Description

No. 328 on the list occurred at Norwood Colliery, belonging to the owners of Norwood Colliery, on the 3rd of August, causing the death of a man who was temporarily acting as a shaftman.

Deceased and another man were cleaning out the sump of a pumping pit at the Brockwell Seam level. They had come down the winding shaft in the cage to the seam and travelled in that seam to the pumping shaft, and then been let down to the bottom of it by means of a loop. A kibble of rubbish had been filled and sent up, when something was heard falling from the pumps above, one of the men stepped back and got clear, but deceased was hit on the head and died without ever regaining consciousness.

It afterwards transpired that it was a small wooden wedge that had fallen, a distance of 156 feet, the weight of which was about 2¾ lbs.

It appears in June last, or about two months before the accident, the shaftman in going through the shaft found that the pumps had considerable play in the pieces of wood by which they are fastened to the buntons, and in two places he put two wooden wedges in, securing them to the other wood by means of two nails 3½ inches in length. Owing to the oscillation and movement of the pumps, and corrosion of the iron, these nails in the wedge that fell down the pit broke off and the wedge then became loose and fell, and caused this accident.

It would I think have been much better if, instead of putting these wedges in, new pieces of timber had been put round the pumps where the play was.

Mines Inspectors Report Entry

Sources

• 1897 Mines Inspectors Report (C 8819), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 13 Where to find this report
• 1897 Mines Inspectors Report (C 8819), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 42, Accident Number: 328 Where to find this report

Researchers

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