Description

On the 16th August there was an explosion of firedamp in the Newburgh Colliery, Northumberland, whereby two men lost their lives. At this colliery the Duke Seam, which is 2 feet 6 inches in thickness, has been won by means of a level drift which cuts the seam about a quarter of a mile from the shafts. The coal is worked to the rise, and owing to the close proximity of the main haulage road in the seam immediately above, it has been opened out by means of a pair of narrow bords advancing from the south, with coal pillars on either side. Beyond these pillars, to the east and west, districts of longwall workings have been turned away. Headings through the pillars serve as haulage roads and conduct the ventilation to the faces. As the narrow bords had advanced far enough for the time being, they were stopped on the 18th June, when the rails were withdrawn and the two places fenced off.

Prior to the 4th August the districts were ventilated by means of an air current which was carried up the main or west bord to the first pair of levels going east. Above these levels a wooden separation door had been placed in the bord to force the air around the east district; and at a point still higher up in the bord another door had been placed to force the air coming from the east district up the back bord to the face, through a stenton into the main bord, down this bord for 27 yards and thence into the west district ; thus ensuring that the bord faces were properly ventilated. On the 4th August, as a holing had been made into the east district from the back bord further inbye at a point some 96 yards from the bord face, the air current was split. Part of the air then went to the east and continued in that direction into the return airway ; the remainder was conducted up the main bord until it reached the heading 27 yards below the bord face, and then passed into the west district. To achieve this result both wooden doors mentioned were taken out. When the separation doors were taken out there was nothing to induce an air current to travel to the faces of the bords and keep them clear of gas.

Unfortunately, owing to the war, the pit worked only one day after the 4th August. and on the night of the 16th August, a chargeman, after making a partial examination of both longwall districts, prepared to take two men to the stenton near the faces of the two bords, for the purpose of ridding a small fall of roof. The chargeman had a safety lamp, and he was followed by one of the men with an open lamp. As soon as the latter got away from the heading leading into the west district aim explosion took place, and both men were killed ; a third man who was some 15 yards along the west heading was caught by the blast, but not seriously hurt. The chargeman's lamp was found near to him quite undamaged. The pit is a very wet one, and the explosion, although it manifested sufficient violence to blow down a separation door some 20 yards inbye on the west side headway, was, fortunately, confined to a small area about the point of the ignition.

The cause of the explosion appears to be self-evident: after the ventilation was changed, gas must have collected in the bords and was ignited by an open lamp. The investigation also showed that the chargeman was taking men into a part of the mine which he had not previously examined, and before he had made any report of the part of the mine which he had examined. As evidence that the seam made gas, only five days after this occurrence a workman ignited some gas at the ripping edge in a gateroad on the east side district.

Sources

• 1914 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 8023) Where to find this report
• 1914 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 8023), Northern Division (No. 2) by J. R. R. Wilson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 46, Accident Number: 3 Where to find this report

Researchers

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