§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what statutory requirements are placed on quarry owners to warn the public of possible dangers.
§ Mr. MarksEmployers generally and self-employed persons, including quarry owners, have the duty by virtue of Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974 to conduct their undertakings in such a way as to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that persons other than their employees who may be affected by the undertakings are not exposed to risks to their safety. In the case of quarries, whether this duty should be fulfilled by warning notices or by other means is a matter for those on whom the duty is imposed.
In addition, there are specific requirements as to warnings. Warning notices of blasting operations in quarries are required by virtue of the Quarries (Explosives) Regulations 1959. Notices are also required in certain circumstances 352W where underwater pumping creates an overhand at the end of a mineral working.
So far as disused quarries are concerned, Section 151(2)(c) of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 enables local authorities, by means of the statutory nuisance provisions, to require owners of either active or disused quarries, which are not already fenced, and which constitute a danger to the public by virtue of their accessibility from a highway or a place of public resort, to erect a fence or otherwise abate the nuisance. Section 144 of the Highways Act 1959, provides that if on any land adjoining a street there is an unfenced or inadequately fenced source of danger to persons using the street a local authority may require the owner to erect a fence or carry out repairs. Finally, Section 25 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 empowers local authorities to carry out works to remove the danger caused by an unfenced excavation near to a highway or place of public resort whether or not they can trace the owner of the land in question.