Aberfan Disaster Tribunal

A National Tip Safety Committee should be appointed to advise the Minister and to co-ordinate research into the problem of tip safety and of bulk disposal of industrial waste products (Paragraph 289).

The National Coal Board should continue to have prime responsibility in respect of all tips in its ownership (Paragraph 290).

A standard Code of Practice should be prepared for consideration by the National Tip Safety Committee with a view to its being issued publicly and applied to all tips, whether in the ownership of the National Coal Board or otherwise (Paragraph 291).

Her Majesty's Inspectorate, strengthened by the addition of qualified civil engineers and armed with additional statutory powers, should be made responsible for ensuring the discharge by National Coal Board officials of their duties in relation to tip stability and control (Paragraph 291).

A local authority should have access to plans for tipping and reports on existing tips and, if not satisfied with them, should have a right of appeal to the Minister, who might appoint an independent expert to conduct an examination and make recommendations (Paragraph 295).

Men engaged in the daily management and control of tips should be trained for their responsibilities (Paragraph 295).

Managers and surveyors should as soon as possible be made aware of the rudiments of soil mechanics and ground-water conditions. The statutory qualifications for managers and surveyors should be amended to include awareness of the rudiments of soil mechanics and hydrogeology, in addition to the geology already comprised in the syllabus (Paragraph 295).

The ambit of the Mines and Quarries Act, 1954, should be extended to include provision for the safety of the general public in addition to the existing provisions for the safety of persons employed in the industry (Paragraph 295).

Section 86 of the Act should be amended so as to remove any doubt whether tips are "structures" within the meaning of the Section (Paragraph 295).

The Mines (Notification of Dangerous Occurrences) Order, 1959, should be amended so as to include tip slides and fires among the matters required to be reported forthwith to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Mines and Quarries (Paragraph 295).

Provision should be made for regular inspection of all tips by qualified persons (Paragraph 295).

Tips (active or disused) should be regularly inspected by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Mines and Quarries. Their reports should be available to local authorities (Paragraph 295).

Mine owners and managers should be obliged to maintain and keep at the local office an up to date plan of the surface area of the undertaking, such plan to be contoured when the height of the tip exceeds, say, 20 feet (Paragraph 295).

Local Planning Authorities should be given powers of control over the starting of new tips and the extension of existing tips. The Minister should have power to exclude in a proper case, any claim for compensation if permission to tip or to continue tipping is withheld or refused on grounds of safety (Paragraph 295).

The statutory qualifications for managers and surveyors should be amended (Paragraph 295).