(225 ILCS 705/31.30) (from Ch. 96 1/2, par. 3130)
Sec. 31.30.
In mines worked by the so-called "enclosed panel system"
where rooms are driven off of both sides of the panel entries and
ventilated by one side of the panel as the intake airway and the other side
as the return, the following shall govern the method of working this type
of panel: When the top end or inby end of the panel begins to squeeze, work
or more as the result of extraction of coal and the area cannot be
examined, men working in the said panel and rooms shall be removed until
movement has abated and the presence of gas cannot be detected with a multi-gas detector. However, if in such panels fire, barrier or
cutoff pillars are left in the center of the panel of adequate thickness
and the entries have been sealed in line with the pillars with adequate
roof support on the inby side of the seals isolating the worked out area
from the live works, then mining operations may be resumed. This shall not
apply to panels worked with rooms on the intake side only, or panels with
bleeder entry system whereby the gas released in the squeezed area will not
contaminate the ventilating air current used to ventilate active workings
within the panel.
(Source: P.A. 99-538, eff. 1-1-17.)
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