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Samuel Crosbir
| Age: | 50 |
| Died: | 13th Mar 1871 |
| Accident: | 13th Mar 1871 |
| Year Born: | abt. 1821 |
| Colliery: | Common |
| Company: | William Walker |
| Occupation: | Collier |
| Notes: | Crushed between the cage and the shaft, caused by misuderstanding of signals |
| Buried: | [not known] |
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| Description | |
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Accident No. 5, schedule No. 1, was occasioned by the cage being raised unexpectedly.
The pit where this unfortunate occurrence took place had just been sunk, and the deceased and his neighbour had been engaged forming a water lodgement and other preparatory work near to the pit bottom. I understand that on the morning of the accident they had finished a night shift and had signalled to be raised to the surface. As explained by the engineman he was engaged at the boiler fires at the time the signal was given, but a few minutes after he went in to the engine house, and not being aware that the signal was to raise men, he started the engine and after "backing" it raised the cage.
The deceased's neighbour, who was at the pit bottom, reports that the signal made was to raise men, and as the ordinary back signal arrangement had not been completed, it was the practice for the engineman, before lifting away the cage, to slightly raise it, and afterwards set it back, which was the acknowledged signal for men to get on to the cage. In this case the deceased and his neighbour when they saw the cage being set back attempted to get on to it, but it was not put back sufficiently, and they did not succeed in getting quite on. The deceased got crushed between the cage and the shaft, but his neighbour escaped by throwing himself back out of the cage.
The defect in this case lay in the back signal, and if a right back signal had been in use, in all probability the accident would not have happened.
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| Sources | |
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- 1871 Mines Inspectors Report (C. 653), Scotland, West District by William Alexander, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 151 Where to find this report
- 1871 Mines Inspectors Report (C. 653), Scotland, West District by William Alexander, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 155, Accident Number: 5 Where to find this report
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| Researchers | |
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