Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	9th January 1895
Colliery:	Deaf Hill
Cause:	Shaft Accident
Lives Lost:	1

Number 2 on the list occurred at Deaf Hill Colliery, on the 9th of January, at about 2.40 p.m., causing the death of Samuel Buxton, a horse keeper.

At this colliery there are two seams worked, the Low Main and the Harvey, and there are hanging-ons at both of them. There were two cages in the shaft each, with two decks of holes.

On the afternoon in question three men were put into the middle hole, at the surface; two were for the Low Main Seam and one for the Harvey. The cage then lowered, and deceased and two other men got into the top hole, and the banksman called to the winding engine-man to take the middle hole of the cage to the Low Main Seam. This he did, and the three men got out safely ; the man for the Harvey Seam intending to get into the top hole when it was put level with the flat sheets. The onsetter then signalled "two," which meant "down," and the cage was lowered, and stopped for an instant. Deceased was getting out, and while in the act of doing so the cage dropped away, and he was caught between the top of the cage and the timber across the shaft about the chest, and so severely crushed that he died the following day.

The rapper man at the Low Main Seam at one signalled "hold" and then "bend up," both signals being attended to immediately, and deceased was then drawn into the cage and taken to the surface, and from there home.

It appears, according to what the winding engine-man said at the inquest, that while he was lowering the cage from the middle to the top hole, a the Low Main Seam, the banksman shouted to him, "Down, man in the middle hole for the Harvey," and he barely stopped with the top hole at the Low Main, as he thought after the banksman called that all the men in it were for the Harvey Seam, and he further said that hen two lots of men were being sent down the pit, one for the Low Main and the other for the Harvey Seam, those in the top hole were invariably for the latter seam.

The statement made by the engineman was contradicted by the banksman in his evidence. He said that when he got the signal "two" from the Low Main Seam for the cage to be lowered from the middle to the top hole, he spoke to the engine-man through a speaking-tube, and said, "Mind, there is a man in the middle hole for the bottom, (or Harvey) seam," meaning that he was to stop the cage at that hole when he took it to the lower seam, but never intended that he should not stop the top hole at the Low Main Seam.

The accident was caused by the misunderstanding between these two men, and the blame for it occurring lies with them, but it is most difficult to say whose version of what passed between them is the correct one.

At the inquest they were both told that while the jury were of opinion that the accident occurred through the mistake between them, they (the jury) did not consider that it amounted to such culpable negligence was would warrant them in returning a verdict of manslaughter against either or both of them, and that they were to be more careful in future.

I arranged with the management that some extra signal should be inserted in the list of signals, to be given from the Low Main Seam to the surface, when the cage was to go to the Harvey Seam, and thus leave the signal "two" to be used simply for the lowering of the cage from hole to hole.

If such a signal had been in use at the time of the accident it could not very well have occurred. It is, however, one that, under the conditions which existed at the time, should never have happened, and I am hopeful that in future the engine-man and banksman will be more careful. If there is any doubt at all about a signal it is far better to let the cage stand until it is repeated.

The cage, shaft, and the means of communicating the signals, were all satisfactory, and the mistake between the two men was the sole cause of the accident.

Source:

1895 Mines Inspectors Report (C 8074), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines

	Buxton, Samuel, aged 48, Horse Keeper, severely crushed by cage moving while he was getting out at a mouthing, Buried: St. Paul's Churchyard, Trimdon Station
	All names found
	Those names marked with , have a web page providing individual details of the accident, the page may also include a photograph of the deceased. Click on the symbol next to the name to see the web page.

 

 Return    Return to Top