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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	4th April 1901
Colliery:	Houghton
Company:	Lambton Collieries Ltd.
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

No. 128 on the list occurred at Houghton Colliery belonging to The Lambton Collieries, Limited, on April 4th, and caused the death of a coal hewer.

This accident was caused for want of proper stays or sprags being set against the top coal while the coal underneath it was being worked away.

The seam is 6 feet 8 inches thick, and the "kirving or holing" is done in the middle of the seam. Deceased was doing this in a place at one side of which the coal had been worked, when about a ton of the top coal fell away at a "cleat" at the back of it. He had no sprag or stay set as is required by the Special Rules, although there were five or six props in the place close to him which could have been used for the purpose.

I much regret having to report accidents of this kind, for, with a little more care, they could be prevented. There is, I often find, a feeling amongst both officials and men that as long as the coal sounds hard it will not fall, and, therefore, it is not necessary to put sprags in. Unfortunately accidents, attended with fatal results or serious injury to the hewer, occur and show the fallacy of this idea. Sprags should be set whether apparently necessary or not ; if this were done, the list of fatal accidents from falls of coal would be considerably reduced.

Source:

1901 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 1062), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 17 Where to find this report

	Dockerty, Michael, aged 63, Hewer, While in the act of kirving, the top coal fell upon and crushed him to death. He had neglected to set sprags.
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