                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

 DEFINITIONS (§ 45.2-501)

As used in the Coal Mine Safety Act, unless the context requires a different
meaning:
		&#8220;Accident&#8221; means (i) a death of an individual at a mine; (ii) a
serious personal injury; (iii) an entrapment of an individual for more than 30
minutes; (iv) an unplanned inundation of a mine by liquid or gas; (v) an
unplanned ignition or explosion of gas or dust; (vi) an unplanned fire not
extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery; (vii) an unplanned ignition or
explosion of a blasting agent or an explosive; (viii) an unplanned roof fall at
or above the anchorage zone in active workings where roof bolts are in use, or
an unplanned roof or rib fall in active workings that impairs ventilation or
impedes passage; (ix) a coal or rock outburst that causes withdrawal of miners
or that disrupts regular mining activity for more than one hour; (x) an unstable
condition at an impoundment, refuse pile, or culm bank that requires emergency
action in order to prevent failure or that causes individuals to evacuate an
area, or failure of an impoundment, refuse pile, or culm bank; (xi) damage to
hoisting equipment in a shaft or slope that endangers an individual or
interferes with use of the equipment for more than 30 minutes; (xii) an event at
a mine that causes death or bodily injury to any individual not at a mine at the
time the event occurs; and (xiii) the unintentional fall of highwall that
entraps equipment for more than 30 minutes.
		&#8220;Active area&#8221; means any place in a mine that is ventilated, if
underground, and examined regularly.
		&#8220;Active workings&#8221; means any place in a mine where miners are
normally required to work or travel.
		&#8220;Agent&#8221; means any person charged by the operator with
responsibility for the operation of all or a part of a mine or the supervision
of miners in a mine.
		&#8220;Approved&#8221; means, with reference to a device, apparatus,
equipment, condition, method, course, or practice, approved in writing by the
Chief or the Director.
		&#8220;Authorized person&#8221; means a person who is assigned by the operator
or agent to perform a specific type of duty or to be at a specific location in
the mine and is trained and has demonstrated the ability to perform such duty
safely and effectively.
		&#8220;Auxiliary fan&#8221; means a supplemental underground fan installed to
increase the volume of air to a specified location for the purpose of
controlling dust, methane, or air quality.
		&#8220;Board&#8221; means the Board of Coal Mining Examiners established
pursuant to Article 3 (§ 45.2-515 et seq.).
		&#8220;Cable&#8221; means (i) a stranded conductor, known as single-conductor
cable, or (ii) a combination of conductors insulated from one another, known as
multiple-conductor cable.
		&#8220;Certified person&#8221; means a person who holds a valid certificate
from the Board of Coal Mining Examiners authorizing him to perform the task to
which he is assigned.
		&#8220;Circuit&#8221; means a conducting part or a system of conducting parts
through which an electric current is intended to flow.
		&#8220;Circuit breaker&#8221; means a device for interrupting a circuit
between separable contacts under normal or abnormal conditions.
		&#8220;Coal mine&#8221; means a surface coal mine or an underground coal mine.
		&#8220;Coal Mine Safety Act&#8221; or &#8220;the Act&#8221; means this chapter
and Chapters 7 (§ 45.2-700 et seq.), 8 (§ 45.2-800 et seq.), and 9 (§
45.2-900 et seq.) and includes any regulations adopted thereunder, where
applicable.
		&#8220;Cross entry&#8221; means any entry or set of entries, turned from main
entries, from which room entries are turned.
		&#8220;Experienced surface miner&#8221; means a person with six months or more
of experience working at a surface mine or the surface area of an underground
coal mine.
		&#8220;Experienced underground miner&#8221; means a person with six months or
more of underground coal mining experience.
		&#8220;Federal mine safety law&#8221; means the Federal Mine Safety and Health
Act of 1977 (P.L. 91-173, as amended by 95-164), and regulations adopted
thereunder.
		&#8220;Fuse&#8221; means an overcurrent protective device with a
circuit-opening fusible member directly heated and destroyed by the passage of
overcurrent through it.
		&#8220;Ground&#8221; means a conducting connection between an electric circuit
or electrical equipment and earth or to some conducting body that serves in
place of earth.
		&#8220;Grounded&#8221; means connected to earth or to some connecting body
that serves in place of earth.
		&#8220;Hazardous condition&#8221; means a condition that is likely to cause
death or serious personal injury to any person exposed to such condition.
		&#8220;Imminent danger&#8221; means the existence of any condition or practice
in a mine that could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious personal
injury before such condition or practice can be abated.
		&#8220;Inactive mine&#8221; means a mine (i) at which (a) coal or minerals
have not been excavated or processed or (b) work, other than examination by a
certified person or emergency work to preserve the mine, has not been performed
for a period of 30 days at an underground coal mine or for a period of 60 days
at a surface mine; (ii) for which a valid license is in effect; and (iii) at
which reclamation activities have not been completed.
		&#8220;Inexperienced underground miner&#8221; means a person with less than
six months of underground coal mining experience.
		&#8220;Intake air&#8221; means air that has not passed through the last active
working place of the split of any working section or any worked-out area,
whether pillared or nonpillared, and by analysis contains at least 19.5 percent
oxygen and not more than 0.5 percent carbon dioxide and does not contain a
hazardous quantity of flammable gas or a harmful quantity of poisonous gas.
		&#8220;Interested persons&#8221; means members of the mine safety committee
and other duly authorized representatives of the employees at a mine, MSHA
employees, mine inspectors, and, to the extent required by the Act, any other
person.
		&#8220;Main entry&#8221; means the principal entry or set of entries driven
through the coal bed or mineral deposit and from which cross entries, room
entries, or rooms are turned.
