July 24, 1914.

Supplement to THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

v

evidently been taped over to prevent further fraying.
Mr. Masterton, who investigated this accident, had
another joint similar to this opened and found water-
proof taping only on top of badly cracked and hardened
bitumen. Other two parts opened had been properly
repaired. The cables had been in this colliery for at
least three years, and probably for five, no history of
them had been kept, and they had been shifted many
times. The tapings were old, and neither the person
who did them nor the time they were done could be
traced. The place where the accident occurred probably
looked all right, but the cables generally were as Mr.
Mcllhenny found them a few days before the accident
—viz., exceedingly bad—and they should have been
condemned by the electrician. The drawer who was
killed was new to the colliery, and it is not known if he
knew of the danger of handling cables; there were,
however, in the shaft bottom two very plain notices
warning everybody concerned. An accident occurred at
Auchengeich Colliery, belonging to Messrs. James
Nimmo and Co. Limited, on July 17, by which a motor-
man lost his life. A turbine pump driven by electricity,
three-phase, alternating-current, 440 volts, is placed
near the shaft. In order to prevent the pump from
going on “ air,” there is a contrivance contained in a
cast iron box for opening a switch which controls the
running of the pump motor. The switchbox cover is
secured by two screws. The contrivance was seldom in
use, and, at the time of the accident, the switch was out of
order, as one of the contacts was burned out. Deceased
was employed at a motor haulage situated about 25 yds.
away from the pump. He left his place and went to
the pump-room, and in examining the switchbox
referred to, the cover of which was off, he received a
fatal shock. As the switch was not in use the connec-
tion should have been cut, rendering the whole
contrivance dead. On September 9 a fireman employed
at the Broomrigg Colliery, belonging to Messrs. The
Banknock Coal Company Limited, received a fatal
electric shock when working in the neighbourhood of a
coal-cutter. The trailing cable was coupled up to the
coal-cutter and the gate-end box, and the deceased was
engaged in paying out the haulage rope. The motor
was supplied with three-phase current at 440 volts. To
account for the accident the management put forward
the theory that the deceased had received a shock by
making contact with a faulty part of the trailing cable,
but the trailing cable had been examined by the elec-
trician on the surface on the morning of the accident,
and had just been brought down the pit. When the
machine was examined on the surface a spot was found
in the plug box, where undoubtedly arcing had taken
place between the conductors and the frame, and it is
most probable that this defect caused the accident. The
earthing system was defective, as proved by the shock
obtained from the gate-end box. The machine was not
earthed direct to the surface, but to the delivery pipes
of a pump in the seam. The machineman stated that
he had received slight shocks on previous occasions. An
accident occurred at Lochore Colliery, belonging to
Messrs. The Fife Coal Company Limited, on October 31,
by which a roadsman lost his life. The accident occurred
on a fairly dry level haulage road opposite a switch-
house. There were two girders across the entrance to
this switch-house, acting as bearing girders for three of
the roadway girders. The place was lighted by electric
glow lamps, supplied with current at 500 volts by 3/20
rubber insulated unarmoured cable, the current being
tapped off two phases of the alternating - current
power supply. The lighting cables passed under the
bearing girders mentioned, which had sagged owing
to a severe crush on the road, until they were bearing hard
on the cables, one of which had become thereby abraded.
There was a switch in the house just mentioned, but
none of the men on the spot, although one of them was
an oversman, knew exactly how it worked. Deceased
was seen to fall backwards when apparently searching
for something between the girders with his lamp.
Although deceased was apparently guilty of great care-
lessness, it is to be regretted that the oversman was not
able to switch off the current. Mr. Walker does not
think that cable of the size mentioned is of sufficient
mechanical strength to withstand the conditions met
with underground, and he had drawn the attention of
the company to the advisability of protecting such
cables or reducing the voltage before the accident. At
the fatal accident enquiry, the jury added riders to the
effect that the present high voltage for lighting the pit
should at once be reduced; that in exposed and
dangerous places cable stronger mechanically than the
cable in use should be adopted; and that officials of the
mine should receive such instructions as would enable
them to switch off current in cases of emergency.

Mr. Walker urges upon all managers the importance
of reducing the pressure of lighting circuits to 100 volts
or less, and the introduction of armoured cables, or
cables placed in pipes where necessary, so as to prevent
shock accidents similar to this.

Ten non-fatal accidents caused injuries to the same
number of persons. It is disquieting to find that six
are due to failure of insulation of cables. Two accidents
occurred whilst fuses were being replaced, two were due
to carelessness, and the remaining one seems to have
been due to pure mischief.

