1298

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

June 28, 1918.

SPRINGHILL FIREDAMP EXPLOSION.

Inspector’s Report.*

Mr. W. Walker, H.M. Acting Chief Inspector of
Mines, has issued his report on the causes and circum-
stances attending the accident which occurred at
Springhill Colliery, Ayrshire, on July 18, 1917, from
an explosion of firedamp, and by which four persons
were killed.

At the fatal accident enquiry held by the Sheriff-
Substitute at the Sheriff Court, Kilmarnock, on
August 17, 1917, in connection with this accident, the
jury returned the following verdict: “That on
July 18, 1917, the deceased, Thomas Walker, John
Walker, Thomas McLean, and William Durney, while
in the course of their employment in the underground
workings leading from the Main coal to the Major
coal seams of No. Cauldhame Pit were so severely
injured by an explosion of firedamp that they died
from the effects thereof in the Kilmarnock Infirmary,
the said John Walker on July 18, the said Thomas
Walker and Thomas McLean on July 19, and the said
William Durney on July 23, 1917.”

On the morning of February 5 the Inspector opened
his enquiry at the Sheriff Couft, Kilmarnock, and
took the evidence of the available witnesses. The
owners of the colliery were represented by Mr.
James M. Inglis, writer, of Kilmarnock; Mr. John
Bain, writer, appeared for the relatives of the de-
ceased; Mr. Robert Smillie appeared for the National
Union of Scottish Mine Workers; Messrs. James
Brown, James Hood, James Smith, and Alexander
Campbell for the Ayrshire Miners’ Association; Mr.
H. Walker, H.M. inspector of mines for the Scotland
division, and Mr. F. H. Wynne, one of the senior
inspectors of mines in that division, were also present
Sixteen witnesses were examined.

A plan and section of the stone mine and workings
in the Major coal seam, which were the subject of
this enquiry, are attached. The colliery was originally
worked by Messrs. A. Finnie and Son, of Kilmarnock,
but on its working being abandoned by them, Messrs.

of the accident they descended the shaft at between
6.45 and 7 o’clock, and proceeded to the fan at the
bottom of the stone drift or mine leading to the
Major coal seam. The fan was then standing. Cook
arrived first and started to work the fan, and Turner
joined him shortly afterwards. Thomas Walker and
John Walker went into the same place and were
followed by William Durney and Thomas McLean,
who sat down and talked with the two Walkers; they
all had naked lights. When the fan had been going
about half an hour they proceeded to walk up the
mine. Durney went first, and the three others
followed him after an interval of about five minutes.
In a very short time (estimated by the fan boys to
be about ten minutes) the explosion occurred. One
of the boys was knocked over, there was a shower
of small stones and mud, and their lights were ex-
tinguished. They crawled to a ventilating door and
shouted for help, and a roadsman came. Thomas
McLean then came down the mine seriously injured.
Thomas Walker, William Durney, and John Walker
followed, all seriously injured, and were removed to
the Infirmary at Kilmarnock. Subsequent examina-
tion of the mine showed that nearly at the top of it
there was an accumulation of inflammable gas. Lying
on the roadway several open lamps were found,
several caps, some tools, and a pick and shovel. The
first lamp was 16 ft. from the top of the mine, the
rhones were broken 19 ft. below where this lamp was
found. There is little doubt that the naked light
carried by William Durney had caused the explosion
at or near the point where the lamp was found (16 ft.
from the top of the mine). Some force was generated
by the explosion, as the rhones were broken.

In order to obtain a clear and concise idea of the
circumstances which led up to and caused the acci-
dent, it is necessary describe what occurred from the
preceding Saturday. On this day (July 14), on
account of the unsatisfactory nature of the coal, it
was decided to abandon its working, and no coal get-
ting was done after that date. The fireman McChristie)
went in at 9.15 on Sunday night for the purpose of

were three firemen for the district in which the ex-
plosion occurred, viz., William Durney, Robert
McChristie, and James Bowie. Durney was the day
fireman, James Bowie was on the afternoon shift, and
Robert McChristie on the night shift, and as they
were always employed on the same shifts, Durney
made the inspection and report required by section
64 (1) of the Coal Mines Act before the day shift
started work during the week, and on Sunday night
Robert McChristie made an inspection under this
section before the night shift started work. The
staffing of the mine appears to have been sufficient
to comply with the requirements of the Coal Mines
Act and secure safety, but the inspector regrets he
is unable to report that the management carried out
the duties placed on them by the Act in a satisfactory
manner. The hand fan at the bottom of the stone
mine was always stopped on Saturday afternoon,
usually between 1 and 2 o’clock, and did not start
again until some time on Sunday afternoon, depend-
ing when the shift of men were coming in on Sunday
night, and during that period there was no means
of ventilating the stone mine and workings in Major
coal seam, and firedamp naturally accumulated. Two
of the firemen were brought in earlier on Sundays
to start the fan and remove the accumulated firedamp,
and both the firemen (McChristie and Bowie) stated
in their evidence that it never took less than four
hours to do so.

From the evidence given at the enquiry the inspector
is of opinion that breaches of section 29 (1) of the
Coal Mines Act, 1911, were committed by the owners,
the manager (Mr. Baillie) prior to July 14, and
Mr. Robert Nelson, who acted as manager after that
date, by reason of their failure to produce constantly
an adequate amount of ventilation to dilute and
render harmless inflammable and noxious gases in the
stone mine and Major coal seam workings, owing to
the fan, which was the only means of providing
ventilation of that seam, being allowed to be stopped
every Saturday afternoon from between 1 and 2
o’clock to the following Sunday afternoon, and also

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PLAN & SECTION SHEWING STONE MINE FROM MAJN TO MAJOR COAL

WHERE IGNITION OF FIREDAMP HAPPENED ON WEDNESDAY THE 18™JULY 1917

CAUSING THE DEATH CF WILLIAM DURNEY, THOMA^ WALKER,JOHN

WALKER & THOMAS M9LEAN.



