Chap. 458.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 13 of an act approved
March 138, 1912, chapter 178 of acts of 1912, entitled an act concern-
ing coal mines and safety of employees, creating a department and
inspector of mines under the bureau of labor and industrial statistics.

(H. B. 106.)
Approved March 22, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections thirteen and twenty-nine of an act entitled an act con-
cerning coal mines and safety of employees, creating a depart-
ment and inspector of mines under the bureau of labor and in-
dustrial statistics, approved March thirteenth, nineteen hun-
dred and twelve, be, and the same are, hereby amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 13. In order to better secure the proper ventila-
tion of every coal mine and promote the health and safety of
persons employed therein, the owner, operator, or agent, shall
employ a competent and practical inside overseer, to be called
mine foreman, who shall be an experienced coal miner, or any
person having five years’ experience in a coal mine, who shall
keep a careful watch over the ventilating apparatus and air-
ways, traveling ways, pumps and drainage; and shall see that,
as the miners advance their excavations, proper break-throughs
are made to properly ventilate the mine; and shall use reason-
able care to remove or secure all loose coal, slate and rock over-
head in working places and along the haul-ways, so as to pre-
vent danger to persons employed in such mines; and that suffi-
cient props, caps, and timbers, as nearly as possible of suitable
dimensions, are furnished for the places where they are to be
used; and such props, caps, and timbers, shall be delivered and
placed at such points as the rule for the government of each
respective mine provides for them to be delivered; and every
workman in want of props, cap pieces, and timbers, shall notify
the mine foreman, or such other person who may be designated
for that purpose at least one day in advance, or within such
other time (not longer than one day) as may be prescribed by
the written rules of the mine, giving the number and kind of
timbers he requires; but in case of an emergency the timbers
may be ordered immediately upon the discovery of any danger
and no miner shall continue to work in any working place known
by him to be unsafe, or which might have been so known to him
in the exercise of ordinary care, but the happening of an acci-
dent shall not in itself be held to be evidence of such knowledge,
or lack of ordinary care on his part, or of negligence on the
part of the company. * * * It shall be the duty of the mine
foreman to see that the cross-cuts are made as required by law,
and that the ventilation shall be conducted through such cross-
cuts into the room by means of check doors or curtains placed on
entries or other suitable places, and he shall not permit any
room to be opened in advance of the ventilation. Should the
mine inspector discover any room, entry or airway or other
working place being driven in advance of the ventilation con-
trary to the requirements of this act, he shall order the work-
men working such places to cease work at once until the law
is complied with. And said mine inspector shall have authority
to permit violations of this provision when he considers it safe
and desirable so to do.

And the mine foreman shall measure the air currents at least
twice each month at the inlet and outlet, and at or near the
faces of the advanced headings, and shall keep a record of such
measurements in a book, having a form prescribed by the chief
of the department of mines. An anemometer shall be provided
for this purpose by the operator of the mine.

And in mines in which the operations are so extensive that
all the duties devolving upon the mine foreman cannot be dis-
charged by one man, competent persons having three years’ ex-
perience in a coal mine, may be designated and appointed as as-
sistants, who shall act under the mine foreman’s instructions.
and shall be responsible for their conduct in the discharge of
their duties under such designation or appointment.

It shall further be the duty of the mine foreman to have
bore holes kept not less than twelve feet in advance of the face,
and where necessary, on sides of working places that are being
driven toward, and in dangerous proximity to an abandoned
mine or part of mine suspected of containing inflammable gases
or which is filled with water; on all haulways where hauling is
done by machinery of any kind, the mine foreman shall pro-
vide a proper system of signals and for the carrying of a con-
spicuous light on the front, and a light or flag on the rear, of
every trip or train of cars when in motion; provided, that this
shall not apply to trips being hauled by gathering motors or
mule teams when operating on other than main headings, and
when hoisting or lowering men occurs before day light in the
morning or at evenings after darkness; at any mine operating
by shaft the said mine foreman shall provide and maintain at
the shaft mouth a light of a stationary character sufficient to
show the landing and all surrounding objects distinctly, and
sufficient light of a stationary character shall be located at the
bottom of the shaft, so that persons coming to the bottom may
clearly discern the cages and other objects closely contiguous
thereto; no charge on which men are riding shall be lifted or
lowered at a rate of speed greater than six hundred feet per
minute; no mine cars, either empty or loaded, shall be hoisted
while men are being lowered or hoisted, and no cage having an
unstable self-dumping platform shall be used for the carrying
of workmen unless the same is provided with some device by
which the same may be securely locked when men are being
hoisted or lowered into the mine. At every mine where ten men
are employed under ground, it shall be the duty of the opera-
tors thereof to keep always on hand at the mine, a properly
constructed stretcher, a woolen and waterproof blanket, and
all necessary requisites which may be advised by a medical prac-
titioner employed by the company, and if as many as one hun-
dred and fifty men be employed, two stretchers with the neces-
sary equipment as above advised; the mine foreman or his as-
sistant shall visit and examine every working place in the mine
every alternate day while the miners are at work, and shall di-
rect that each and every working place shall be secured by props,
or timbers, whenever necessary, which shall be placed and used
by the miners working therein, as in this act provided, to the
end that such working places shall be made safe; and the said
mine foreman shall not permit, nor shall any one work in a
place known to be unsafe, unless it be for the purpose of mak-
ing it safe. The mine foreman shall notify the operator or agent
of the mine of his inability to comply with any of the require-
ments of this section, and it shall then become the duty of any
operator or agent, to at once attend to the matter complained
of by the mine foreman, so as to enable him to comply with the
provisions hereof, if the same can be practically done. Any
operator or agent of any coal mine, or other person who shall
neglect to comply with the requirements of this section shall,
upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined
not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, or be im-
prisoned in the county jail not less than ten nor more than
ninety days, at the discretion of the court. Any mine foreman
or employee failing to comply with this section shall, upon
conviction, be fined not less than five dollars, nor more than
fifty dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten
days nor more than ninety days, in the discretion of the court.