Safety and health in opencast mines

This code applies to any situation or operation involving occupational safety and health aspects in opencast mines, and calls for attention to be paid to them by the competent authorities with responsibility for safety and health and working conditions with regard to opencast mining.

Code of practice | 01 January 1991
This code applies to any situation or operation involving occupational safety and health aspects in opencast mines, and calls for attention to be paid to them by the competent authorities with responsibility for safety and health and working conditions with regard to opencast mining. The provisions of this code should be considered as the basic requirements for protecting workers' health.

The code contains recommendations; more restrictive national or international regulations or collective agreements have priority over these recommendations.

The objectives of this code are: to prevent accidents, harmful effects on the health of those employed and diseases arising from employment in opencast mines; to ensure the appropriate design, proper technologies and safe operation of opencast mines; to provide the means of analysing existing technologies from the standpoints of safety and health and conditions of work, and modifying these technologies to remove the hazards discovered by the analyses; to provide guidance in setting up administrative, legal and educational frameworks within which preventive and remedial measures can be implemented; to promote the fullest consultation and cooperation between governments, employers' organisations and workers' organisations in the improvement of health and safety in opencast mining.