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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	1st December 1900
Colliery:	Littleburn
Company:	North Brancepeth Coal Co., Ltd.
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 452 on the list occurred at Littleburn Colliery belonging to Messrs. The North Brancepeth Coal Company, Limited, on December 1st, and caused the death of a coal hewer.

The place at which this accident occurred was in a district where the seam was thin and a little irregular, and stone has either to be taken down from the roof or shot up from the bottom, to make height for the tubs to run in. At the face of the place, bottom was being shot up, but, only a few yards further back from the place where this man was killed, an attempt had been made to make the height by taking down the top stone, and it was found to be so hard that it had to be abandoned. Yet within this short distance the deceased was killed by a large fall of stone from the roof which came away at a slip all round it as smooth as glass and broke down two props. The stone, no doubt, when tested by sounding would appear to be quite safe, and the slip was not visible before it fell.

This is a case where the judgment of the most careful and long experienced man might be at fault. There was nothing to show that the stone was likely to fall and the experience the men had, when trying to make height by shooting the top stone down, would lead them to think that was the last thing to expect.

Source:

1900 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 536), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 18 Where to find this report

	Meynell, Thomas, aged 34, Hewer, Killed by a fall of stone from roof which came away at a horse back with a feather edge all round and slippery partings all over it.
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