Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	11th August 1902
Colliery:	Littletown
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1

No. 283 on the list occurred at Littletown Colliery, belonging to the Lambton Collieries Ltd., on August 11th, and caused the death of a shot firer.

Deceased was the shot firer for the gateway men, in a longwall district. On the day in question there was "a canch," 30 inches in thickness and 6 feet wide, in one of the gateways, with a shot hole on each side of it, charged with Roburite.

Deceased foolishly lighted the two shots, which he was firing with fuse, together, but only one exploded — the other hung fire — or the fuse had not been the same length, and he, thinking both had gone off, returned to the face, when the second shot exploded and fatally injured him.

It is a dangerous practice to fire two shots, in the same place, with fuse at one time, and in what he did the deceased man was acting in contravention of the orders of the manager.

After this accident the manager, at my suggestion, called in the authorizations to fire shots, and endorsed them to the effect that under no circumstances must more than one shot be fired at one time.

Source:

1902 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 1590)

	Davison, Henry, aged 57, Shot Firer, deceased lighted two shots simultaneously with fuse in a gateway, and expecting they had both exploded he went back to see the result; one of the shots had not exploded, and when he got up to it it exploded, and he was hit on face, chest, and arms
	All names found

 

 Return    Return to Top