Description

On the 23rd October a fatal accident occurred to William Graham, joiner at the Buckhill Colliery, Cumberland, under the following circumstances. tie was engaged in the pumping shaft looking for a leakage in a column of water pipes, and had been slowly raised for a distance of about 14 fathoms, when the rope suddenly broke and he was precipitated to the bottom and instantly killed. There was no evidence to show that the cage in which the deceased was riding had met with any obstruction in the shaft, but an inspection of the rope showed that at the point of fracture it was corroded completely through, a fact not to be wondered at when the history of the rope was told at the inquest.

The rope was of steel wire, 1 inch in diameter, arid had been in use for about five years. It was at first used for raising coals from the bottom to an "eye" 19 fathoms up the shaft, beyond which point the cage did not pass ; but when, three years ago, coal-winding ceased, it was left hanging in the shaft, not only to enable the joiner to examine the pumps, but to raise the men in case of an accident at the other shaft. During these three years the rope had never been properly examined, nor had it been oiled or greased, although on the 16th March the whole of the rope was on the drum. On that occasion the engineer, who had been in charge of the machinery for 10 months, examined the rope for broken wires as it was lowered down the pit, but failed to detect any. Whether this rope was one which could be said to be in actual use, and which consequently should have been examined every 24 hours, or not, it is certain that common prudence should have dictated to any manager or engineer the necessity, when men's lives depend upon a rope, of making periodical inspections, and, especially where a shaft is wet, of taking every care to protect it from injury. The general rules do not make provision for the daily examination of any rope which is not in actual use, and, unfortunately, the special rule referring to such ropes provides only that they shall be examined from time to time, but as it is the duty of the managers to see that the proper appliances are used, he should take care that the persons responsible for making these examinations are duly instructed as to what intervals should be allowed to elapse between the inspections. This, however, had not been done in the case under notice.

It is only fair to state that tests were made in my presence with some of the wires taken from what I considered to be the worst part of the broken rope, with the result that its original estimated breaking strain of 17 tons was shown to have been reduced to one of 10 tons, and further, that as far as I could ascertain, the excessive corrosion was confined to the point of fracture, which, as the rope usually hung in the shaft, would be in the open air, about 7 feet below the pulley.

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Mines Inspectors Report Entry

Sources

• 1894 Mines Inspectors Report (C 7667), Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. L. Hedley, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 48, Accident Number: 59 Where to find this report
• 1894 Mines Inspectors Report (C 7667), Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. L. Hedley, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 9 Where to find this report

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