Section 27.7-2 - Emergency medical personnel in coal mines(a) Emergency medical personnel shall be employed in every mine as follows: (1) Within two years from the effective date of this act, all mines shall be equipped by the operator thereof as follows: (i) At least one emergency medical technician shall be on duty at a mine at any time when miners at that mine are engaged in the extraction, production, or preparation of coal. Emergency medical technicians shall be on duty at a mine in sufficient numbers to assure that no miner shall work in a mine location that cannot be reached within a reasonable time by an emergency medical technician. Emergency medical technicians shall be employed on their regular mining duties at locations convenient for quick response to emergencies, and further shall have available to them at all times necessary equipment in compliance with Federal regulations.(ii) Telephone service or equivalent facilities shall be installed which will provide two-way voice communication between the emergency medical technician in the mine and medical personnel outside the mine who provide emergency medical services on a regular basis.(iii) On or before July 1, 1978, operators of coal mines shall make adequate provisions so that at least one emergency medical technician paramedic, registered nurse, physician, or physician's assistant shall be available to provide care at a mine at any time that miners at the mine are engaged in the extraction, production or preparation of coal, and such emergency medical technician paramedic, registered nurse, physician or physician's assistant shall be on call to reach the entrance of the mine within 30 minutes.(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, emergency medical personnel shall be employed in surface coal mines as follows:(i) If 20 or more persons are employed on a shift, all of the provisions of this act shall apply. A shift shall include all persons working at the different locations of a mine.(ii) If a mine has employees working at different locations within a radius of not more than ten miles or a lesser number of miles as may be determined by the department of environmental resources and said locations are connected by telephone service or equivalent facilities, an emergency medical technician or the equivalent at any location on the shift shall be deemed to be compliance with the provisions of this act.(iii) If less than 20 persons are employed on a shift, an ambulance service with three members certified as emergency medical technicians, not necessarily coal employees, located within a radius of ten miles, or such other distance as may be approved by the Department of Environmental Resources upon request for and approval of a variance thereto, shall be deemed to be in compliance with the provisions of this act.(iv) If an area ambulance service is not available, three persons, not necessarily coal employees, possessing certification as an emergency medical technician, or the equivalent thereof, residing within a radius of ten miles, or such other distance as may be approved by the Department of Environmental Resources, upon request for and approval of a variance thereto; for which on-call service has been arranged, shall be compliance with the provisions of this act.1976, July 9, P.L. 931, No. 178, § 2, effective in 60 days.