293.590. Hoisting equipment and operating regulations.

MISSOURI STATUTES AND CODES

293.590. Hoisting equipment and operating regulations.

Hoisting equipment and operating regulations.

293.590. 1. A qualified hoisting engineer shall be on dutycontinuously when men are underground at noncoal mines where menare transported by hoists. Hoists used for handling men shall beequipped with overspeed, overtravel and automatic stop controlsand shall be equipped with brakes capable of stopping and holdingthe fully loaded unbalanced cage or trip at any point in theshaft or slope. An accurate and reliable indicator, showing theposition of the cage or trip, shall be so placed as to be inclear view of the engineer, unless the position of the cage ortrip is clearly visible to the engineer at all times.

2. Hoisting ropes on all cages or trips shall be adequate insize to handle the load and have a proper factor of safety asdefined in the America Standard Association's Wire Rope Standardsand shall be replaced when it shows more than six broken wires inany single pitch length or lay of rope. On conventional drumtype hoists only, as distinguished from friction type hoists, therope shall have at least three full turns on the drum when it isextended to its maximum working length and shall make at leastone full turn on the drum shaft or around the spoke of the drum,in case of a free drum, and be fastened securely by means ofclamps. A hoisting rope shall be fastened to its load by azinc-filled socket or by a thimble and clamps. No splicedhoisting rope or cable shall be used.

3. Hoisting equipment shall be inspected daily by a trainedinspector and a record made of such inspection. The record bookshall be made open for the information of all employees at themine.

4. Cages or similar devices used for hoisting men shall beof substantial construction with adequate steel bonnets, withenclosed sides, with gates across the ends of the cage when menare being hoisted or lowered, and with sufficient handholds orchains for all men on the cage to maintain their balance. Cagefloors shall be constructed so that they will be adequate tosupport the load, and where only one cable is used such cageshall be furnished with spring catches or such other or differentsafety device approved by the director, intended and provided, asfar as possible, to prevent the consequences of cable breaking orthe loosening or disconnecting of the machinery.

5. The director or a mine inspector shall determine thenumber of men that may be lowered or hoisted at any one time anda notice of the number shall be posted by him in a conspicuousplace at the top and bottom of the shaft and at all otherlandings. In no case shall the total weight of the cage and men,estimated at one hundred sixty pounds per man, exceed one-fifthof the minimum breaking strength of the brakes, ropes, links, andother connections bearing the cage.

6. No person other than an attendant shall be lowered orhoisted in or on any cage or trip or other hoisting apparatuscarrying explosives, steel, equipment or material. All smallhand tools, lunch containers and small parts shall be adequatelysecured to the approval of the director.

7. The director of the division of mine inspection shalldetermine the safe speed of the cage in a shaft or slope wheremen are being lowered into or hoisted out of a mine when a speedin excess of five hundred feet per minute is requested by theoperator. The mine inspector shall make a thorough inspection ofthe equipment to be used and cause two test runs at full load tobe made before any person is permitted to ride on the cage at theincreased speed. When major repairs are made or new or usedequipment is installed, the same test shall be made by theoperator and a record of such test shall be recorded in a bookkept for that purpose and such record book shall be made open forthe information of all employees at the mine. In no event shallthe speed of the cage where men are lowered or hoisted be inexcess of one thousand five hundred feet per minute. The mineinspector shall post a notice at the top and bottom landings ofthe shaft and at all other landings of the safe speed of the cageon which men are permitted to ride.

8. An adequate signaling code shall be adopted, subject tothe approval of a mine inspector, in every mine hoisting orlowering men underground.

9. The owner, agent or operator of all mines employingtwenty-five or more men, at the beginning and end of a shift,shall cause a competent person to be stationed at the top of theshaft, and a competent person to be stationed at the bottom ofthe shaft, whose duties shall be to answer all signals for thelowering or hoisting of men in the shaft, and to keep watch over,and control of, such signals while men are being lowered orhoisted in the shaft.

10. The provisions of this section shall not apply to minesemploying fewer than sixteen men underground.