New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 12 - LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 185 - PITS AND QUARRIES (SAFETY REGULATION NUMBER 12)
Subchapter 30 - PHYSICAL CONDITION OF PITS AND QUARRIES
Section 12:185-30.1 - General provisions

(a) The operator of every pit or quarry shall appoint a competent worker who shall be personally in charge of the pit or quarry excavation.

(b) In every pit or quarry where tunneling or underground mining operations are carried on, such operations shall comply with departmental regulations governing tunnel and underground mining operations.

(c) Warning signs shall be posted in all pits or quarries at hazardous places, where they will be most effective in drawing attention to the need for caution in the vicinity of hazardous conditions.

(d) When pits or quarries are worked at night, there shall be sufficient illumination in all working places, so that the movement of workers and equipment can readily be observed. Stripping, loading and drilling equipment shall be well illuminated and tractors shall be equipped with sufficient headlights.

(e) The overburden in all quarries shall be stripped as close to bedrock as it is practicable to do, or to the top of the material being excavated for a distance of at least 15 feet back from the face, and shall then be sloped, where applicable, to its angle of repose for the entire length of the section of the quarry face which is being worked.

(f) Where the danger exists from overburden rolling or sliding into the pit or quarry, barriers, baffle boards, screens, cribbing or other effective means shall be used to reduce the hazard.

(g) No employee shall be permitted to work near any pit or quarry face until such face has been examined by the pit or quarry foreman. If the face is found unsafe all hazards shall be removed before permitting any other work.

(h) The employer or some competent employee designated by him, shall inspect the pit or quarry face for dangerously loose material as follows:

(i) Unworked faces that are not inspected regularly shall be barricaded with danger signs posted in prominent places where hazardous conditions exist.

(j) It shall be the duty of the employer to see that all overhanging banks are eliminated as soon as practicable, except in placers or pits operated by the dredging method where the employees are a safe distance from any overhang.

(k) The persons designated to scale or remove the hazard from falling or sliding material shall be provided with safety belts and lifelines to prevent them from falling in doing such work.

(l) Safety belts and lifelines shall be kept in safe condition and inspected before use. The lifelines shall be snubbed by a second employee or securely lashed to a fixed object in such a manner that the employee cannot fall, and such lifelines may be used as belts.

(m) When the floor of any pit or quarry is below the natural ground level or a highway, the banks of the pit shall not be removed within 25 feet of the property line or the sideline of the highway, and the bank shall be left in such condition that sloughing of the bank will not cause the top of the bank to be less than 25 feet from the property line of the highway.

(n) When the floor of any pit or quarry is more than five feet below the average grade of a highway at any point within 50 feet of the highway, an effective and approved barrier shall be erected by the employer along the property line nearest the highway for an approved distance to provide protection against the drop or fall of persons, or vehicles.

(o) When it is in the best interests of the safety of the public, the employer shall upon request by the Commissioner erect an effective and approved barrier with warning signs along the property line for an approved distance to provide protection against the drop or fall of persons.