Mining & Resources

Set up and run a safe metal ore mine

Mining metal ores — iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, tungsten, uranium and thorium — is high-hazard work. This is the universal spine: it takes you through your core workplace health and safety duties, the Mines Regulations 2014 mine-safety regime, control of hazardous substances, work equipment safety, manual handling, fire safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.

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Related guides in Compliance & Legal

Metal ore mining carries ground-instability, dust, plant, confined-space and underground-working risks. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a general duty on you, and the Mines Regulations 2014 are the consolidated mine-safety regime on top of it. The duties in this guide apply to running the mine and employing people. The pre-operational permits — planning permission, environmental permits, explosives licensing and (for uranium and thorium ore) the radioactive-substances permit — live in a separate guide.

Workplace health and safety is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in Great Britain and by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) in Northern Ireland. Work through the sections below in order.

A. Meet your general health and safety duty

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the foundation. You must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of your employees and of anyone else affected by your work. For a mine that means risk-assessing the working — ground movement, ventilation, dust, plant, access and egress — providing safe systems of work, and training and supervising your people.

B. Operate the mine safety regime (Mines Regulations 2014)

Any extraction carried out wholly or substantially below ground is a mine. The Mines Regulations 2014 require you to appoint a single duty holder (the mine manager), prepare and maintain a health and safety document and risk assessments, and control the principal mining hazards: ground movement and shafts and roadways, fire and explosion (including firedamp where present), inrush of gas or water, transport and winding, respirable dust, and emergency escape and rescue. The regulations apply to every metal ore mine in Great Britain regardless of size. Surface mineral working is a quarry instead, governed by the Quarries Regulations 1999.

C. Control hazardous substances (COSHH)

Metal ore mining generates respirable crystalline silica from drilling, blasting and crushing, heavy-metal dusts from sulphide ores, and fume from welding and cutting underground. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) require you to assess, then prevent or adequately control, exposure, with ventilation and health surveillance where the regulations require it. In Northern Ireland the equivalent COSHH (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2003 apply.

D. Keep your work equipment safe (PUWER)

Drilling rigs, excavators, crushers, conveyors, winding and haulage plant must be suitable, properly maintained, inspected and safe to use, with adequate guarding, under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Read PUWER with the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) for lifting and winding equipment, and with the Mines Regulations 2014 for mine-specific plant duties.

E. Manage manual handling

Handling tools, supports, drill steels and materials underground and at the surface is routine in mining. The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 require you to avoid hazardous manual handling so far as is reasonably practicable, then assess and reduce the risk of injury. In Northern Ireland the equivalent Manual Handling Operations Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 apply.

F. Manage fire safety

The responsible person must carry out a fire risk assessment and maintain fire precautions for surface buildings, offices and workshops. Underground fire and explosion hazards are managed under the Mines Regulations 2014 instead. The surface duty is devolved: the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales; the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 in Scotland; and the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 in Northern Ireland.

G. Hold employers' liability insurance

As soon as you employ anyone, you must hold employers' liability compulsory insurance — normally at least £5 million of cover — and display or make available the certificate. This is a legal requirement across Great Britain, with an equivalent duty in Northern Ireland.

H. Meet your equality duties

As an employer you must not discriminate against, harass or victimise people because of a protected characteristic. In Great Britain this is governed by the Equality Act 2010; in Northern Ireland separate equality legislation applies, enforced by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

I. Handle personal data lawfully

If you process personal data — about staff, contractors or suppliers — you must comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and in most cases pay the data protection fee to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This applies UK-wide.

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    1. Appoint a mine manager and write your mine health and safety document

    Appoint a single duty holder, prepare risk assessments covering the principal mining hazards, and put safe systems of work, training and supervision in place under HASAWA 1974 and the Mines Regulations 2014.

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    2. Put COSHH controls in for silica and ore dust

    Assess respirable crystalline silica, heavy-metal dusts and fume; control exposure with ventilation, dust suppression and health surveillance where COSHH requires it.

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    3. Bring your plant into a PUWER regime

    Keep drilling rigs, excavators, crushers, winding gear and haulage plant maintained, guarded and used by trained operators, with LOLER for lifting and winding equipment.

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    4. Control manual handling and manage fire safety

    Reduce hazardous handling of tools, steels and materials; assess fire risk for surface buildings and operate the per-nation fire-safety regime.

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    5. Take out employers' liability insurance and register with the ICO

    Arrange at least £5 million of cover before anyone starts work, and pay the data protection fee unless you are exempt.

What to do next

This spine covers running the mine and employing people. On top of it sit the pre-operational permits and consents:

Official sources

Authoritative health and safety guidance for mining.