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Prohibition of single shafts.
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16.—(1) After the commencement of this Act the owner agent or manager of a mine shall not employ any person in the mine, or permit any person to be in the mine for the purpose of employment therein, unless the following conditions respecting shafts or outlets are complied with, that is to say:—
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(a) There must be at least two shafts or outlets, with which every seam for the time being at work in the mine shall have a communication, so that such shafts or outlets shall afford separate means of ingress and egress available to the persons employed in every such seam, whether the shafts or outlets belong to the same mine or to more than one mine:
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(b) Such shafts or outlets must not at any point be nearer to one another than fifteen yards; and there shall be between such two shafts or outlets a communication not less than four feet wide and three feet high, and in the case of communications made after the commencement of this Act between shafts or outlets, not less than four feet high:
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(c) Proper apparatus for raising and lowering persons at each such shaft or outlet shall be kept on the works belonging to the mine; and such apparatus, if not in actual use at the shafts or outlets, shall be constantly available for use.
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(2) Every owner agent and manager of a mine who acts in contravention of or fails to comply with this section shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.
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(3) Any of Her Majesty’s superior courts, whether any other proceedings have or have not been taken, may, on the application of the Attorney General, prohibit by injunction the working of any mine in which any person is employed, or is permitted to be for the purpose of employment, in contravention of this section, and may award such costs in the matter of the injunction as the court thinks just; but this provision shall be without prejudice to any other remedy permitted by law for enforcing the provisions of this Act.
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(4) Written notice of the intention to apply for such injunction in respect of any mine shall be given to the owner agent or manager of the mine not less than ten days before the application is made.
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