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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	22nd June 1900
Colliery:	Houghton
Company:	Lambton Collieries Ltd.
Cause:	Shaft Accident
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 230 on the list occurred at Houghton Colliery, belonging to The Lambton Collieries, Limited, on June 22nd, and caused the death of a wasteman.

The deceased and another wasteman were sent to the top of a staple or shaft in the five quarter seam, to throw stones down it to the main coal seam 70 feet below.

The staple had not been in use for many years, but preparations were being made to utilize it for ventilation purposes, and to do this it was necessary to clear the stones away at the top, and they were being used for the purpose of making a slope into the staple at the bottom. The top of the staple was well protected by means of two baulks, each 12 ft. long by 8 ins, by 8 ins., one placed on the floor, and the other across the opening to the staple three feet higher up, and iron fencing was nailed to these baulks. The iron bars or rods forming the fencing were fastened about six inches apart.

There was a space of about 3 ft. by 10 ft. at the top of the fencing and the master wasteman's instructions to deceased and the man working with him were that all the stones were to be thrown over the top of the fencing and it was not to be removed.

After the accident occurred it was found that the top baulk and one of the upright bars had been taken out, and this left the fencing loose at the top and quite insecure, and when it was in this condition deceased was throwing a stone over and he either slipped or overbalanced himself, fell to the bottom of the staple and was killed.

The man who was working with him, in his evidence at the inquest, said that they removed the iron bar because if they had not done so it would have fallen down the staple, and that the baulk in the front of the fencing, was resting on some stones which they had to throw down the staple, and they were therefore compelled to remove it. The management, however, maintained that the fencing was nailed to the baulk and the nails would have to be pulled out, and that it was not necessary to remove the stone upon which the baulk was resting.

The probability is that the baulks, owing to their having been where they were for many years had become partially rotten, and that when the stone was moved the fencing, or some of it, fell away from the baulk owing to the nails not holding properly.

This, however, was no reason why the baulk should have been removed, and if it had not been, it is probable that the accident would not have occurred.

Source:

1900 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 536), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 20 Where to find this report

	Green, William, aged 66, Wasteman, fell down a staple from the Five-Quarter to the Main Coal Seam, a distance of 70 feet, and was killed [Sunderland Echo reports: accident - 22 Jun 1900 pg 3]
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