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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	23rd December 1907
Colliery:	Bebside
Company:	Bebside Coal Co., Ltd.
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

A Pickquick coal cutter actuated by electricity works along a longwall face in the Bensham seam, a feet 3 inches thick, and cuts about the centre of the seam. After 19 yards had been cut, the picks or cutters on the revolving bar required renewal and deceased went to the rear and bar end of the machine and standing in a confined space between the machine and a pack wall worked a ratchet to draw the bar out of the cut and while this was being done it was necessary to keep the bar revolving otherwise it was apt to jam. When the bar was about clear of the cut deceased's waistcoat was caught by it and he appears to have been tossed over next the coal face and sustained injuries which resulted fatally a few minutes after he was brought to the surface. Deceased had had some months' experience with the machine. It was arranged in future to stop the machine opposite a gateway so that the ratchet could be worked where there would be more room. The Local Inspectors reported that they considered the occurrence "To have been a pure accident and no blame attached to any person."

Source:

1907 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 4045), Newcastle District (No. 3) by J. B. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 52, Accident Number: 108 Where to find this report

	Dodds, Henry Smith, aged 21, Coal Cutter attendant, caught in coal cutter machine, Buried: Cowpen Cemetery
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