21. Duties of Safety Officer in case of mines.- (1) It shall be the duty of the safety officer in a mine to assist the manager in matter relating to safety in the mine.

(2) The Safety Officer shall ensure that an appropriate emergency plan is in place and the requirements of the same are implemented.

(3) Except in an emergency, no duties other than those specified in sub-rule (1) and sub-rule (5) shall be assigned to the safety officer.

(4) The safety officer shall maintain in a bound paged book or in retrievable and non-editable electronic mode a detailed record of the work performed by safety officer.

(5) The duties of the safety officer shall be-

(a) to visit the surface, aboveground and underground parts of the mine, installations of the oil mine, with a view meeting the employees on the spot, to talk to them on matters of safety and invite suggestions thereon;

(b) to take charge of the newly recruited staff and show them around the mine pointing out the safe and unsafe acts during the course of their work in the mine;

(c) to investigate all types of accidents, dangerous occurrences and incidents in the mine including minor accidents and to analyze the same with a view to pinpointing the nature and common causes of accidents and dangerous occurrences in the mine;

(d) to maintain detailed statistics about mine accidents and to analyse the same with a view to pinpointing the nature and common causes of the accidents in the mine;

(e) to study and apprise the manager referred to in section 67 of the Code, of all possible sources of danger such as inundation, fire, coal dust, blowout in oil mines and others;

(f) to hold safety classes and give safety talks and lectures to the members of the supervisory staff;

(g) to organise safety weeks and other safety education programmes in mines;

(h) to see that all concerned mine employees are fully conversant with various standing orders, code of practice, support plan, and like other matters;

(i) assist in the formulating of programme for training at the mine level, including vocational training, training in gas testing, fire fighting and first aid, and like other matters;

(j) to report to the manager referred to in section 67 of the Code as a result of visits to the various parts of mine, as to whether the provisions of the Code, and the rules and regulations made thereunder are being complied with in the mine; and

(k) to promote safe practices generally and to lend active support to all measures intended for furthering the cause of safety in the mine and follow up measures for compliance.