The Ministries of Health and Social Protection, Labor and Mines and Energy issued Decree 944 of June 1st, 2022, which modified the Safety Regulations for Underground Mining Operations.

Among the main amendments, we note the extension of the scope of application of the regulation to individual and legal persons carrying out the following underground mining activities in the national territory: (i) mining titleholder, its operator or subcontractor; (ii) beneficiaries of special reserve areas; (iii) beneficiaries of temporary authorizations; (iv) small-scale miners (the “Miners”)

New definitions are introduced, such as certification for safety and health work in underground works, certificate of suitability in explosives, ventilation circuit, labor aptitude, atmospheric contamination in underground mining works, air flow or ventilation flow, permissible detonator, permissible electric detonator, permissible explosive, underground mining or shaft mining, risk factors, mine surface infrastructure, waste material, preventive measures, labor qualification standards, protection , imminent risk.

It is important to mention that the Decree included, among other obligations of the mining employer, the identification, evaluation, intervention and permanent monitoring of the exposure to psychosocial risks at work in order to improve the psychological health of workers and prevent accidents in underground mining activities.

Likewise, Article 14 was modified, which provided that workers who develop underground works must be trained by the competent entities. Furthermore, the Miners must provide training in underground mining works of the workers under their charge through institutions such as SENA, technical, technological and university institutions duly approved by the Ministry of National Education and Training institutions for work and human development and family compensation funds - CCF.

For this purpose, those interested in providing training and updating programs in occupational safety and health in mining work (whose purpose and content is developed in detail in this Decree) must apply to the Directorate of Mobility and Training for Labor of the Ministry of Labor for the respective registration, accrediting technical and legal sufficiency and other requirements established.

A significant change in Article 15 is that the apprentices of the labor training institutions and SENA are not included in the list of persons required to be trained in underground mining safety.  

Another aspect that was modified is the selection process of personnel to form the emergency brigades, since former Article 31 indicated that the number of brigade members or mine rescue workers would be at least thirty percent (30%) of the total number of workers in the mine or underground workings, while the new requirement is that the selection process to form emergency brigades will be done considering the voluntary application of the potential members as well as by the call that each supervisor makes to its qualified personnel.  

With respect to the investigation of serious and fatal accidents, Article 233 of Decree 1886 previously provided that the ANM was responsible for the training of rescue personnel and mining rescue workers. Instead, under the new decree, the ANM may rely on other entities through the execution of cooperation agreements for the training of rescue logistic coordinators and mining rescue workers.

There was an important modification in relation to the number of mining personnel, as previously the number of personnel per production unit (pithead) was not established. With Decree 944 of 2022, new standards are as follows, (i) for every 1 to 10 workers there will be a minimum of 1 personnel; (ii) for every 11 to 20 workers there will be at least two; (iii)  for every 21 to 30 workers there will be at least three; (iv) for every 31 to 40 workers there will be at least four;, and for every 41-50 workers there will be one crew of five personnel. If the number of workers is greater than 51, the relief personnel shall be equivalent to 10% of the workers.

To read the Decree 944 of June 1st, 2022, please click on the following link: