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| Date: | 12th September 1920 |
| Colliery: | Harton |
| Company: | Harton Coal Co., Ltd |
| Cause: | By electric shock |
| Lives Lost: | 1 |
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| Description | |
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The fatal accident by electricity happened at the Harton Colliery, Co. Durham. Owing to a serious mishap in the shaft some unusual work was being performed about the shaft top, and it was found advisable on the day before the accident to provide an additional light. Alternating current at 220 volts, 40 periods, was in general use for lighting, and no part of the system was earthed. Two separate 7/20 insulated cables were connected to one of the lighting circuits and carried to a headgear leg where the light was fixed. The cables were supported 12 ft. above ground level at from 9 to 12 ft. intervals, and were fixed horizontally, 2 ft. apart. This branch lighting circuit carried eight lights in all, and was protected by 5-ampere fuses.
A hand winch bolted to two wooden sleepers was put into use, and the ½ in. diameter rope from the drum was threaded between the two new lighting cables to pass over a snatch block hung to the steel headgear for lighting purposes. When the winch rope was tightened it came into contact with the cable nearer to the winch and broke it. The contact was momentary and the four men at the winch handles received an electric shock. The 5-ampere fuses were not blown. Three of the men were unhurt, but the fourth, a winding engineman, died in a few minutes. Artificial respiration was tried until a doctor arrived, 45 minutes later, but it was of no avail. The ground on which the men were standing was wet. As the cable was earthed through the winch rope both ways, that is, through the snatch block and headgear, and through the winch to men’s bodies, only a small part of the leakage current, which failed to blow a 5-ampere fuse, must have passed through deceased. The difference of potential between one phase and earth would be 127 volts, and it would appear that death was caused from shock from a very small current at this voltage. Deceased had a weak heart and had not worked regularly for some time ; he had been absent nine days during the previous month.
The winch rope ought not to have been threaded between the electric cables, and the accident illustrates the necessity of careful supervision by the electrical staff when repair work is being done.
| Source: | 1920 Mines Inspectors Report |
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| Fatalities | |
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 | Laidler, George Nicolas, aged 48, Colliery Engineman, electrocuted by accident, address: 16 Ethel Terrace, Tyne Dock, South Shields, inquest held: 15 Sep 1920 |
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