Coal Mines Regulation Act 1887
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887
(50 & 51 Vict.) CHAPTER 58.
An Act to consolidate with amendments the Coal Mines Acts, 1872 and 1886, and the Stratified Ironstone Mines (Gunpowder) Act, 1881.
[16th September 1887]
W HEREAS it is expedient to repeal and re-enact with amendments the Coal Mines Acts, 1872 and 1886, and the Stratified Ironstone Mines (Gunpowder) Act, 1881:
Be it therefore enacted, by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Preliminary.
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theCoal Mines Regulation Act, 1887.
2 Commencement of Act.
2. This Act shall not come into operation until the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, which date is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act.
3 Application of Act.
3. This Act shall apply to mines of coal, mines of stratified ironstone, mines of shale, and mines of fire-clay; and in this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the word ‘mine’ means a mine to which this Act applies.
PART I.
Employment of Boys, Girls, and Women.
4 Employment below ground of boys under twelve and of girls and women prohibited.
4. No boy under the age of twelve years, and no girl or woman of any age, shall be employed in or allowed to be for the purpose of employment in any mine below ground.
5 Hours of employment of boys over twelve below ground.
5. A boy of or above the age of twelve years shall not be employed in or allowed to be for the purpose of employment in any mine below ground for more than fifty-four hours in any one week, nor more than ten hours in any one day, nor otherwise than in accordance with the regulations herein-after contained with respect to the employment of boys in a mine below ground.
6 Regulations as to employment of boys below ground.
6. With respect to the employment of boys in a mine below ground, the following regulations shall have effect; that is to say,
(1) (1.) There shall be allowed an interval of not less than eight hours between the period of employment on Friday and the period of employment on the following Saturday, and in other cases of not less than twelve hours between each period of employment:
(2) (2.) The period of each employment shall be deemed to begin at the time of leaving the surface, and to end at the time of returning to the surface:
(3) (3.) A week shall be deemed to begin at midnight on Saturday night and to end at midnight on the succeeding Saturday night.
7 Employment of boys, girls, and women above ground.
7. With respect to boys, girls, and women employed above ground, in connexion with any mine, the following provisions shall have effect:
(1) (1.) No boy or girl under the age of twelve years shall be so employed:
(2) (2.) No boy or girl under the age of thirteen years shall be so employed—
(a .) for more than six days in any one week; or
(b .) if employed for more than three days in any one week, for more than six hours in any one day; or
(c .) in any other case for more than ten hours in any one day:
(3) (3.) No boy or girl of or above the age of thirteen years and no woman shall be so employed for more than fifty-four hours in any one week or more than ten hours in any one day:
(4) (4.) No boy, girl, or woman shall be so employed between the hours of nine at night and five on the following morning, nor on Sunday, nor after two o'clock on Saturday afternoon:
(5) (5.) There shall be allowed an interval of not less than eight hours between the termination of employment on Friday and the commencement of employment on the following Saturday, and in other cases of not less than twelve hours between the termination of employment on one day, and the commencement of the next employment:
(6) (6.) A week shall be deemed to begin at midnight on Saturday night and to end at midnight on the succeeding Saturday night:
(7) (7.) No boy, girl, or woman shall be employed continuously for more than five hours, without an interval of at least half an hour for a meal, nor for more than eight hours on any one day, without an interval or intervals for meals amounting altogether to not less than one hour and a half:
(8) (8.) No boy, girl, or woman shall be employed in moving railway waggons.
The provisions of this section as to the employment of boys, girls, and women after two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, shall not apply in the case of any mine in Ireland so long as it is exempted by order of a Secretary of State.
8 Register to be kept of boys, girls, and women employed.
(1)8. (1.) The owner agent or manager of every mine shall keep in the office at the mine a register, and shall cause to be entered in that register, in such form as the Secretary of State may from time to time prescribe or sanction, the name, age, residence, and date of first employment of all boys employed in the mine below ground, and of all boys, girls, and women employed above ground in connexion with the mine; and shall on request, produce the register to any inspector under this Act, and to any officer of a school board or school attendance committee in the district in which the mine is situate, at the mine at all reasonable times, and shall allow any such inspector or officer to inspect and copy the same.
(2) (2.) The immediate employer of every boy, other than the owner agent or manager of the mine, before he causes the boy to be below ground in any mine, shall report to the manager of the mine or to some person appointed by that manager, that he is about to employ the boy in the mine.
9 Penalty for employment of persons in contravention of Act.
9. If any person contravenes or fails to comply with, or permits any person to contravene or fail to comply with, any provision of this Act with respect to the employment of boys, girls, or women, or to the register of boys girls and women, or to reporting the intended employment of boys, he shall be guilty of an offence against this Act; and in the event of any such contravention or non-compliance by any person whomsoever, the owner agent and manager of the mine shall each be guilty of an offence against this Act, unless he proves that he had taken all reasonable means, by publishing and to the best of his power enforcing the provisions of this Act, to prevent the contravention or non-compliance.
10 Payment of school fees out of wages.
(1)10. (1.) After a request in writing by the principal teacher of a public elementary school which is attended by any boy or girl employed in or in connexion with a mine, the person who pays the wages of the boy or girl shall as long as he employs the boy or girl pay to the principal teacher of that school, for every week that the boy or girl attends the school, the weekly sum specified in the application, not exceeding twopence per week, and not exceeding one-twelfth part of the wages of the boy or girl, and may deduct the sum so paid by him from the wages payable for the services of the boy or girl.
(2) (2.) If any person after such application refuses to pay on demand any sum that becomes due as aforesaid, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten shillings.
Wages.
11 Prohibition of payment of wages at public houses, &c.
(1)11. (1.) No wages shall be paid to any person employed in or about any mine at or within any public house, beer shop, or place for the sale of any spirits beer wine cyder or other spirituous or fermented liquor, or other house of entertainment, or any office garden or place belonging or contiguous thereto, or occupied therewith.
(2) (2.) Every person who contravenes or fails to comply with or permits any person to contravene or fail to comply with this section shall be guilty of an offence against this Act; and in the event of any such contravention or non-compliance by any person whomsoever, the owner agent and manager of the mine shall each be guilty of an offence against this Act, unless he proves that he had taken all reasonable means by publishing and to the best of his power enforcing the provisions of this section to prevent the contravention or non-compliance.
12 Payment of persons employed in mines by weight.
(1)12. (1.) Where the amount of wages paid to any of the persons employed in a mine depends on the amount of mineral gotten by them, those persons shall be paid according to the actual weight gotten by them of the mineral contracted to be gotten, and the mineral gotten by them shall be truly weighed at a place as near to the pit mouth as is reasonably practicable.
Provided that nothing in this section shall preclude the owner agent or manager of the mine from agreeing with the persons employed in the mine that deductions shall be made in respect of stones or substances other than the mineral contracted to be gotten, which shall be sent out of the mine with the mineral contracted to be gotten, or in respect of any tubs baskets or hutches being improperly filled in those cases where they are filled by the getter of the mineral or his drawer, or by the person immediately employed by him; such deductions being determined in such special mode as may be agreed upon between the owner agent or manager of the mine on the one hand, and the persons employed in the mine on the other...
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