2023 Maryland Statutes
Environment
Title 15 - Mines and Mining
Subtitle 4 - Rules and Regulations Governing Mining Activity
Section 15-403 - Fire Bosses
(a) The operator of every gassy mine shall employ a sufficient number of fire bosses. Each fire boss shall satisfy the operator of his competence, and shall have first obtained a certificate of competence from the examining authority as prescribed in this title.
(b) Any mine foreman holding a first-class certificate of competency may act as fire boss. In an emergency, any fire boss, properly certified, may act as assistant mine foreman until a regularly qualified person is employed.
(c) The operator shall provide a permanent station at or near the principal entrance of the mine, indicated plainly by legible signs, where the fire boss shall give information regarding the state of the mine to each worker before he goes on his shift. When the working portion of any mine is 1 mile or more from the entrance to the mine or from the bottom of the shaft or slope, a station, with the approval of the district mine inspector, may be located near the workings. No one, except the mine foreman, fire boss, or someone expressly authorized in an emergency, may pass beyond the station until every part of the mine has been examined and reported safe. The fire boss may not permit any unauthorized person to enter into or remain in any portion of a mine through which a dangerous accumulation of gas is being passed into the ventilating current from any portion of the mine. He shall report any violation of this provision to the mine foreman. When the station of the fire boss is located at a distance within the mine convenient to portions being worked, the operator shall wall off any abandoned workings, whether finished or not, from the main intake and manway heading or passageway of the mine by a stopping of masonry or concrete, sufficiently heavy to keep explosive or noxious gas from entering the intake air at any point between the fire bosses’ station and the entrance to the mine.
(d) Suitable duplicate record books shall be kept at the mine office on the surface and at the fire bosses’ permanent station. They shall be accessible to the district mine inspector and any worker at the mine. The fire boss shall enter and sign in ink a full daily report of each day’s examination stating clearly the approximate amount and location of explosive or noxious gas in the mine. The report also shall state clearly the nature and location of any danger discovered in any place in the mine, and whether it has been reported immediately to the mine foreman. The mine foreman shall read and countersign the report each day.
(e) A fire boss may not neglect to make any examination required, fail to report any danger discovered, knowingly report falsely on any condition within the mine, or fail or neglect to make the reports required.