Nine accidents and deaths occurred from machinery,
as against one accident and one death in the previous
year. Eight of them were caused by the unfortunate
men being caught by the revolving discs or bars of the
coal-cutting machine. In his report for the year 1910,
Mr. Walker described and gave an illustration of a
device by which the cutting bar of coal-cutters could be
thrown out of gear when the machine was not cutting,
and was being transported along the face. He has
already drawn the attention of two of the manufacturers
of coal-cutting machines to the question, and one of
them states that they have devised a means of putting
the disc out of gear. The “ stells ” or timbers for

keeping the machine up to the face should be well and
rigidly set, so that if the machine jumps back they are
not likely to be thereby displaced. These men should
also be careful, as far as possible, not to be in a
position, especially when first starting to cut, in which
they will be caught by the machine if it should jump
back and displace the “ stells.” An accident of a some-
what unusual character occurred at the Lindsay
Colliery, belonging to Messrs. The Fife Coal Company
Limited, on May 21, by which a coal-cutting machine
man lost his life. Deceased was driving an electrical
disc machine, made by Messrs. Anderson, Boyes and
Co. A fall had occurred, and a stone 3 ft. 6 in. by
1 ft. 6 in. and of an average thickness of 5 in., was lying
with one end on the body of the machine, and the other
on the wheel operating the starting switch. Deceased
and another man were endeavouring to roll this stone
off the machine, deceased standing on the disc. In
doing so they caused the wheel to revolve slightly, and
this started the machine. Although the man who was
assisting deceased shut off current as soon as he noticed
the disc revolving, it was too late, as deceased’s leg was
carried round and severed in the middle of the thigh.
The haulage rope was slack at the time, and this would
cause the disc to commence revolving more readily.
Deceased could have cut off current from the machine
altogether at a gate-end box only 25 yards away.
Managers would do well to draw up a set of simple
instructions for those in charge of electrical apparatus,
and have them printed in a form that could be easily
carried about by the persons concerned. In this case it
seems that the wheel of the starter projected too far
from the body of the machine, without adequate protec-
tion, and that the design of the machine is capable of
improvement in this direction.

Eight accidents included under the head of “ Sundries ”
caused the same number of deaths.

The number of fatal accidents and deaths on the
surface was 32, or eight more than in the previous year.
Five accidents and deaths occurred from machinery, as
against 11 accidents and deaths in 1912. Seventeen
persons were killed by the same number of accidents on
railways or sidings, as against nine accidents and deaths
in the previous year. Several of these accidents were
due to want of care on the part of the persons them-
selves and of unauthorised persons being near to, or
attempting to move wagons. Three of the persons
killed suffered from physical disabilities, one being very
deaf, one blind in one eye, and the other old and infirm.
Such persons should not be employed in places where
there are moving wagons. No fatal accidents occurred
from electricity. Ten accidents and the same number
of deaths under the head of “ miscellaneous causes ”
occurred during the year, as compared with four
accidents and deaths in the previous year. An accident
occurred at Portland Colliery, Kirkstyle No. 1 Pit,
belonging to Messrs. The Portland Colliery Company
Limited, on January 20, and resulted in the death of a
foreman engineer three days later. Messrs. Grant,
Ritchie and Company Limited, had just finished
erecting a pair of winding engines at Kirkstyle pit,
which were to be taken over by the colliery company
if they proved satisfactory under steam. A 5-ton
hand crane, owned by the engineers, had been used for
this work, and it was being dismantled by a I-ton crane
also owned by the engineers. The derrick of the large
crane was about to be lifted horizontally, and it was up
a few inches from the ground when the chain supporting
the jib of the small crane broke and it fell, the point
coming down about 20 ft. After the accident, the chain
which had broken was taken to the works of Messrs.
Grant, Ritchie and Company,- and a new link was
welded in at the break. Next morning the chain was
put back on the crane and the same load lifted, when
the chain again broke. Mr. Masterton visited Messrs.
Grant, Ritchie and Company’s works and saw the chain.
It was 40 ft. long and the break was 24 ft. from one
end. The chain was of iron, size | in., its age, quality,
name of maker, and last date of annealing were all
unknown, but the chain has been out at all jobs for
many years. The manager and other officials at the
works are new and cannot trace the chain’s history.
When Mr. Masterton saw it, it had been put through
the fire to clean it; this was said also to anneal it
though it does not do so. The links were all worn,
most of them were pitted with age and weathering, and
some of them were badly stretched, apparently beginning
to bend inwards at the sides. Acting on Mr. Walker's
suggestion, the Procurator-fiscal had the chain examined
and reported on by an expert engineer. He reported
that he measured several links and found one which
was f in. in diameter. There were two links in the chain
which appeared to have been put in recently. There
were no signs of undue wear of the links through
ordinary use, but the links were somewhat longer than
is customary in chains for use on cranes. The broken
chain was used for holding up the jib of the crane ; the
load was actually hanging on another chain. The load
on the chain, which broke at the time of the accident,
depended on three factors—(a) the weight being lifted;
(5) the weight of the jib; (c) the angle at which the
jib was lying at the time of the accident. The
weight being lifted was 21 cwt. 22 lb; the weight of
the jib was 5 cwt. 22 lb. A witness stated that
the jib was at about the angle of 45 degs. to the
horizontal. From these data and some measurements
taken of the crane, it was estimated that the
load on the chain when it broke was about 37 cwt.
3 qrs. The link which broke at the time of the
fatal accident varied in diameter, but at no place was it
less than j in. It did not show signs of undue wear,
nor did it appear to have been strained previous to
fracture. The break showed a coarse grain indicating
a brittle condition of the metal. About three quarters
of each fractured surface was black; the remainder
showed a faint brown colour. The expert was of opinion
that the black part indicated a crack of old standing.

