                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

 COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (§ 45.2-811)

A. Telephone service or equivalent two-way communication facilities shall be
provided between the top and each landing of each main shaft or slope. A
telephone or equivalent two-way communication facility shall be located on the
surface within 500 feet of each main portal and installed in either a building
or a box-like structure that is designed to protect the facility from damage by
inclement weather. At least one of these communication facilities shall be at a
location where an authorized person who is always on duty when miners are
underground can see or hear the facility and respond immediately in the event of
an emergency.

B. Telephone lines, other than cables, shall be carried on insulators, installed
on the opposite side from power or trolley wires, and insulated adequately where
they cross power or trolley wires.

C. Lightning arrestors shall be provided at each point where a telephone circuit
enters the mine and at each telephone on the surface. Where the telephone
circuit enters a building or structure, a lightning arrestor is required only at
the point at which the circuit enters such building or structure.

D. If a communication system other than telephones is used and its operation
depends entirely upon power from the mine electric system, a means shall be
provided to permit continued communication in the event the mine electric power
fails or is cut off.

E. Communication systems equipped with audible and visual signals that become
operative when telephone communication is being established between the phones
of the communication station on the surface and the underground working sections
shall be provided.

F. The Chief shall adopt regulations governing any disruption of communication
in a mine.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 45-82.4; 1954, c. 191; 1966, c. 594, § 45.1-81; 1978, c.
118; 1979, c. 315; 1994, c. 28, § 45.1-161.191; 1996, c. 774; 1999, c. 256;
2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.