Safe Quarry - Health and Safety Authority

PART I
INTERPRETATION AND GENERAL
1. WHAT IS A QUARRY?
(Regulation 3)
Meaning of “quarry”
3. (1) In these Regulations “quarry” means,
subject to paragraph (2), an excavation or
system of excavations for the purpose of, or
in connection with, the surface extraction
of, or prospecting for, minerals and includes
any of the following:
(a) so much of the area (including works thereon
and ancillary surface installations such as
buildings and other premises and structures
providing accommodation, rest and sanitary
facilities) adjacent to or surrounding
quarrying operations as is occupied for the
purpose of, or used in connection with -
(i) those operations,
(ii) the storage or preparation for sale of the
minerals extracted from the quarry, or
(iii) the removal from the quarry of any substance
extracted from the quarry;
(b) a tip;
(c) a lagoon;
(d) a reclamation site -
(i) from which materials are being extracted for
further use or for sale, and
(ii) where that extraction forms part of the
process whereby that site is restored for
agricultural,industrial,leisure or domestic use;
(e) a railway line or siding at the quarry.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), “quarry” does
not include any of the following:
(a) a mine within the meaning of section 3 of the
Mines and Quarries Act 1965 (No. 7 of 1965);
(b) a place where any of the following operations
are carried out:
(i) extraction of minerals through drilling
by boreholes,
(ii) prospecting with a view to such extraction,
(iii) preparation for sale of such extracted materials;
(c) an excavation or system of excavations made
in the carrying out of construction work
within the meaning of the Safety, Health and
Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations
(S.I. No. 504 of 2006);
(d)
(e)
(f)
a public road;
an area of a quarry at which any manufacturing
process (including the processing of
minerals) is carried out;
an area of a quarry that is being used
exclusively for a work activity unconnected
with the extraction of minerals, or the
preparation for sale of minerals.
A quarry is an excavation or series of excavations
made for the purpose of, or in connection with, the
surface extraction of minerals (whether in their
natural state or in solution) or products of minerals.
A quarry includes:
All the surface mineral workings and excavations;
Tips (even if they are outside the site boundary);
Storage of minerals (including stockpiles);
Lagoons (natural or man made);
Areas used for preparation of extracted minerals
for sale (this includes crushing, screening,
washing, drying, bagging and loading areas);
Quarry roadways and railways;
Buildings and structures at the quarry used for
the working of the quarry; and
Any reclamation site or disused tips (where the
minerals are being extracted for sale or further
use).
The activities covered are:
(a) Preparation for the extraction of minerals;
(b) Work activities where mineral extraction or
preparation takes place;
(c) Work to prevent water or other material flowing
into an adjacent quarry; (even after quarrying
has finished); and
(d) Abandonment of a quarry including reclamation
and landscaping work.
A quarry does not include an excavation or system
of excavations made for the purpose of,or in connection
with,the extraction of such minerals or products
of minerals where the exclusive purpose of that
extraction is to enable the minerals or products of
minerals so extracted to be used for the purpose of
carrying out any building work, civil engineering or
engineering construction work on the site at which
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SAFE QUARRY GUIDELINES TO THE SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE AT WORK (QUARRIES) REGULATIONS 2008