At the time of the accident the deceased had taken charge of a coal-cutting machine worked by 500 volts three-phase alternating current. The machine was temporarily stopped while its haulage rope was being extended for attachment to a newly-set prop, and while handling the rope the deceased received an electric shock which caused his death before he could be released. The machine was connected to the gateway switch by means of an unearthed trailing cable. On examination it was found that the set pin of one of the terminals in the plug box of the machine had become loose and had slacked back, so that its head was in contact with the body of the machine, consequently it was "live" throughout, including the rope from which deceased received the fatal shock. By deceased's instructions this trailing cable had been loaded into a tub and labelled to go to the surface two days previously, and it should not have been in use. An earthed trailing cable was available for use, but it was a considerable distance away and needed to be coiled up and placed in a tub before it could be flitted. Deceased probably was in a hurry to finish a "cut," and therefore brought the defective cable into use again to save time