Description

No. 520 on the list occurred at a sinking pit of the Woodland Colliery, belonging to the Woodland Collieries Company, Limited, on the 2nd December, causing the death of a stoneman.

This shaft at the time of the accident had been sunk to a depth of 60 fathoms, and arching was being put in at the opening into the Main Coal Seam, 10 fathoms above; for this purpose there was a scaffold at this level with a hole measuring 3 feet x 2 feet 2 inches, nearly in the middle of it, with a trap door to let down when no one is in the bottom of the shaft. A pump was placed in the bottom, and an engineman was let down when necessary through the hole in a loop to attend to it.

The engineman was down attending to the pump when the accident happened, and the trap door consequently was open. Deceased was walking across the scaffold from one side of the shaft to the other, and when about four feet from the hole he fell, and went head foremost through the hole and into four feet of water, and before he could be got out was dead.

It is a mystery what caused him to fall in the way he did ; he must either have slipped had a fit, and in support of the latter theory it was said he had been complaining of pain a few days previous to the accident happening.

The rope with the loop at the end was hanging through the hole in the scaffold, and it is surprising that, if he had been able to use his hands when he fell, he had not caught either it or the scaffold, and so saved himself.

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: 14 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: 41, Accident Number: 520 Where to find this report

Researchers

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