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| Date: | 4th July 1900 |
| Colliery: | South Hetton |
| Company: | South Hetton Coal Co., Ltd. |
| Cause: | Shaft Accident |
| Lives Lost: | 1 |
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| Description | |
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No. 246 on the list occurred at South Hetton Colliery, belonging to Messrs. The South Hetton Coal Co., Limited, on July 4th, causing the death of a man who was employed to unload timber off the cage at the various seams.
On the occasion in question, some long props had been put on to the cage top at bank and secured by means of a long chain passed round the timber and fastened to the cage chains. The cage and timber were then sent to the main coal seam and arrived there without anything unusual happening.
The deceased man then got up on to the bars, along which the gates protecting the opening into the shaft run, and stood upon them. He attempted to unfasten the chain round the timber, but found he could not do so, and told the master shifter who was standing at the rapper handle to signal for "slack"; at the time the deceased man had hold of the signal rope with one hand and part of the shaft timbering with the other.
The master shifter said he signalled "one," which meant "down," but the winding engineman took the cage up, and as soon as he did this deceased took hold of the chain round the timber with his right hand, and was carried with his head up against the shaft timbering, his feet then flew forward and his left foot got caught between the cage chain and the timber ; he fell back with his head against the gate bar and the blow killed him instantly.
The winding engineman said and his statement was confirmed by a man who was in the engine-house at the time the signal was given, that he did not receive the signal "one" but got a "cock-up," or half a rap, which means "bend-up," or raise the cage.
The cause of the proper signal not having been received by the engineman was, no doubt, caused by the deceased man having hold of the signalling wire and, when the master shifter pulled the handle, he had gripped it and thus prevented the hammer falling at bank. Mr. Walker tried some experiments at the colliery with the same rapper and they proved that this could happen.
The signal wire has now been moved so that a man in getting up to the cage cannot use it to take hold of, and this will make it necessary for the man to get down and signal with the lever instead of with the wire as has been his custom.
The deceased man was very careful and thoroughly understood his work, and the engineman's character was that of being a steady and careful man.
| 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 |
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| Fatalities | |
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 | West, Joseph, aged 45, Timber unloader at shaft bottom, He was standing on the top of the gate bars at the Main Coal Seam, hanging-on, when the cage moved and he took hold of a chain which was round some timber on the cage top and was carried up against the shaft timbering, and this caused him to fall back on to the gate bars and the blow killed him. |
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