Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	23rd November 1938
Colliery:	North Skelton (Ironstone)
Cause:	Explosion of firedamp
Lives Lost:	1

An explosion of firedamp occurred at North Skelton Mine, Yorkshire, on 23rd November, 1938, causing the death of a miner, severe burns to a labourer and a horse driver, and shock to three miners. The workings concerned are shown in Figure 8. The ironstone seam is 9 ft. 6 in. thick and following an explosion of firedamp in 1935, safety lamps are used throughout the mine. Up to the time of the explosion on 23rd November, shots were fired by the miners, the explosive being compressed blasting powder ignited by Bickford igniter and fuse.

Two places only, marked A and B on the plan, were being worked in the district. They had been driven as splits through pillars between two old bords, and then having passed beyond the old workings, were being advanced on a rising inclination of 1 in 12 in solid stone. To direct air to the face of the working place A, wood and canvas stoppings had been built in the old roads to the right. When the air left place B, it could return by the newly-formed roads or any of the old roads to the left, to the upcast shaft. After these places got into solid ground one connecting road had been made and at the time of the explosion another connexion was being made.

On the day of the explosion, a deputy inspected the places A and B at 5.30 a.m. before admitting the miners and he did not find any firedamp. There were two miners in each place, one having an electric and the other a flame safety lamp.

At 9.30 a.m. the miners in place B had charged two shots, one near the roof and the other near the floor. The former was fired without incident. One of the miners returned to fire the second shot, and coincident with the explosion of the shot an explosion of firedamp took place. The other miner in place B had gone round the pillar to place A. He and the two miners working at A were uninjured but suffered from shock.

They made their way out towards the shaft and presently passed a horse lying on its side, and then a horse driver and a labourer, both of whom had been severely burned. The miner who had fired the shot was missing and as all the wood and canvas stoppings had been blown out and the air thus short circuited, it was impossible to reach him, on account of the presence of afterdamp.

So soon as the manager knew that a man was missing he telephoned to Crook rescue station for assistance, his call being received there at four minutes past ten. The Crook rescue team journeyed to the mine 45 miles distant from their station, donned their apparatus and brought the miner's body to the surface (having to travel one and a quarter miles underground) in two hours and a quarter after receiving the call.

In the meantime the blown-out stoppings were being restored, and during the afternoon it was possible to reach the face of the workings.

The place B above the last stenton, and the old bord in line with the next stenton outbye were full of firedamp. The barometer was falling rapidly. In the 12 hours prior to the explosion it fell three-fifths of an inch and, in the four hours following the explosion, two-fifths of an inch. It will be seen on reference to the plan that the old workings standing in pillars communicated with a goaf to the rise, and it seems clear that owing to expansion, due to reduced atmospheric pressure, gas issued into the road B and ran uphill to the face and accumulated there.

It was stated at the inquest on the miner who was killed that the flame safety lamp used by his partner was extinguished before the first shot was fired, it being alleged that it fell from its point of suspension on a prop to the floor.

It was further stated by one of the miners in place A that the miner from place B said, after the first shot had gone off and before the explosion, "I think there is gas in our place."

In view of this occurrence the need for some increased measure of control was indicated. Since no permitted explosive for this particular kind of work has yet been evolved, dependence for safety must be placed on the shots being fired in a gas-free atmosphere. Certificated shotfirers have been appointed by the manager to fire all shots.

Incidentally it was poor practice to allow the return airway to have free connexion to the various old roads. Stoppings between the return airway and the old roads would have prevented gas coming into the return near the face.

Source:

1938 Mines Inspectors Report

	Dowson, -, Miner, explosion of firedamp
	All names found

 

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