Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 24, June 14, 2024
Section 36-1-3 - Definitions3.1. The words used in this rule shall have the meanings defined in this Section unless the content or context indicates a different meaning. All other terms used in this rule, not defined herein, shall have the meanings set forth in W. Va. Code § 22A-1-2. 3.1.1. Office. -- The term "office" shall mean the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training provided for in W. Va. Code §§ 22A-1-2(b)(4).3.1.2. Director. -- The term "Director" shall mean the Director of the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training provided for in W. Va. Code § 22A-1-3et seq.3.1.3. Mine Inspectors' Examining Board. -- The term "Mine Inspectors' Examining Board" shall mean the Mine Inspectors' Examining Board provided for in W. Va. Code §§ 22A-9-1et seq.3.1.4. Board of Appeals. -- The term "Board of Appeals" shall mean as provided for in W.Va. Code § 22A-5-1et seq.3.1.5. MSHA. -- The term "MSHA" shall mean the United States Mine Safety and Health Administration.3.1.6. Mine Inspector. -- The term "mine inspector" shall mean a state mine inspector provided for in W.Va. Code § 22A-1-8.3.1.7. Interested Persons. -- The term "interested persons" shall include the operator, members3.1.8. Agent. -- The term "agent" shall mean the person charged with the responsibility for the operation of all or a part of a shaft and/or slope or the supervision of the miners in a shaft and/or slope.3.1.9. Operator. -- The term "operator" shall mean any firm, corporation, partnership or individual engaged in the construction of shafts and/or slopes and the associated facilities thereof.3.1.10. Superintendent. -- The term "superintendent" shall mean the certified person whom the operator shall place in charge of a shaft and/or slope or associated facilities thereof.3.1.11. Shaft-Slope Miner. -- The term "shaft and/or slope miner" shall mean any individual working in a shaft and/or slope or associated facilities thereof.3.1.12. Supervisor. -- The term "supervisor" shall mean a superintendent-examiner-foreman or examiner-foreman designated by the superintendent to supervise work or employees and who is action pursuant to such specific designation and instructions.3.1.13. Certified Person. -- The term "certified person," when used to designate the kind of person to whom the performance of a duty in connection with the operation of a shaft and/or slope shall be assigned, shall mean a person who is qualified under the provisions of this rule to perform such duty.3.1.14. Certified Electrician. -- The term "certified electrician" shall mean any person who is qualified as a mine electrician and who has passed an examination given by the Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training, or has at least three (3) years of experience in performing electrical work underground in a coal mine, in the surface work areas of an underground coal mine, in a surface coal mine, in a non-coal mine, in the mine equipment manufacturing industry, or in any other industry using or manufacturing similar equipment, and has satisfactorily completed an electrical training program approved by the Office of Miner's Health, Safety and Training.3.1.15. Mine. -- The term "mine" includes the shafts, slopes, drafts or inclines connected with, or intended in the future to be connected with, excavations penetrating coal seams or strata, which excavations are ventilated by one (1) general air current or divisions thereof, and connected by one (1) general system of mine haulage over which coal may be delivered to one (1) or more points outside the mine, and the surface structures or equipment connected or associated therewith which contribute directly or indirectly to the mining preparation or handling of coal, or construction thereof.3.1.16. Shaft. -- The term "shaft" shall mean a vertical opening through the strata that is or may be used for the purpose of ventilation, drainage, and the hoisting and transportation of personnel and material in connection with the mining of coal.3.1.17. Slope. -- The term "slope" shall mean a plane or incline roadway, usually driven to a coal seam from the surface and used for the same purposes as a shaft.3.1.18. Drift. -- The term "drift" shall mean a horizontal or approximately horizontal opening through any natural strata or in a coal seam and used for the same purposes as a shaft. 3.1.19. Excavations and Workings. -- The term "excavations and workings" shall mean any or all parts of a mine excavated or being excavated, including shaft, slopes, drifts, tunnels, entries, rooms and working places, either abandoned or in use.3.1.20. Active Working. --The term "Active Working" shall mean all places in a shaft and/or slope that are vertilated and inspected regularly.3.1.21. Working Place. -- The term "working place" shall mean the area of a shaft and or slope in by the surface collar. 3.1.22. Working Face. -- The term "working face" shall mean any place in a shaft and or slope in which work of extracting material from its natural deposit in the earth is being performed.3.1.23. Attendance. -- The term "attendance" shall mean a distance not to exceed the radius of four hundred (400) feet from the collar of a shaft and/or slope and within sight or sound.3.1.24. Working Unit. -- The term "working unit" shall mean an area of a shaft and/or slope in which natural deposits are mined with a set of production equipment; a conventional mining unit by a single loading machine; or continuous mining unit by a single continuous machine.3.1.25. Return Air. -- The term "return air" shall mean a volume of air that has passed through and ventilated the working face in a shaft and or slope.3.1.26. Imminent Danger. -- The term "imminent danger" means the existence of any condition or practice in a shaft and/or slope where all the potentials are present that could constitute or cause a serious injury to any person before corrections can be made or while the corrections are being made.3.1.27. Accident. -- The term "accident" shall mean any explosion, ignition, fire, or inundation, or injury to, or death of, any person in a shaft and/or slope.3.1.28. Approved. -- The term "approved" shall mean in strict compliance with the mining law or, in the absence of law, accepted by a recognized standardizing body or organization whose approval is generally recognized as authoritative on the subject. 