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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	18th December 1891
Colliery:	Derwent
Company:	Consett Iron Co., Ltd.
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 62 on the list occurred at Derwent Colliery, belonging to the Consett iron Company, Limited, on the 18th of December, about 7 o'clock p.m., causing the death of John Dawson, a gas-fitter.

He was employed to put in and repair all the gas and water pipes in the shafts of all the collieries of this company.

Two water cages are put into the shaft in question at night time, to draw water from the sump, and there is a grating for shaft and other men to ride on, about 15 inches from the top of them. In order that these cages may get into the water, it is necessary to take out the scaffold at the bottom. On the night in question deceased went down the pit, got off the cage, took some measurements, and was in the act of getting in again when he slipped and fell into the sump on the opposite side to that on which the cage was standing. The entrance to the shaft is fenced with chains fixed at a height as will enable the tubs to travel underneath, and they are never taken off. The hooks at the end of the chains are so arranged that should the engineman take the cage away without a signal being given, and a man being half in the cage, his body catching the chain it would easily come off at the crooks. In this case deceased had lifted the chain off, either intentionally or accidentally, and in doing so slipped. I imagine he had done so to save himself stooping to get under it. Since this accident happened it has been decided to put in a pump and do away with the water cages, and it will, therefore, in the future be unnecessary to have the sump uncovered.

This will prevent a reoccurrence of an accident of this kind, and also cause less interference with the ventilation. The shaft is an upcast, and drawing water in it must have materially affected the power of the furnace.

Source:

1891 Mines Inspectors Report (C 6625), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 12 Where to find this report

	Dawson, John, aged 40, Fitter, while engaged repairing some gas pipes at the bottom of the pit he fell into the sump and was drowned
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