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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	7th August 1891
Colliery:	Newfield
Company:	Bolckow, Vaughan and Co., Ltd.
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 40 on the list occurred at Newfield Colliery, belonging to Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., Limited, on the 7th of August, about 4.30 p.m., causing the deaths of Edward Smith, a banksman. Some repairs were being done to one of the pit-head pulleys, which had become loose on the shaft. Three men went up on to the headgear, and then, by means of a rope, some battens were drawn up to form a scaffold to stand upon. Deceased went up the ladder with some nails, and when he got on to the scaffold he slipped and fell on to the top of the heapstead, and from there into the fire-holes. The fall so severely injured him that he died in a few minutes. It appears he should have not gone up the ladder at all, but have sent the nails up tied to the rope, in the same way the battens were. He was, I understand, a very energetic man, and anxious to help others. His anxiety, however, in the case to assist the other men took him where he had no business to be, and caused his death.

Source:

1891 Mines Inspectors Report (C 6625), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 10 Where to find this report

	Smith, Edward, aged 36, Banksman, while employed doing some repairs to the pulley he slipped and fell down the headstocks, a distance of 40 ft.; it appeared that his duties did not require him to go on to the headstocks at all, Buried: St. Pauls?, Hunwick
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