		&#8220;Mine&#8221; means any underground coal mine or surface coal mine. Mines
that are adjacent to each other and under the same management and that are
administered as distinct units are considered separate mines. A site is not
considered a mine unless the coal extracted or excavated from it is offered for
sale or exchange or used for any other commercial purpose. The area in which
coal is excavated under an exemption to the permitting requirements of §
45.2-1009 is not a mine.
		&#8220;Mine fire&#8221; means an unplanned fire not extinguished within 30
minutes of discovery.
		&#8220;Mine foreman&#8221; means a person who holds a valid certificate of
qualification as a foreman duly issued by action of the Board of Coal Mining
Examiners.
		&#8220;Mine inspector&#8221; means a public employee assigned by the Chief or
the Director to make mine inspections as required by the Act and other
applicable laws.
		&#8220;Miner&#8221; means any individual working in a mine.
		&#8220;Mineral&#8221; means clay, stone, sand, gravel, metalliferous and
nonmetalliferous ores, and any other solid material or substance of commercial
value excavated in solid form from natural deposits on or in the earth,
exclusive of coal and any mineral that occurs naturally in liquid or gaseous
form.
		&#8220;Monthly&#8221; means, unless otherwise stated, occurring any time
during the period of the first through the last day of a calendar month.
		&#8220;Mine Safety and Health Administration&#8221; or &#8220;MSHA&#8221;
means the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.
		&#8220;Operator&#8221; means any person who operates, controls, or supervises
a mine or any independent contractor performing services or construction at a
mine.
		&#8220;Panel entry&#8221; means a room entry.
		&#8220;Permissible&#8221; means a device, process, equipment, or method
classified as &#8220;permissible&#8221; by MSHA, when such classification is
adopted by the Chief or the Director, and includes all requirements,
restrictions, exceptions, limitations, and conditions attached to such
classification by MSHA unless otherwise expressly stated in the Act.
		&#8220;Return air&#8221; means air that has passed through (i) the last active
working place on each split or (ii) worked-out areas, whether pillared or
nonpillared.
		&#8220;Room entry&#8221; means any entry or set of entries from which rooms
are turned.
		&#8220;Serious personal injury&#8221; means any injury that has a reasonable
potential to cause death or any injury other than a sprain or strain that
requires an admission to a hospital for 24 hours or more for medical treatment.
		&#8220;Substation&#8221; means an electrical installation containing
generating or power-conversion equipment and associated electric equipment and
parts, such as switchboards, switches, wiring, fuses, circuit breakers,
compensators, and transformers.
		&#8220;Surface coal mine&#8221; means (i) the pit and other active and
inactive areas of surface extraction of coal; (ii) on-site preparation plants,
shops, tipples, and related facilities appurtenant to the extraction and
processing of coal; (iii) surface areas for the transportation and storage of
coal extracted at the site; (iv) impoundments, retention dams, tailing ponds,
and refuse disposal areas appurtenant to the extraction of coal from the site;
(v) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property used in or to be used in the
extraction of coal from the site; (vi) private ways and roads appurtenant to
such areas; and (vii) the areas used to prepare a site for surface coal
extraction activities. A site commences being a surface coal mine upon the
beginning of any site preparation activity other than exploratory drilling or
other exploration activity that does not disturb the surface and ceases to be a
surface coal mine upon completion of initial reclamation activities.
		&#8220;Travel way&#8221; means a passage, walk, or way regularly used and
designated for persons to go from one place to another.
		&#8220;Underground coal mine&#8221; means (i) the working face and other
active and inactive areas of underground excavation of coal; (ii) underground
travel ways, shafts, slopes, drifts, inclines, and tunnels connected to such
areas; (iii) on-site preparation plants, shops, tipples, and related facilities
appurtenant to the excavation and processing of coal; (iv) on-site surface areas
for the transportation and storage of coal excavated at the site; (v)
impoundments, retention dams, and tailing ponds appurtenant to the excavation of
coal from the site; (vi) equipment, machinery, tools, and other property, on the
surface and underground, used in or to be used in the excavation of coal from
the site; (vii) private ways and roads appurtenant to such areas; (viii) the
areas used to prepare a site for underground coal excavation activities; and
(ix) areas used for the drilling of vertical ventilation holes. A site commences
being an underground coal mine upon the beginning of any site preparation
activity other than exploratory drilling or other exploration activity and
ceases to be an underground coal mine upon completion of initial reclamation
activities.
		&#8220;Weekly&#8221; means, unless otherwise stated, occurring any time during
the period of Sunday through Saturday of a calendar week.
		&#8220;Work area&#8221; means an area of a surface coal mine in production or
being prepared for production and an area of the mine that may pose a danger to
miners at such area.
		&#8220;Worked-out area&#8221; means an area where underground coal mining has
been completed, whether pillared or nonpillared, excluding developing entries,
return air courses, and intake air courses.
		&#8220;Working face&#8221; means any place in a mine in which work of
extracting coal from its natural deposit in the earth is performed during the
mining cycle.
		&#8220;Working place&#8221; means the area of an underground coal mine inby
the last open crosscut.
		&#8220;Working section&#8221; means all areas from the loading point of a
section to and including the working faces.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 45-0.2; 1954, c. 191; 1966, c. 594, § 45.1-2; 1975, c.
520; 1978, cc. 120, 489; 1980, c. 442; 1984, c. 590; 1993, c. 442; 1994, c. 28,
§ 45.1-161.8; 1996, c. 774; 1997, c. 390; 1999, c. 256; 2005, c. 3; 2021, Sp.
Sess. I, c. 387.