| Disasters - Names |
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Disasters - Names | ||
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| Date: | 3rd May 1904 |
| Colliery: | Charlaw |
| Cause: | (See description below) |
| Lives Lost: | 1 |
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| Description | |
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Number 178 on the list occurred at Charlaw Colliery, belonging to Messrs. The Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Co., Ltd., on the 3rd of May, and caused the death of a coal cutter driver. The coal cutting machine, which was driven by electricity, was ready to start cutting in a longwall face, in the Brass Thill Seam, and deceased, who had charge, was doing something at the cutter wheel. He told a lad to turn on the switch in the gateway. about 12 yards away, expecting the switch or controller on the machine itself was turned off, it however, had not been, and when the gateway switch was turned on the cutter wheel commenced to revolve, and he, not being clear of it, was caught and so severely injured that he died two days afterwards at the Durham County Hospital.
There was nothing wrong in any way with the machine or switches, and the accident was solely due to the deceased having inadvertently turned on the switch (on the machine), or possibly he had turned it on and forgotten he had done so; there is a lock on the switch on the machine, and by this it is quite easy to see whether the switch is turned on or off.
The deceased was a very careful man and knew the work well, but in this instance he appears to have turned on the switch at the machine sooner than he should have done. When the current in any place and at any switch is being turned on it is most important that everyone should stand clear of the coal cutter, and had this simple but necessary precaution been taken in this case, this unfortunate man would not have lost his life.
| Source: | 1904 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 2506) |
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| Fatalities | |
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Nixon, Thomas Anthony, aged 48, Coal Cutter Driver, in starting the coal cutter he got caught by the disc of the coal cutter; the coal cutter switch had been inadvertently turned on by himself, and in consequence, when the current was turned on at the gateway switch the machine started, and he was close to the wheel and was caught | |
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