Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	25th February 1934
Colliery:	Hamsterley
Cause:	Affected by fumes from shot firing
Lives Lost:	1

On Sunday, 25th February, at Hamsterley Colliery, Durham, two stonemen, a father and son, were affected by fumes from shot-firing. The son recovered but the father died. The mine was worked with naked lights throughout. Coal shots were fired with Gradeley powder and stone shots with gelignite fired by fuse and detonator.

A staple pit, five feet in diameter, had been put up from the Victoria Seam to the Brockwell Seam about 40 feet above. The staple was driven in two vertical parts, the first part 22 feet, and the second 18 feet, with a 12 feet horizontal step between them. From the top of the staple a single roadway had been driven four feet wide for 18 feet in one direction then a further distance of nine feet at right angles. The coal was 1ft. 3 in. thick and a bottom caunch blasted to the face of the heading made the height of the roadway about 2 ft. 3 in.

On Saturday, 24th February, a stoneman, Joseph Clasper, charged two shot-holes in the coal at the face of the heading with 16 and 14 ounces of gelignite respectively, and one shot-hole in the bottom caunch witn two ounces of gelignite. At the end of the shift about 9.15 a.m. he fired all three shots with fuses and detonators. After hearing (from the staple bottom) the reports of these three shots the stonemen went home.

The heading was next visited at about 3.0 a.m. on the following day by a deputy, Wilkinson, who stated that he examined the face of the heading with an unlocked flame safety lamp and found the place clear.

Matthew Anderson, now deceased, and his son Edward arrived at the staple about 3.30 a.m. They climbed to the staple top carrying candles. The former proceeded to the face and commenced to shovel the coal and stone back towards the staple top. Shortly after, Edward Anderson felt dizzy. He complained to his father and both of them decided to withdraw from the place. They reached the middle landing in the staple when they both collapsed.

Deputy John Ripley, in the course of his ordinary inspection, reached the staple at about 5.15 a.m. He found the Andersons lying on the middle landing, both alive but unconscious. He sought assistance and returned in about 15 minutes with five helpers. Edward Anderson was lowered to the staple bottom by means of a rope in about 20 minutes. He soon revived under the ministrations of three of the rescuers.

The other three rescuers commenced to lower Matthew Anderson to the staple bottom. This task was not completed until 6.20 a.m. — about an hour after the discovery. Artificial respiration was at once commenced and continued until it became apparent that life was extinct.

There are several lamentable features in connexion with this accident

(1) The air current was conducted only to the middle landing of the staple, a point about 20 yards from the face, by means of a brattice partition. Steps should have been taken to ensure that a reasonable proportion of the available air reached the face of the heading.

(2) The shots should not have been fired. Deputies and officials had received written instructions from the manager that "on no account must gelignite be used for shooting down coal." The stoneman, Clasper, who fired the shot, was authorized to fire gelignite shots and was supplied with detonators for the purpose, but the manager had given him express instructions that shots were not to be fired in coal in this particular place. An overman found the shot-holes charged when he visited the heading but, although aware of the embargo placed by the manager on coal shots, he took no steps to prevent the shots being fired. The manager instituted legal proceedings against the overman and the stoneman for their disregard of instructions and both were convicted.

(3) It seems at least possible that had there been provided an adequate means of ascending and descending the staple the father's life might have been saved, and,

(4) It was obviously important that artificial respiration should have been commenced at the earliest possible moment, but this was delayed for over an hour in the case of Anderson senior, until the victims were got to the staple bottom. There was no evidence that the air in the middle landing was irrespirable.

The deputies were first-aid men but they did not send for a reviving apparatus. They had not been instructed in the use of the apparatus.

Source:

1934 Mines Inspectors Report

	Anderson, Matthew, aged 47, Stoneman, affected by fumes from shot firing
	All names found

 

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