THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

AND

JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES.

Vol. CX.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1915.

No. 2866.

Industrial Inspection in 1914.

The annual report of the Chief Inspector of Factories
and Workshops, for the year 1914, just .issued, states
that during the war the whole work of the factory
department has undergone a great change. Much
of the ordinary routine has had to give place to
new emergency duties, and the available staff
has for the time been greatly reduced. At the
outset several industries were brought almost to
a standstill, and as a serious degree of unemployment
was apprehended, extensive enquiries were made as to
the actual conditions and prospects. Very soon, in
consequence of the War Office and Admiralty demands
for supplies of all kinds, applications for special latitude
as to hours, etc., began to pour in, not only from works
normally concerned (directly or indirectly) with such
supplies, but also from others which, in emergency, had
been pressed into the service. Close and repeated
inspection has been needed in order to determine what
latitude was necessary and reasonable, under what con-
ditions, and to see that it was not improperly used. In
■this connection the question fatigue assumed great
importance as bearing upon production. In the great
manufacturing industries, as in other branches of
employment, it became necessary to consider what
arrangements could be made to set tree men of military
age for recruiting purposes, and especially how far this
object could be promoted by allowing such special relaxa-
tion of the ordinary requirements of the Factory Acts
as to admit of the temporary substitution of women and
young persons for men. To this end the department
organised many conferences with representatives of the
employers and operatives.

General Accidents.

There were 276,855 registered factories and workshops
(at end of year), as compared with 274,569 in 1913. The
accidents reported to certifying surgeons were : Fatal,
1,287 (1,309); non-fatal, 51,276 (56,870). The number
of accidents reported to inspectors was 107,309 (119,982).
The reported accidents fell off at the beginning of the
war, but increased later with the pressure upon the
engineering and other trades in which the liability to
accident is always marked.

Reported accidents were considerably less during 1914
in the majority of districts. Compared with 1913, the
machinery accidents during 1914 for the United Kingdom
in premises under the Factory Acts were 9*6 per cent,
less, though the fatalities were seven more (427); all
accidents were 10*5 per cent, less, and the total number
of fatalities was 22 less (1,287). Approximately, the toll
contributed by peaceful industry in the factories and
workshops of the country consisted of 159,000 casualties.

Many of the inspectors comment on the decreases
noted in their areas, which are surprising, considering the
abnormal activity during the latter part of the year of
many trades which were working exceptional overtime
and night shifts to supply the necessary equipments for
the war.

Several of the inspectors refer to the formation in
factories of small safety committees composed of work-
men to investigate accidents, and prevent their recur-
rence. At one large works, where the system has been
followed for the past seven years, comparatively few
accidents now occur, owing to the increased attention
given to fencing; few of these become serious, as the
greatest care is paid to first treatment of the slightest
injuries. The safety committees at this factory syste-
matically inspect the machinery and plant in their
respective departments, and report as to proper main-
tenance of the safeguards. They hold a kind of court-
martial on every accident, to investigate the cause and
apportion the blame, if any; their findings are duly
posted in the works. At another factory, where all
machines and safeguards are inspected thrice daily by
skilled workmen, who report immediately to the
manager on any defects found or repairs needed, a

marked diminution of accidents has been noted since
this plan was instituted.

Regarding the causation of accidents, the report states
that among the chief factors are neglect and indifference
in using or maintaining guards. Overhead electric
cranes were again responsible for a number of fatal and
serious accidents. The importance of adequate sound
signals has been impressed upon users.

With respect to explosions of dust, gas, etc., additional
samples of carbonaceous dusts have been examined by
Dr. Wheeler, at Eskmeals. Reports were also obtained,
in consequence of fatal explosions, as to pitch dust and
diazo-dye substances. Pitch dust was found .to be a
more highly inflammable material than coal dust of the
same degree of fineness, and almost as dangerous as
sugar dust. Pitch, however, is not very brittle, except
in cold weather, and so does not form fine dust readily.
Some of the diazo-dye substances, with aniline and
naphthalene bases, though they cannot be strictly classed
as dangerous dusts, appear to undergo molecular change
when heated. Two explosions have been recently
recorded in different works where such compounds were
being dry ground in drum grinders of the enclosed
revolving type. It is suggested that fnictional heat
generated in the grinding process might be sufficient to
start chemical action which, in a closed space, might
become so violent as to burst the machine. Owing to a
serious explosion of coal dust at a cement works in South
Wales, considerable attention has been given to the coal-
grinding plants of cement factories, some of which were
found unsatisfactory owing to dusty conditions. In this
case, difficulty had been experienced in closing a large
valve at the bottom of a coal dust storage hopper, and
the cover of the valve box was removed, contrary to
instructions, before the valve was closed. A large
quantity of coal dust escaped, and fell over the edge of
the working platform on to the rotary kiln below, where
it immediately ignited. The inspectors have urged the
adoption of the following precautions in such works :—
(1) Provision of outside iron ladders; (2) installation of
screens below the coal dust shutes to remove foreign
material liable to cause obstruction in conveyors, valves,
etc.; (3) padlocking valve covers to prevent opening by
unauthorised persons; (4) complete separation, by con-
crete partitions, of the coal-grinding plant and feeding
plant from the rotary kiln. An explosion of pitch dust
occurred at the Glasgow Docks, when a ship was being
loaded with pitch. Wagons containing the pitch were
being tipped into the hold of the ship, and the atmo-
sphere of the hold became charged with fine dust, due to
pulverising of the pitch. Four men were in the hold
trimming the material, and working by the light of
naked candles, hung by wires from the beams, when a
violent explosion took place, owing to ignition of the
dust by the lighted candles. Two men were seriously
burnt, one fatally.

