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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	21st February 1895
Colliery:	Park House (Metalliferous)
Company:	Charles Cammell and Co., Ltd.
Cause:	By explosives
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

Two deaths were due to shot explosions, in both cases caused the unlawful action of the deceased men.

At Park House Mine, Bigrigg, two miners had charged a couple of shot-holes with dynamite, and after lighting the fuses retired to a safe distance.

One of the shots went off all right, but the report from the second indicated that there was something wrong with it, and one of the miners suggested that the cap only had exploded. After waiting for a short time, however, the deceased returned to the place, and on seeing that the stemming was still in the hole, got a drill and hammered it in, when the shot exploded on him, causing such injuries that he subsequently died.

The Special Rule as to miss-fires at this mines is as follows :— "In the case of a miss-fire, miners shall not return to the workings until at least 20 minutes have elapsed from the time of firing, and they shall on no account attempt to unram or tamper in any way with the charge which has miss-fired."

The explanation given by the deceased before his death was, that he thought the shot had blown through into a "lough" or cavity ; but in any case he was acting improperly in using the drill. The very fact of the stemming being left in the hole, and the difference of opinion between the other man and himself as to whether the shot had gone off, should have made him doubly cautious.

Source:

1895 Mines Inspectors Report (C 8074), Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. L. Hedley, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 38 Where to find this report

	Skeyse, John (died: 11 Mar 1895) , aged 40, Miner, shot explosion (gelatine dynamite); he was driving a jumper through the stemming, believing that the charge had exploded, and blown into a "lough" or cavity
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21 Mar 1895

The Adjourned Inquest (Whitehaven News)

 

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