(a) All water, sediment, or slurry impoundments that meet the requirements of §77.216(a) shall be examined as follows:

(1) At intervals not exceeding 7 days, or as otherwise approved by the District Manager, for appearances of structural weakness and other hazardous conditions.

(2) All instruments shall be monitored at intervals not exceeding 7 days, or as otherwise approved by the District Manager.

(3) Longer inspection or monitoring intervals approved under this paragraph (a) shall be justified by the operator based on the hazard potential and performance of the impounding structure, and shall include a requirement for inspection immediately after a specified rain event approved by the District Manager.

(4) All inspections required by this paragraph (a) shall be performed by a qualified person designated by the person owning, operating, or controlling the impounding structure.

(b) When a potentially hazardous condition develops, the person owning, operating or controlling the impounding structure shall immediately:

(1) Take action to eliminate the potentially hazardous condition;

(2) Notify the District Manager;

(3) Notify and prepare to evacuate, if necessary, all coal miners from coal mine property which may be affected by the potentially hazardous conditions; and

(4) Direct a qualified person to monitor all instruments and examine the structure at least once every eight hours, or more often as required by an authorized representative of the Secretary.

(c) After each examination and instrumentation monitoring referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, each qualified person who conducted all or any part of the examination or instrumentation monitoring shall promptly record the results of such examination or instrumentation monitoring in a book which shall be available at the mine for inspection by an authorized representative of the Secretary, and such qualified person shall also promptly report the results of the examination or monitoring to one of the persons specified in paragraph (d) of this section.

(d) All examination and instrumentation monitoring reports recorded in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section shall include a report of the action taken to abate hazardous conditions and shall be promptly signed or countersigned by at least one of the following persons:

(1) The mine foreman;

(2) The assistant superintendent of the mine;

(3) The superintendent of the mine;

(4) The person designated by the operator as responsible for health and safety at the mine.

(e) Before May 1, 1976, the person owning, operating, or controlling a water, sediment, or slurry impoundment which meets the requirements of §77.216(a) shall adopt a program for carrying out the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section. The program shall be submitted for approval to the District Manager. The program shall include as a minimum:

(1) A schedule and procedures for examining the impoundment and impounding structure by a designated qualified person;

(2) A schedule and procedures for monitoring any required or approved instrumentation by a designated qualified person;

(3) Procedures for evaluating hazardous conditions;

(4) Procedures for eliminating hazardous conditions;

(5) Procedures for notifying the District Manager;

(6) Procedures for evacuating coal miners from coal mine property which may be affected by the hazardous condition.

(f) Before making any changes or modifications in the program approved in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section, the person owning, operating, or controlling the impoundment shall obtain approval of such changes or modifications from the District Manager.

(g) The qualified person or persons referred to in paragraphs (a), (b)(4), (c), (e)(1), and (e)(2) of this section shall be trained to recognize specific signs of structural instability and other hazardous conditions by visual observation and, if applicable, to monitor instrumentation.

(Secs. 101, 508, Pub. L. 91-173, 83 Stat. 745, 803 (30 U.S.C. 811, 957))

[40 FR 41777, Sept. 9, 1975, as amended at 57 FR 7471, Mar. 2, 1992]