All provinces and territories · Editable Word template

Surface mining, pit and quarry safety manual template

A complete written health and safety program for gravel and sand pits, rock quarries, aggregate producers, crushing and screening contractors, small surface mines and the drill, blast, haul and reclamation contractors who work at them, wherever in Canada the site is. It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements and written for the work: haul roads and berms, mobile equipment and light vehicles, highwalls, faces and scaling, stockpiles and reclaim tunnels, crushing and screening plants, conveyors, lockout, drilling, blasting and misfires, silica, noise and vibration, ponds and dredging, bins and hoppers, portable plant electrical, large tires, weather and remote sites. Section 15 sets out the law of every province and territory, and federal workplaces, side by side, with which law governs a pit, a quarry and a surface mine, who the regulator is, blaster certification, mine rescue and how fast each one wants a serious incident reported. Underground mining is out of scope. It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own.

A look inside

Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.

Cover with room for your logo and company name

Linked table of contents, laid out on the 14 national COR elements plus a section on working across Canada

Section 3: twenty safe work practices written for pits, quarries and surface mines, highwalls and faces shown

Section 15: which law and regulator govern a pit or quarry in each jurisdiction, notice before opening, and blaster certification

Appendix A: all 74 documentation questions of the national COR elements mapped

Print-ready forms: the blast area clearance record shown

What’s in the manual

1. Safety and health policy

A signed, dated policy, the written program, and responsibilities for management, the mine manager or pit supervisor, operators, haul truck drivers, plant operators, drillers and blasters, mechanics and contractors.

2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control

Formal hazard assessments by site and activity, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, a critical task inventory, and the site and shift hazard assessment for the pit, quarry or mine.

3. Safe work practices

Twenty practices for the site: sign-in and the site rules, haul roads, mobile equipment, light vehicles, highwalls and scaling, stockpiles, crushing and screening, conveyors, lockout, drilling, blasting, silica, noise and vibration, water, bins and hoppers, heights, portable plant electrical, large tires, weather and remote sites.

4. Safe job procedures

Step-by-step procedures for clearing a blocked crusher, locking out a conveyor, scaling a face, loading a haul truck, clearing and guarding a blast area, handling a misfire, entering a bin or hopper and moving a portable crushing plant.

5. Company safety rules

Life-saving rules for the site (never at the toe of a stockpile or face, positive radio contact before you pass, lock it out before you clear it, nobody in the blast area), and a progressive discipline process applied the same way every time.

6. Personal protective equipment

Respirators for silica dust and fit testing, hearing protection, high-visibility apparel, fall protection on plants and the rest of the basic PPE.

7. Preventative maintenance program

Haul trucks, loaders and dozers, crushers, screens and conveyors and their guards, portable plant electrical, tires and rims, and light vehicles.

8. Training and communication

Mobile equipment operators, certified blasters, the certificates mines law requires where you work, and site orientation for every worker and contractor.

9. Inspections

A face examination every shift, haul road and berm inspections, plant pre-start checks and mobile equipment pre-use inspections.

10. Investigations and reporting

Collisions, rollovers, face and stockpile failures, conveyor incidents, misfires and fly rock reported and investigated, to the regulator that governs the site.

11. Emergency preparedness

An engulfment, a rollover, a person caught in a conveyor, a misfire, a fall into water, fire, and first aid far from medical help.

12. Statistics, records and document control

Face and haul road inspections, plant checks, blast records, entry permits and training, kept for the longest period any jurisdiction requires.

13. Legislation

Mines and OHS law and which governs your site, explosives law and blaster certification, the CSA standards, aggregate industry guidance as guidance, and the right to refuse.

14. Procurement and contractor management

Drill, blast and haul contractors, the public and trucks at the scale, and buying equipment and explosives.

15. Working across Canada

Whose law applies and how mines, pits and quarries are governed, then every province and territory and federal workplaces side by side: the law and regulator at a mine, notice before opening a pit, blaster certification, mine rescue, and serious incidents to report and how fast, in hours where mines law says so.

Appendix A. COR cross-reference

Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records.

Appendix B. Forms

36 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: among them the site and shift hazard assessment, haul road and berm inspection, face, highwall and stockpile inspection, crusher and screen plant pre-start, blast area clearance record and mobile equipment pre-use inspection.

Written for the work, not just the province

A pit or quarry kills people in a few ways: a pickup under a haul truck, a face or stockpile that lets go, a crusher cleared while it can move, a blast area not cleared. This manual is written around them, practice by practice and procedure by procedure.

In several provinces a mine, pit or quarry falls under a separate mines act and a different regulator. Section 15 says which, and where to report.

One program for every province you work in

Your crews follow the occupational health and safety law of the province or territory where the site is, not where your office is. The manual sets your company’s rules once and gathers what changes at each border into section 15, so a supervisor starting work in a new province looks up what applies there.

It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it suits a COR audit wherever you certify. Each certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check it against yours; our provincial manuals follow each province’s audit exactly. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.

Who it is for

Gravel and sand pits, rock quarries, aggregate producers, crushing and screening contractors, small surface mines, and drill, blast, haul and reclamation contractors. Underground operations are governed by their own mining regulations and this manual isn’t written for them.

A template is a starting point, not legal or engineering advice: a qualified person must adapt it to your site before you issue it.

Lifetime updates

When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.

Version 1.0 October 29, 2026
- First edition, written for surface mines, pits and quarries and laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit.
- Section 15 sets out which law and regulator govern a mine, pit or quarry, mine reporting, blaster certification and mine rescue rules of every province and territory and federal workplaces, checked against the legislation in force on 28 October 2026.