Quarries Regs 1999: HSE Quarry Safety Rules

Regulatory citation: The Quarries Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/2024), supported by the Approved Code of Practice L118, Health and safety at quarries

What Are the Quarries Regulations?

The Quarries Regulations 1999 set the main health and safety rules for quarrying in Great Britain. They came into force on 1 January 2000. A quarry is an excavation or system of excavations made to extract minerals or mineral products, excluding mines and wells or boreholes. Nearby land and buildings used for processing and storage, and tips used with the quarry, also count.

Most duties fall on the operator, meaning the person in overall control of the working of the quarry. Employers, contractors and workers at the quarry also have duties.

Why the Quarries Regulations Matter

Quarrying combines several of the highest-risk activities at work: large mobile plant, unstable faces and tips, explosives, deep water and lagoons, and dust.

Core Obligations

1. Appoint a Suitable Operator (Regulations 5 and 6)

The person entitled to work the quarry must not let someone else operate it unless that person is suitable and has sufficient resources. The permission must be recorded in writing. The operator must take the measures needed to protect the health and safety of people at the quarry, so far as is reasonably practicable, and leave the quarry in a safe condition on abandonment or cessation.

2. Prepare the Health and Safety Document (Regulation 7)

No work may start until the operator has prepared a health and safety document. It must show that risks have been assessed under regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and that adequate measures will be taken to protect people at work and people in the surrounding area. It must set out the management structure and record key rules and schemes, including vehicle rules, shotfiring rules, excavations and tips rules, appraisal conclusions and health surveillance arrangements. The document must be kept up to date and made available to every employer and person at work at the quarry.

3. Set a Management Structure and Ensure Competence (Regulations 8 and 9)

The operator must record a management structure, appoint a competent person to take charge whenever people are at work, and nominate a substitute. No one may do any work unless they are competent or are being trained and supervised by a competent person.

4. Review and Inspect (Regulations 11 and 12)

Health and safety measures must be reviewed regularly, at intervals set in the health and safety document, and after significant changes. The operator must keep a written scheme for systematically inspecting, maintaining and, where appropriate, testing the quarry, its buildings and its plant. Faces above every workplace and road must be checked for loose ground or rock before work starts or restarts.

5. Control Vehicles and Edges (Regulations 13, 14 and 16)

Benches and haul roads must be designed, built and maintained so plant can operate safely, with barriers where needed to stop vehicles running off edges. The operator must make written vehicle rules, and provide a suitable perimeter barrier to discourage trespass where appropriate.

6. Manage Explosives (Regulation 25)

The operator must ensure explosives are stored, transported and used safely and securely, and appoint an Explosives Supervisor, with only one acting at any time. Written shotfiring rules and a written specification for each shotfiring operation are required. Detonators must be stored separately, and explosives kept in a locked store or under constant supervision.

7. Keep Excavations and Tips Stable (Regulations 30 to 35)

Excavations and tips must be designed, constructed, operated and maintained to avoid instability or movement that creates a risk. The operator must make excavations and tips rules, and have a competent person appraise every excavation and tip to decide whether it is a significant hazard. Where it is, a geotechnical assessment must be carried out by a geotechnical specialist, a chartered engineer or geologist with at least three years' relevant experience. These notifiable excavations and tips must be reassessed at least every two years, and sooner if conditions change.

8. Notify and Keep Records (Regulations 37, 43, 44 and 45)

The operator must notify HSE about notifiable excavations and tips, and within 14 days of opening or abandoning a quarry or changing the operator. Health surveillance must start before a person begins the relevant work. Reports and records must generally be kept for at least three years.

Common Compliance Approaches

Treat the Document as a Live System

Keep the health and safety document in a controlled, versioned format.

Schedule Inspections and Appraisals

Track face checks, plant inspections, tip appraisals and geotechnical reassessment dates so none are missed.

Example: Quarry Safety in Practice

A limestone quarry plans to raise a waste tip near a public footpath. The competent person's appraisal concludes the tip could be a significant hazard, so the operator commissions a geotechnical assessment from a chartered engineer. The specialist sets a maximum slope and drainage works with a completion date, and the operator notifies HSE. The shotfiring specification for the nearby face is updated, the excavations and tips rules are revised, and the changes are briefed to contractors before tipping restarts.

Related regulations: HSE Management Regulations 1999, HSE PUWER, HSE RIDDOR.

Note: These regulations apply in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and are enforced by HSE. Northern Ireland has separate quarries legislation, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI). HSE's Approved Code of Practice L118 gives practical guidance. Always check the current legislation and HSE guidance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the operator of a quarry?

The person in overall control of the working of the quarry. This may be the landowner, a mineral company or a contractor, but the person entitled to work the quarry must be satisfied the operator is suitable and adequately resourced.

How often must a geotechnical assessment be repeated?

For notifiable excavations and tips, at least every two years, and sooner if there is reason to suspect a significant change or to doubt the conclusion. Other excavations and tips are reappraised at appropriate intervals.

Do the regulations apply to contractors?

Yes. Employers of people working at a quarry must comply with the relevant provisions and must not let employees work there unless there is an operator.