Quarries: Safety First

On June 15, 2016, the Beshenkovichi District Prosecutor's Office, together with specialists from the land management service of the Beshenkovichi District Executive Committee, conducted an inspection of intra-farm and industrial quarries in the district to ensure proper compliance by subsoil users with the requirements of subsoil legislation regarding the operation, conservation, and liquidation of mine workings (quarries), as well as taking measures to ensure public safety and compliance with environmental legislation.

There are 10 intra-farm and 1 industrial quarry operating in the Beshenkovichi district. During the inspection, it was established that the Beshenkovichi District Executive Committee, along with subsoil users, is taking certain organizational and practical measures to ensure industrial safety during quarry operation and compliance with environmental legislation.

However, deficiencies were also identified, indicating improper compliance with the requirements of Directive No. 1 of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated March 11, 2004, "On Measures to Strengthen Public Safety and Discipline," which must be eliminated to prevent emergencies.

In particular, during visits to the intra-farm quarries "Vyazhishche" of CJSC "ASB Agro-Novator," "Zamelochye" of SHUP "Vyaderevo," and "Sloboda" of DRSU-110, significant safety violations were found, namely: the edges of the quarries are not brought to a safe state, the angles of some slopes have a sheer height, which causes their spontaneous crumbling into the quarry, visually there is an overhang of soil, as well as traces of sand collapse, there are no warning signs about the danger of being in the quarries, which creates a threat to the life and health of not only enterprise employees but also local residents.

Not all subsoil users comply with the requirement of sub-paragraph 1.1 of paragraph 1 of Article 17 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Subsoil, regarding the inadmissibility of carrying out work at a depth exceeding 5 meters.

In the "Vyazhishche" quarry, household and construction waste is allowed to be stored, and an unauthorized dump has formed near the "Vyaderevo" quarry, which contradicts the requirements of sub-paragraph 1.4 of paragraph 1 of Article 17, Article 25 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Waste Management."

In addition, information signs at all quarries do not comply with the requirements for this category of signs specified in paragraph 13 of the Methodological Recommendations on the Procedure for Placing Intra-Farm Quarries, approved by the Chairman of the State Committee on Property of the Republic of Belarus G.I. Kuznetsov on June 7, 2010, namely: there is no information about the date and number of the district executive committee's decision on the choice of the location for the intra-farm quarry, the decision to extend its validity, and the area of the quarries is not indicated.

The presence of the only industrial quarry "Sloboda" of DRSU-110 in the district, which is located at a significant distance from the district center, led to the premature depletion of the intra-farm quarry "Vorokhobki," located in close proximity to the urban-type settlement of Beshenkovichi, whose resources were used by many organizations in the district without observing technological schemes by selective extraction of sand and sand-gravel mixture, bringing it to an extremely unsafe state, in connection with which this quarry was urgently reclaimed to prevent emergencies.