Mining and quarrying activities are generally classified as either underground or surface operations. Underground work includes mining, tunnelling, or excavating to create rock cavities. Surface operations may involve open-pit mining, quarrying, crushing, rock construction, cutting, or exploration.

Occupational risks in rock and mining work

Rock and mining present significant health and safety risks. Workers may be injured by explosions, exposed to rockfalls, or suffer from oxygen deficiency underground.

Common tasks often require working in dark, damp environments, operating large machinery, maintaining awkward postures, and performing physically demanding manual labour. Many of the risks are similar for both surface and underground work, although the same task can involve different hazards depending on whether it is carried out above or below ground. These differences often depend on factors such as the composition and stability of the rock.

Responsibilities in rock and mining work

As an employer, you hold the primary responsibility for ensuring a safe working environment for your employees. In cases where you do not have direct control over the workplace or the authority to implement safety measures, responsibility also falls to:

• the designated health and safety coordinator for the permanent workplace
• the client
• the appointed building work environment coordinator for the design phase (Bas‍-‍P) and the construction phase (Bas-U).

If it is not possible to ensure safe working conditions, the work must not proceed.

Individual risk assessment for pregnant or breastfeeding employees

If an employee working in rock or mining notifies you that she is pregnant or breastfeeding, you must carry out an individual risk assessment of her working environment without delay. It is strictly prohibited for a pregnant or breastfeeding employee to work underground if the risk assessment identifies particular hazards to her health or to the unborn or nursing child.

Employees are encouraged to inform their employer as early as possible if they are pregnant or breastfeeding. Early notification is essential to enable the employer to meet their legal obligations and ensure a safe working environment.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Multiple regulations often apply to rock and mining work

Rock and mining operations typically involve several parties working together on different tasks. As a result, various regulations may apply simultaneously, including those concerning blasting, design and building work environment coordination, as well as building and civil engineering work. 

Building and civil engineering work, design, building work environment coordination

When regulations on rock and mining work do not apply

The specific provisions for rock and mining work do not extend to activities conducted in completed and fully equipped rock and underground facilities. Examples include work carried out in:

• control centres
• military installations
• power stations
• civil defence facilities
• underground car parks
• underground railway systems
• wastewater treatment plants with tunnel infrastructure
• workshops.