while the brown part indicated a recent break. The
link which broke on the second occasion could not be
found. From a statement made by a witness it also
appears to have been cracked previous to breaking.
If the annealing bad been properly done and the chain
carefully examined after being annealed, then, assuming
the diameter to be in. according to the measurement
made, its breaking load might reasonably be expected
to be from 4 to 4J tons. Although the breaking load
of the chain may be taken at 4 to 4J tons, yet it is not
customary to load crane chains to more than about a
fifth of this amount, so that the safe load on the chain
should not exceed 18 cwt. As the load at the time
of breaking was 37 cwt. 3 qrs., the chain was
overloaded irrespective of the defect in the link which
broke. Mr. Walker adds that the question of a
manager’s responsibility also arises, and managers
ought to satisfy themselves that any plant brought on
to the mine premises to do work for any contractor is
of sound quality.

One hundred and one notices of dangerous occurrences
were received during the year; 17 were due to ignitions
of firedamp, two were outbursts of gas, five were fires
on the surface, 14 were underground fires, one being
caused by electricity, 45 were breakages of ropes, chains,
or other gear used for lowering and raising persons, 15
were cases of overwinding, one was an inrush of water
from the surface, and two were inrushes of moss.

Prosecutions.—In all there were 86 charges against
owners, agents, managers and higher officials. Convic-
tions were obtained in respect of 56 of these charges, 27
were dismissed, and three were withdrawn. The total
penalties amounted to £139 7s. 6d. In regard to prosecu-
tions of workmen, the total number of convictions obtained
was 264 out of 299 cases taken; 241 persons were fined,
the total penalties amounting to £199 6s. 6d., 23 persons
were admonished, one imprisoned for 21 days, one pled
guilty but the charge was dismissed under the Probation
of Offenders Act, 10 pled guilty but the charges were
dismissed, the charges in two cases were withdrawn, in
nine cases they were found not proven, and 12 persons
were found not guilty.

Coal Mmes Act, 1911.—Considerable progress has
been made during the year in the work necessary to
bring the mines into conformity with the requirements
of this Act, but it has been considerably handicapped
by the difficulty in obtaining delivery from the makers
of the apparatus and material required to do so. This
has been more especially the case in regard to the
supply of detaching hooks and automatic contrivances
to prevent overwinding, and in consequence there are
still a few collieries where they have not been installed
The great majority are, however, now fitted, and in one
or two cases they have proved of the greatest service in
saving life and property. Within the seven weeks
preceding the date of the report, three overwinds have
occurred, when the lives of 11 persons were involved,
and but for the use of detaching hooks it is possible
that serious loss of life and danger to property would
have resulted.

The number of inspections under section 16 has
increased, and a number of the collieries in the county
of Fife have now been inspected on behalf of the
persons employed. In this county the inspections, as a
rule, have been made by the same two men, and the
appointment of inspectors as permanent officials of the
Miners’ Association was at one time under consideration.
During the year reports were received of such inspec-
tions at 27 collieries; they were all of a thorough
character, and in some cases extended over as many as
14 days. In Fife inspections of 15 mines were made, in
Kinross one, in Lanark nine, in Linlithgow one, and in
Stirling one.

Except in a few small mines, where there are no fires
or furnaces underground, mechanical ventilation is the
rule, and in some cases advantage has been taken of the
requirements of section 31 (3) relating to the reversal of
the air current to instal larger fans. Means have
also been taken, either by arranging for certain doors
in connection with the fan to be closed and others
opened, or by steam jet and water fall, at the very great
majority of the collieries, and at some mines actual
tests have been made. The exploration work was much
facilitated at Cadder by its being possible to reverse the
air current, and if the existence of the fire had been
known sooner some, if not all, of the lives might have
been saved by it.

During the year 1,010 samples of mine air were taken
by the inspectors. In the majority of cases the results
of the analyses have shown the standard of ventilation
to be satisfactory, but in others the percentage of fire-
damp and carbon dioxide has exceeded that allowed.
The sampling of the air of the mines has resulted in
improved ventilation at a great many mines, and has
disclosed systems of ventilation at others which require
radical changes made in them before the standard set
up by the Coal Mines Act will be satisfactorily complied
with.

The provisions in regard to the examination of safety
lamps and other matters in section 34 are well observed,
except in some cases. The responsibility attaching to
every person might be brought home to a greater extent
by more closely investigating the cause of damage to
lamps. There is also reason to believe that a fireman,
when inspecting a pit by himself prior to a shift
commencing, does not always go back to the relighting
station if he loses his light, more especially if the pit is
worked with open lights. The temptation to the fire-
man to do this would be entirely removed by giving
him a second safety lamp, preferably of the electric
type.

At some mines at which oil engines are used inbye
and exhaust into the returns, which are also the second
means of egress, it would be impossible, as long as the
engines are running, and for some time after they are
stopped, to travel the second outlets with safety. The
number is small, but the owners of them should at once