3.1.29. Permissible. -- The term "permissible" shall mean any equipment, device or explosive that has been approved as permissible by MSHA and meets all requirements, restrictions, exceptions, limitations and conditions attached to such classification.3.1.30. Armored Cable. -- The term "armored cable" shall mean a cable provided with a wrapping of metal, usually steel wires or tapes, primarily for the purpose of mechanical protection. 3.1.31. Bore hold Cable. -- The term "bore hold cable" shall mean a cable designed for vertical suspension in a bore hold or shaft and used for power circuits in the mine.3.1.32. Cable. -- The term "cable" shall mean a standard conductor (single conductor cable) or a combination of conductors insulated from one another (multiple conductor cable).3.1.33. Flame-Resistant Cable, Portable. -- The term "flame-resistant cable, portable" shall mean a portable flame-resistant cable that has passed the flame tests of MSHA. 3.1.34. Portable (Trailing) Cable. -- The term "portable (trailing) cable" shall mean a flexible cable or cord used for connecting mobile, portable or stationary equipment to an external source of electric energy where permanent mine wiring is prohibited or is impracticable.3.1.35. Branch Circuit. -- The term "branch circuit" shall mean any circuit, alternating current, or direct current connected to and leading from the main power lines.3.1.36. Circuit Breaker. -- The term "circuit breaker" shall mean a device for interrupting a circuit between separable contacts under normal or abnormal conditions.3.1.37. Zig-Zag Transformer (Grounding Transformer). -- The term "zig-zag transformer (grounding transformer)" shall mean a transformer intended primarily to provide a neutral point for grounding purposes.3.1.38. Neutral Point. -- The term "neutral point" shall mean the connection point of transformer or generator windings from which the voltage to ground is nominally zero (0), and is the point generally used for system groundings in wye-connected A.C. power system.3.1.39. Neutral (Derived). -- The term "neutral (derived)" shall mean a neutral point or connection established by the addition of a zig-zag or grounding transformer to a normally ungrounded power system.3.1.40. Effectively Grounded. -- The term "effectively grounded" shall mean grounded through a grounding connection of sufficiently low impedance (inherent or intentionally added or both) so that fault grounds which may occur cannot build up voltages in excess of limits established for apparatus, circuits or systems so grounded.3.1.41. Grounded (Earthed). -- The term "grounded (earthed)" shall mean that the system, circuit, or apparatus referred to is provided with a ground.3.1.42. Ground or Grounding Conductor (Mining). -- The term "ground or grounding conductor (mining)", also referred to as a safety ground conductor, safety ground and frame ground, shall mean a metallic conductor used to connect the metal frame or enclosure of any equipment, mine track device or wiring system to an effective grounding medium.3.1.43. Delta Connected. -- The term "delta connected" shall mean a power system in which the windings or transformers or A.C. generators are connected to form a triangular phase relationship, and with phase conductors connected to each point of the triangle.3.1.44. Wye-connected. -- The term "wye-connected" shall mean a power system connection in which one (1) end of each phase windings or transformers or A.C. generators are connected together to form a neutral point, and a neutral conductor may or may not be connected to the neutral point, and the neutral point may or may not be grounded.3.1.45. High Voltage. -- The term "high voltage" shall mean voltages of more than one thousand (1000) volts.3.1.46. Medium Voltage. -- The term "medium voltage" shall mean voltages from six hundred sixty-one (661) to one thousand (1000) volts. 3.1.47. Low Voltage. -- The term "low voltage" shall mean up to and including six hundred sixty (660) volts.3.1.48. Lightning Arrester. -- The term "lightning arrester" shall mean a protective device for limiting surge voltage on equipment by discharging or bypassing surge current to ground, and is capable of repeating these functions as specified.3.1.49. Power Center or Distribution Center. -- The term "power center or distribution center" shall mean a combined transformer or distribution unit, complete within a metal enclosure from which one (1) or more power circuits are taken.3.1.50. Deadman Control. -- The term "deadman control" shall mean a hand-or foot-operated device which must be moved to a certain position before the hoist will function and when released will stop the hoist independent of the over-speed or over-wind controls.3.1.51. Indicator. -- The term "indicator" shall mean a dial or column with a hand or pointer attached which is operated by a chain or gear drive from the drum shaft which shows the position of the bucket in the shaft.