solid block on one side of a room, breakthroughs shall be made between such room and the adjacent room not to exceed sixty feet apart; where there is a breast or group of rooms, a breakthrough shall be made on one side or the other of each room, except the room adjoining said block, not to exceed forty feet from the outside corner of the breakthrough to the nearest corner of the entrance to the room, and on the opposite side of the same room a breakthrough shall be made, not to exceed eighty feet from the outside