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| Date: | 24th January 1907 |
| Colliery: | Chopwell |
| Company: | Consett Iron Co., Ltd. |
| Cause: | (See description below) |
| Lives Lost: | 1 |
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| Description | |
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A three-phase current with a voltage of 625 with 50 periods is carried in-bye to a pair of motors working conveyors on either side of a main road. These motors are about 8 yards apart and are moved forward about 4 feet each night. The three cables were carried forward as one cable to within 35 yards of the first motor, then they were carried forward in two sets of three separate cables, one set on the same side as the main cable to the nearest conveyor, the other set of three across the road and then along the opposite side to the furthest in conveyor. About 80 yards out-bye from the point where the three cables crossed the road was a junction box with switch and fuses. The separate cable each contained 7 copper wires of No. 20 S.W.G., and were rubber insulated, jute protected and taped and braided over all. Where the set of three cables crossed the road it was 9 feet wide and 4 feet 7 inches high from the rails to the underside of a balk, 8 inches wide and 5 inches deep, supporting the roof, and the three cables were suspended to this balk by 5 leather thongs fixed by nails to this balk. The road was damp at the point. A rather flighty pony between 13 and 14 hands high was employed drawing tubs from the conveyors, usually in sets of 4, but at the time of the accident it was only drawing one loaded tub, out-bye. It was changing time, and there were a number of men in the vicinity all carrying lights, and it is supposed the pony had become excited and started forward suddenly and the crook connecting the upper ends of the hamesticks on its collar caught one of the cables and drew the whole three down, breaking two of the leather supports and drawing the nails connecting the remaining three to the balk. The insulation was rubbed off at the point and the pony received the current and fell on deceased who was by its side and he also received the current and was killed. Several of the men in the vicinity received shocks. The current was cut off at the junction box, and deceased was subjected to artificial respiration without it having any effect. The electrician had examined the cables the night before the accident and both he and the overman (who examined them on the day of the accident) stated at the inquest that they were not hanging below the balk at the point where they crossed the road. The Local Inspectors in their report; after giving the height of road and of pony, remarked "We are of the opinion that there is not sufficient room for the ponies to travel with safety."
| Source: | 1907 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 4045), Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. B. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 50, Accident Number: 5 Where to find this report |
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| Fatalities | |
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 | Gillespie, James, aged 15, Driver |
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