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Report by Mr. Arnold Morley, M.P., upon an Inquiry into the Causes of a fatal Explosion which occurred on the 19th April 1882, at the West Stanley Colliery, Chester-le-Street.
AN EXPLOSION, CAUSING THE LOSS OF THIRTEEN LIVES, TOOK PLACE IN THE BUSTY SEAM OF THE WEST STANLEY COLLIERY, AT ABOUT 1 A.M. ON THE MORNING OF THE 19TH OF APRIL. AN INQUEST WAS OPENED ON THE FOLLOWING DAY BY MR. JOHN GRAHAM, THE CORONER FOR THE DISTRICT, AND ADJOURNED UNTIL THE 25TH OF MAY. THE ENQUIRY WAS CONTINUED ON THAT DAY, AND ON THE 26TH AND 27TH, AND RESULTED IN THE FOLLOWING VERDICT BEING GIVEN BY THE JURY, IN THE FORM OF ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THEIR CONSIDERATION BY THE CORONER
| Questions. | Answers. | |
1. What was the cause of death ? |
1. As stated in each case by Dr. Benson. |
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2. Was the Busty Seam in safe working order when the deceased men were allowed to go down on the 18th of April ? |
2. We consider it was in perfect working order. |
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3. In what place did the explosion take place? |
3. In McCabe's place. |
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4. How was the explosion caused ? |
4. By quick movement of lamp. |
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5. Who, if any one, is or are, and in what respect culpable ? |
5. No one. |
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6. (If necessary.) Was the explosion the result of causes beyond human control? |
6. |
Mr. John Edge, barrister at law, appeared for the owner; Mr. Bowey, solicitor, of Sunderland, for the Miners National Union, and Mr. Heaveside represented the Durham Miners Union. Mr. Thomas Bell, Mr. James Willis, Her Majesty's Inspector of Mines, and Mr. Atkinson, Assistant Inspector to Mr. Bell, attended throughout the enquiry, and took part in the examination of the witnesses. I attended on behalf of the Secretary of State during the three days of the adjourned inquest.
Twenty-three witnesses were examined at the inquest, including the officials who had inspected the mine shortly before the explosion occurred, and who were therefore able to state the condition in which the mine was at that time; one of the men who were in the pit, but at a different part of the workings at the time of the explosion, and scientific witnesses, who were called on behalf of the owner, in support of the explanation put forward by him as to the locality and origin of the explosion. Two witnesses were called by Mr. Bowey on behalf of the miners, in support of the theory put forward by them as to the cause of the explosion.
The West Stanley Colliery is the property of Mr. John Henry Burn, and is situated about six miles west of Chester-le-street, in the county of Durham. As will be seen from the plan accompanying this Report, there are four seams now being worked; the shield row at 39 fathoms from the surface, the low main at 93 fathoms, the Hutton at 97 fathoms, and the Busty at 140 fathoms. Besides these seams which are now in work, there are the Five Quarter, and the Brass Thrill Seams, which have been worked out. There are four shafts belonging to the colliery, two of which are used for working the Busty Seam. They are the "Busty" Shaft, and the "Lamp" Shaft, the former being the downcast, and the latter the upcast shaft. In addition to these two, there is a third shaft sunk to the Hutton Seam, and a fourth to the Shield Row Seam. The Busty Shaft is 12 ft. in diameter and 140 fathoms in depth, and is used for drawing coals from the Busty and Hutton seams. The Lamp shaft is 10 feet in diameter and 140 fathoms in depth and is used for drawing coal from the Low Main and Shield Row Seams. The coal obtained from the colliery is principally used in the manufacture of coke and gas.
A plan of the workings of the Busty Seam is appended to this report, and from it it will be seen that so far the workings cover a very limited area, the boundary having been reached on the north, north-east, and north-west. The workings, including the goafs, cover about 70 acres, and are divided into three districts; the northern, called the "North Headways," the southern or "South Headways," and the western or "West Narrow Boards," with the branch districts called the North Cross-cuts, and the South Cross-cuts. In the West Narrow Boards at a point in the main intake about 40 yards from the junction with the Main South Headway, a drift was being driven into the Tilley Seam, which is at that point 6 fathoms above the Busty Seam, with the object of working the coal in the Tilley Seam from the Busty Seam, and so avoiding the necessity of making an Additional opening into the shaft. As will be seen from the plan, there are a considerable number of faults, running for the most part in a northerly direction, and varying from a few inches to as much as 23 feet in height.
The ventilation of the mine is produced by a Guibal Fan, in connexion with the Lamp Shaft. The Fan is 30 feet by 10 feet in size, and makes on an average 42 revolutions per minute, producing a ventilating current of 63,600 cubic feet per minute. Of this total amount of air drawn into the workings, 27,600 cubic feet passes into the Busty Seam, which is again divided into 4,050 for the North Headways, 4,632 for the South Headways, 15,918 for the West Narrow Boards, and 8,000 for the stables leakage, &c. The last measurements of the ventilation were made on the 15th March 1882, and they are included in the following table, showing the length of intake and return in each district in the Busty Seam, the average area of the air passages, the number of men and boys employed in a coal shift, and the average quantity of air passing along each intake.