J. and R. Howie Limited, the present owners, obtained
possession of the mine and have since worked it. An
area of Major coal seam was shown on the plan as
being unworked, and they decided to prove the coal
in this area. For this purpose a stone mine or drift
was driven from the Main coal seam, which it overlies
at a distance of 66 ft. The mine was started some
time prior to November 1916; it was driven at an
inclination of about 1 in 4|, and cut the Major coal
seam at a distance of 185 ft. from the workings in the
Main coal seam. As the quality of coal was doubtful,
only one roadway was driven to it for exploration
purposes. When the drift reached the Major coal
seam, it was found the coal was dipping at 1 in 20
in the opposite direction to the stone mine or drift.
Naked lights were used by all the workmen and also
by the firemen, except when they were making the
examinations required by sections 64 and 65 of the
Coal Mines Act. Ventilation was obtained by a hand-
driven Sirocco fan, 10 in. in diameter, placed at the
foot of the drift; air was forced up through a range
of wooden pipes or rhones, said by the late manager,
Mr. D. Baillie, to be 12 in. by 12 in. At the top of
tiie mine a level was driven a distance of 40 ft. to
the left, known as Anderson’s place, and another to
the right, a distance of 95 ft., known as McCrindle’s
place; and out of the latter another place was driven
to the right or rise, a distance of 40 ft., known as
Hunter’s place. McCrindle’s place was ventilated by
means of a second fan, also driven by hand. This
second fan had no connection with the accident which
occurred on July 18 last, and is therefore not shown
on the plan and section.

The explosion occurred at about 7.30 a.m. on
Wednesday, July 18, and four men, including the
fireman, William Durney, were so seriously injured
that they died at Kilmarnock Infirmary later. The
evidence of the boys employed at the fan (Archibald
Cook and John Turner) showed that on the morning

*Cd. 9053.

making his examination, but the fan at the foot of
the stone mine had not started at that time, and
he found what he described as blackdamp and gas
at the top of the stone mine. The fan appears to
have been kept going during Monday morning shift,
although no one was working in the Major seam, but
the gas was not cleared out, for the day fireman
(William Durney) reported its presence in the two
reports of his inspections during his shift on that day.
On Tuesday morning two men, Thomas and John
Walker, were employed in removing rails and the
small fan from the Major coal seam workings; the
fan at the bottom of the mine was kept going during
the time they were doing this work. The two boys
who in the ordinary course of working should have
gone to the fan at 10 o’clock on that night were John
Weeks and John Durney. The former come to the
pit but returned home, and the latter did not come
at all on the night shift, but came on the following
morning and started work as a drawer, by directions
of Mr. Nelson, in another part of the mine. The
rails were not all removed on the Tuesday; those in
the stone drift up to where the explosion occurred
were to be removed, and the two Walkers and McLean
were at the time of the explosion proceeding up the
drift to complete this work. The report for the day
shift on Monday was the last report of an inspection
of the Major coal workings and the drift which
appears in the report books. The two firemen, James
Bowie (afternoon shift) and Robert McChristie (night
shift) made their last inspections on Friday, July 13,
and Monday, July 16 respectively, and they explained
at the enquiry that they did not make any on the
following days because the workings were stopped and
no one was in the Major coal seam or the drift leading
to it during their shifts after these dates.

Up to July 13 last Mr. D. Baillie was manager of
the mine. He was succeeded by Mr. Nelson as
temporary manager, and Mr. John Banks was
appointed under-manager on May 8, 1917, and they
were so acting on the date of the accident. There

for at least 16 hours before the accident. As a result
of this failure gas accumulated to such an extent that
it never took less than four hours to remove it, and
the roads and workings were not in a fit state for
working or passing therein. This practice was the cause
of the accumulation of firedamp which resulted in
the explosion. Further, the system of ventilation on
the date of the explosion and for some time pre-
viously (for how long none of the witnesses were able
to say) was unsatisfactory. • A brattice sheet had
previously been fixed across the road, on the inbye side
of the fan, to prevent the gases coming down the
stone mine into the return airway from passing the
inlet to the fan and mixing with the pure air forced
by the fan up the wooden pipes or rhones to the
workings in the Major coal seam, but this brattice
had been for some time previously displaced or re-
moved, with the result that the foul gases brought
down the stone mine or drift by the fan mixed with
the fresh air at the inlet to the fan, and part, at least,
of them were driven back up the mine and into the
workings. Such a system was clearly inadequate.

On the evidence Mr. Walker can come to no other
conclusion than that both the managers (Messrs.
Baillie and Nelson) were guilty of gross mismanage-
ment. They saw and signed the firemen’s reports,
which showed that the presence of gas was being fre-
quently reported—between March 12, 1917, and the
date of the accident there were no less than 33 separate
reports by the firemen of gas being found in the
stone mine and Major coal seam—but no enquiry into
this serious condition was made, and steps were not
taken by them to provide and maintain a constant
and adequate amount of ventilation. If they had
carried out their duties as an ordinarily careful
manager would have done, the gas would not have
accumulated and the accident would have been pre-
vented. They both admitted in evidence at the en-
quiry that the fan was stopped, from Saturday after-
noon to Sunday afternoon each week, with their
knowledge and consent, and that they knew gas