30 USC § 861 - Mandatory safety standards for underground mines

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t30/s861"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "30 USC § 861 - Mandatory safety standards for underground mines"
title_number: 30
title_name: "MINERAL LANDS AND MINING"
section_number: "861"
section_name: "Mandatory safety standards for underground mines"
chapter_number: 22
chapter_name: "MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH"
subchapter_number: "III"
subchapter_name: "INTERIM MANDATORY SAFETY STANDARDS FOR UNDERGROUND COAL MINES"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 91–173, title III, § 301, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 765; Pub. L. 95–164, title II, § 203, Nov. 9, 1977, 91 Stat. 1317.)"
---


# § 861. Mandatory safety standards for underground mines

**(a)** **Coverage; enforcement; review** section 811 of this titlesection 811 of this title

The provisions of sections 862 through 878 of this title shall be interim mandatory safety standards applicable to all underground coal mines until superseded in whole or in part by improved mandatory safety standards promulgated by the Secretary under the provisions of , and shall be enforced in the same manner and to the same extent as any mandatory safety standard promulgated under . Any orders issued in the enforcement of the interim standards set forth in this subchapter shall be subject to review as provided in subchapter I of this chapter.

**(b)** **Purpose; initiation of studies and research** The purpose of this subchapter is to provide for the immediate application of mandatory safety standards developed on the basis of experience and advances in technology and to prevent newly created hazards resulting from new technology in coal mining. The Secretary of the Interior in coordination with the Secretary shall immediately initiate studies, investigations, and research to further upgrade such standards and to develop and promulgate new and improved standards promptly that will provide increased protection to the miners, particularly in connection with hazards from trolley wires, trolley feeder wires, and signal wires, the splicing and use of trailing cables, and in connection with improvements in vulcanizing of electric conductors, improvement in roof control measures, methane drainage in advance of mining, improved methods of measuring methane and other explosive gases and oxygen concentrations, and the use of improved underground equipment and other sources of power for such equipment.

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**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 91–173, title III, § 301, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 765; Pub. L. 95–164, title II, § 203, Nov. 9, 1977, 91 Stat. 1317.)

## Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1977—Subsec. (b). , substituted “The Secretary of the Interior in coordination with the Secretary shall immediately initiate studies” for “The Secretary shall immediately initiate studies”.

Subsecs. (c), (d). , struck out subsec. (c) which related to the modification of standards, and subsec. (d) which related to the applicability of  in cases where the provisions of sections 862 to 878 of this title had provided that certain actions, conditions, or requirements be carried out as prescribed by the Secretary or the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1977 Amendment

Amendment by  effective 120 days after , except as otherwise provided, see , set out as a note under .

### Effective Date

Section operative 90 days after , except to the extent an earlier date is specifically provided for in , see , set out as a note under .