| Length in Yards of | |||||||||||
| Pit and District | Intake Downcast to face | Return Face to upcast | Working face | Main and Stall Roads | Average area of Intake | Average area of Return | Average Velocity of Intake before Splitting | Number of Working Places | Maximum No. of Men and Boys per Coal Shift | No. of Horses and Ponies | Quantity of Air in Cubic Feet per Minute |
| Yards | Yards | Yards | Tram- way Yards | Sq. Ft. | Sq. Ft. | Lin. ft. per min. | No. | No. | No. | Cub. ft. | |
| Busty Pit | |||||||||||
| North Crosscuts: | |||||||||||
| East Flat | 1,137 | 376 | 299 | 515 | 32 | 36 | 202 | 8 | 15 | 5 | 6,459 |
| West Flat | 1,225 | 527 | 66 | 238 | 32 | 36 | 139 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4,459 |
| South Crosscuts | 464 | 858 | 396 | 572 | 32 | 36 | 156 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 5,000 |
| South Headways | 440 | 550 | 84 | 286 | 32 | 35 | 145 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4,633 |
| Air not going into working face as stables and leakage | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3,000 |
| North Headways: | |||||||||||
| Flat | 330 | 308 | 110 | 242 | 35 | 35 | 130 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 4,050 |
| 3,596 | 2,619 | 955 | 1,853 | 163 | 178 | 772 | 25 | 44 | 15 | 27,600 | |
The ventilation appeared to have been carried out in a satisfactory manner, and the general system of return air courses, and arrangement of doors was on the whole complete.
At the date of the explosion the following were the officials of the colliery :–
| George Greenwell | Consulting Viewer |
| William Johnson | Manager and resident viewer |
| William Anderson | Overman and Wasteman |
| Thomas J. Coulson | Back overman |
| Robert Hunter | Master Shifter |
Of these Coulson and Hunter were among those who lost their lives in the explosion.
There were two deputies and an average of 25 hewers in each working shift. William Johnson had been the manager of the colliery for five years, and practically had the entire control of the mine, as Mr. Greenwell in his capacity of consulting viewer, only visited the colliery once a month. In several important particulars the management of the mine appeared to be defective, and there was evidence of decided irregularities, both in respect of provisions laid down by the Mines Regulation Act, and with reference to the ordinary precautions which should in every case be taken. Notwithstanding that the presence of gas had been reported frequently during the four or five months before the explosion, and that the rules in use were those applicable to fiery mines, the manager would not admit that the mine came within the category of fiery mines, within the meaning of the Mines Regulation Act, 1872, and less care appeared to have been taken than probably would have been the case had it been fully realised that considerable danger must exist in any mine where gas was so frequently discovered as had been the case in the Busty Seam.
| (1.) |
No certified copy of the rules could be found, and some doubt appeared at first to be entertained as to which of two sets of special rules were in force in the Busty Seam, but afterwards it was stated that the Lamp Pit special rules were in force, they being rules applicable to fiery mines. Mr. Johnson, the manager, admitted that he had never seen any certified copy of the rules since he became manager five years before, and no certified copy was produced.
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| (2.) |
One of the deputies, John Mossom, who gave evidence, stated that he was unable to read, and that he had never had the special rules applicable to his particular duties, as deputy, read over to him. He admitted that Mr. Johnson had told him to enter gas in his book whenever he saw it, but he stated that as a fact he never did so in cases where he was able to remove the gas by altering the position of the brattice, or by other means. This appeared to be the usual practice in the wine, and although it was certainly not proved that it was done with the sanction or even with the knowledge of the manager, Mossom himself gave as his reason for not having reported on one of the occasions on which he found gas, that the overman, William Anderson, had told him that it was not necessary. In other instances the officials had a very imperfect knowledge of the rules, and did not appear to appreciate the responsibility of their positions in the wine.
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| (3.) |
By the general and special rules in use at the colliery, the reports made by the overmen and deputies should have been entered in separate books kept for the purpose, but this was not done, and all the deputies, the fore-overman, and the back overman, made their reports in the same book, which was kept at the colliery office, in the manager's house, at some little distance from the pit mouth. It was provided by the special rules that the master wasteman should report upon the ventilation in a book kept and signed by him, and that a copy should be sent daily to the manager or under-viewer. The master wasteman's duties were, however, performed by William Anderson, in addition to his duties of overman, but no such hook was kept by him. No copies were sent to the manager, and any reports which he made as master wasteman were entered together with the overmen's and deputies' reports in the book already mentioned.
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| (4.) |
General rule No. 30 provides for the inspection of the mine on behalf of the persons employed, and that a book shall be kept at the mine, in which the reports shall be recorded and signed. No such book was kept at the mine, and the reports of the inspections were made and signed in the overman's pocket book.
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| (5.) |
No register of the thermometer was kept, as provided by the special rules, and the readings of the barometer at bank only were registered, and this was done on a sheet almanack hung up in the office. No register was kept of the barometer underground, and no such barometer appears to have been in use.
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| (6.) |
No record was kept of the names of the men who were authorised to carry keys or to fire shots, and no written licences were given in accordance with special rule No. 3, under the head of "Safety Lamps." The manager stated that the number was so small that he could remember the names without any list, but admitted that it might be better is a list was kept. Two of four lamps which were found in the South Crosscuts, where four men were working at the time of the explosion, were unlocked, and only one of the four men was stated to have been authorised to carry a key, so that either the lamp has been passed by the lamp man in an unlocked condition, or the men themselves had transgressed the special rules with reference to the use of safety lamps.
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