30 CFR 50.2 – Definitions
As used in this part:
(a) Mine means: (1) An area of land from which minerals are extracted in nonliquid form or, if in liquid form, are extracted with workers underground (2) private ways and roads appurtenant to such area, and (3) lands, excavations, underground passageways, shafts, slopes, tunnels and workings, structures, facilities, equipment, machines, tools, or other property including impoundments, retention dams, and tailings ponds, on the surface or underground, used in, or to be used in, or resulting from, the work of extracting such minerals from their natural deposits in nonliquid form, or if in liquid form, with workers underground, or used in, or to be used in, the milling of such minerals, or the work of preparing coal or other minerals, and includes custom coal preparation facilities.
(b) Work of preparing the coal means the breaking, crushing, sizing, cleaning, washing, drying, mixing, storing, and loading of bituminous coal, lignite, or anthracite, and such other work of preparing such coal as is usually done by the operator of the coal mine.
(c) Operator means
(1) Any owner, lessee, or other person who operates, controls, or supervises a coal mine; or,
(2) The person, partnership, association, or corporation, or subsidiary of a corporation operating a metal or nonmetal mine, and owning the right to do so, and includes any agent thereof charged with responsibility for the operation of such mine.
(d) Miner means any individual working in a mine.
(e) Occupational injury means any injury to a miner which occurs at a mine for which medical treatment is administered, or which results in death or loss of consciousness, inability to perform all job duties on any day after an injury, temporary assignment to other duties, or transfer to another job.
(f) Occupational illness means an illness or disease of a miner which may have resulted from work at a mine or for which an award of compensation is made.
(g) First aid means one-time treatment, and any follow-up visit for observational purposes, of a minor injury.
(h) Accident means:
(1) A death of an individual at a mine;
(2) An injury to an individual at a mine which has a reasonable potential to cause death;
(3) An entrapment of an individual for more than 30 minutes or which has a reasonable potential to cause death;
(4) An unplanned inundation of a mine by a liquid or gas;
(5) An unplanned ignition or explosion of gas or dust;
(6) In underground mines, an unplanned fire not extinguished within 10 minutes of discovery; in surface mines and surface areas of underground mines, an unplanned fire not extinguished within 30 minutes of discovery;
(7) An unplanned ignition or explosion of a blasting agent or an explosive;
(8) 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;
(9) A coal or rock outburst that causes withdrawal of miners or which disrupts regular mining activity for more than one hour;
(10) An unstable condition at an impoundment, refuse pile, or culm bank which requires emergency action in order to prevent failure, or which causes individuals to evacuate an area; or, failure of an impoundment, refuse pile, or culm bank;
(11) Damage to hoisting equipment in a shaft or slope which endangers an individual or which interferes with use of the equipment for more than thirty minutes; and
(12) An event at a mine which causes death or bodily injury to an individual not at the mine at the time the event occurs.