In Staffordshire two men were killed owing to an
explosion of an air receiver connected with a power-
driven air compressor used for the starting of three large
gas engines. After careful enquiry, it appeared that
the explosion wras due to ignition of a mixture of air and
finely-divided lubricating oil. This oil was of high flash-
point, specially made for compressors, and the com-
pressor was effectively wrater cooled, but it had been
run for an exceptionally long time, and had probably
become hotter than usual. The explosion apparently
originated at the point where the discharge pipe joined
the compressor, and this pipe w^as liable to get very hot.
An explosion of an air receiver, reported from Leeds,
was also due to ignition of oil vapour.

The agreements of the recent tin-plate conference are
being brought into force, and the standards of fencing
raised. Progress has been made with improved fencing,
for the feeding end of cleaning machines. The
guard is so constructed that the hand cannot follow the

plate through the narrow aperture through which it
passes into the cleaning rolls. Some objections are
made that the tin-plate is liable to get marked, but in
such cases the guard has not been properly constructed.

Electrical Accidents.

Mr. G. Scott Ram, H.M. electrical inspector of
factories, in tabulating the accidents at electrical
generating stations and sub-stations in 1914, as below :

Stations

Description.

Other
stations.

for public
supply and
electric
railways
and

Non-electrical:—	tramways.

At engines, pumps and generators....	36	... JI3

At boilers and steam plant ......... 76	...	1

At coal-handling plant ............. 181	...	1

Falls ...;.......................... 972	...	5

Struck by falling bodies............ 353	...	1

Miscellaneous....................... 881	...	12

Total ................ 3507	...	31s

Electrical:—

At switchboards when engaged in
ordinary routine work............. 19	...	7

Cleaning, repairing, &c., at “live”
switchboards or other “live” con-
ductors .......................... 291	...	201

Cleaning, repairing, or other handling
of switchboard supposed to have
been made “ dead ” ................... 21	...	—

Adjusting brushes and cleaning
commutators and flashing at com-
mutators ............................. 2	...	4

Miscellaneous........................ 131	...	3

Total ................. 653	...	341

The small figures relate to fatal accidents and are included
in the principal figures.

points out that the mechanical accidents are fewer by
58 than in the previous year, a reduction of 13 per cent.
A number were due to working on moving machinery.
One, causing twro deaths, was due to the bursting of a
steel bottle of compressed air for starting a gas engine.
The number of electrical accidents is slightly larger—
99, as against 94 in the previous year; with four fatalities
as against three. In all cases the injuries were burns.
In one the tank of an oil switch burst, and the attendant
wras injured by the burning oil. Six of the accidents
occurred in the renewing of fuses.

One half of the total accidents in electrical stations
occurred to men when working on live conductors—
mostly on switchboards. Eight occurred on extra high-
tension systems, and three on high-tension systems. Of
the two fatal cases, one occurred in a consumer’s sub-
station to a man dusting a switch (5,000 volts) in a
compartment with a door normally kept locked, but
wrhich he had himself opened. The other case occurred
to a man working in an underground sub-station making
contact with an inadequately protected temporary cable
(2,400 volts). In most of the high-tension accidents the
injured persons were doing work which was unauthorised
and were themselves to blame. In one case an engineer
attempted to do some work in a switch cubicle (10,000
volts). The switch wras not in use, although live on one
side, and it could have been made dead by means of the
isolating switches provided for the purpose. This, how-
ever, involved the taking down of a heavy iron screen,
and, rather than take the trouble to do this, he took the
risk. This accident emphasises the desirability that
such doors should be hinged or made to slide on runners,
so that they may be readily opened. One accident was
caused through a short circuit to the framework of the
switchboard by the metal end of the insulating pole
provided for operating the isolating switches. Of the
accidents on medium - pressure and low - pressure
systems, 16 were caused by making short circuits with
ordinary spanners, screwdrivers, or pliers. One accident
w^as due to short circuit in attempting to remove the
tank on a live oil switch.

Under the miscellaneous accidents, the fatal case
occurred to a man wlio touched with his head a neutral
conductor of a high-tension alternator. Several alter-
nators were running in parallel, the neutral point of one
being definitely connected to earth. It had previously
been assumed that the neutral points of the other