Board of Examiners for Engine Drivers

Full description

The Board of Examiners for Engine Drivers was constituted under the Regulation of Mines and Machinery Act 47 Vic. No. 783 (1883). The Board was also vested with power to examine and issue certificates of competency to engine drivers and boiler attendants in factories from 1886 pursuant to the Factories and Shops Act 1885.

Although the Board issued certificates of competency to engine drivers and boiler attendants in mines, the relevant section of the 1883 Act and subsequent Mines Acts, provided only for the creation of an agency known as the 'Board of Examiners', but notes in the margins of the Acts referred to it as a Board of Examiners for engine drivers. The 1915 Mines Act contained wording of the Board's role to include boiler attendants, but it wasn't until the Mines Act 1958 that the section of the act mandating the creation of the Board was amended to read Board of Examiners for Engine Drivers. 

Following the proclamation of the Labour and Industry Act 1965 on 1 November 1967, the responsibility of certification of industrial (i.e  factory) engine drivers and boiler attendants was transferred to VA 1366 Board of Steam Engine Drivers and Boiler Attendants.

The Board of Examiners for Engine Drivers was abolished by section 76 of the Mines Amendment Act 1983. Under changes to the act, permits were to be granted by the Chief Mining Inspector, but only for engines that provide for individuals to be raised or lowered or, in connection with a mine, any winch, winding machine, hoist or crane.