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Unfortunately all the men who entered the No. 2 District or Unit on the morning of the explosion were killed, and in the absence of direct evidence as to the work on which they were engaged it is necessary to consider first the situation which existed when the night deputy left the district some two hours earlier, the discussions as to procedure which ensued, and then to form conclusions based on evidence as to the position of the bodies and their injuries, the indications of force and other factors disclosed by subsequent investigations.

The sequence of events leading up to the accident was as follows :–

Coal getting operations in the district ceased with the termination of the day shift on Saturday, 7th December at about noon, the fans being stopped and all electrical power cut off.

At 10.30 p.m. on that day John Lewis Tubman, a shotfirer and spare fireman, descended the mine accompanied by a pumpman (William Urwin) who was left at No. 6 pump on the main plane. After calling at No. 3 district and starting a pump there and also an auxiliary fan, Tubman proceeded to the No. 2 district where he travelled up by the main conveyor road (No. 3 heading) until he reached the first auxiliary fan (No. 2) used for ventilating No. 4 heading. Testing the air at the fan and finding it clear and the tubes in order, he started the fan, after which he proceeded by way of No. 4 left thirl into No. 2 heading and back to No. 1 fan which was also started after making an examination in its vicinity. Retracing his steps to No. 3 heading and travelling inbye he reached No. 3 fan where he found the air clear and started the fan. This fan was situated between Nos. 4 and 5 left thirls, but he proceeded inbye a little beyond No. 5 thirl and found all in order. It would then be about 2.15 a.m. according to Tubman’s estimate.

Some 15 minutes after the fans were started Tubman made an inspection at the face of both No. 2 and No. 3 headings and found no indication of firedamp. There was a canvas screen or brattice immediately over No. 3 fan extending across the whole width of the road but with a small opening covered by a loose sheet through which the belt conveyor passed, and according to Tubman a "good air" was being circulated. A canvas screen was also placed in No. 5 right thirl over the top of the scraper chain conveyor about three yards from No. 3 heading, beyond which a T-piece was provided in the ventilating tubes from No. 2 fan with extensions into the face of No. 4 heading and the fast end of No. 5 thirl.

Tubman came out of the district about 2.35 a.m. leaving the three fans running, and after visiting other parts of the mine to see that the pumps were working, reached the shaft and ascended about 5.35 a.m.

It should be stated that he had gone in on this shift to get the pumps and fans started because it was intended to move No. 3 fan forward on the Sunday morning.

Deputy John Proud Fisher descended at 6 o’clock on the Sunday morning accompanied by four men (including two maintenance engineers) for the purpose of moving forward the No. 3 fan, having seen Tubman in the pithead baths who told him how he had left things in No. 2 district. Fisher and his men proceeded together to the old shuttle car charging station where they left some of their clothing. All the three fans were then running, but on his way inbye to make an inspection, Fisher stopped first No. 1 fan and then No. 2 at about 7 a.m., the men following him inbye to No. 3 fan, a procedure not strictly in accordance with the requirements of Sect. 64 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911. He then inspected the face of Nos. 2 and 3 headings, testing for gas and, finding none, returned to No. 3 fan (which he said was situated a little below No. 5 left thirl) after having opened the door or flap (which was about 4 feet square) in the brattice screen over the conveyor belt to allow air to pass through to the face while the fan was stopped for moving up. Fisher disconnected the air tubes from the fan and left them suspended from the roof.

The fan was then pulled inbye for some 50 yards by means of a shortwall coal cutter (moved on the Saturday from No. 7 right thirl to No. 7 left thirl in readiness) the rope from which was extended by two short lengthening pieces to reach the fan, Glaister, one of the maintenance engineers, having first stopped the fan at the switch panel and then removed the plug from the fan socket. Having got the fan into its new position, where it stood on the floor, the trailing cable was dragged up to it, connected to the fan by Thomas Brown, the other maintenance engineer, and the switch having been put in at the switch panel by Glaister the fan re-started ; the air tubes had been broken at a joint and re-attached to the fan.

It is necessary to explain that to start the fan two operations were required, first the closing of the isolating switch at the switch panel and then the operation of the push-button on the same switch panel. Some doubt was raised in regard to the efficiency of this push-button, the suggestion being made that it sometimes stuck – this point will be referred to later – but Fisher and Glaister affirmed that on this occasion it functioned without any trouble and the fan re-started at once and continued running satisfactorily.

About the time the fan had been got into its new position, Robert McCracken, who had been operating the coal cutting machine and was the man nearest to the face, remarked "I think it is getting ‘dirty‘ up there" – meaning that there was gas or firedamp at the face. There was a flame safety lamp hung up about 10 yards on the inbye side of No. 7 thirling, which the deputy said he had been up to about five minutes before and had not noticed any indication of firedamp on it, though he knew "it was possible inbye that thirl to get dirty," and he did not bother about McCracken’s remark as the fan was then ready to be re-started. This was about 11 a.m. the fan having been stopped over three hours.

After starting the fan, the brattice screen across No. 3 heading having been removed entirely so as to leave the road open, Fisher and his men came out to the charging station to have their bait. In about half an hour he returned to Nos. 2 and 3 headings and made a careful examination at the faces of each without finding any firedamp present. At that time the headings were being ventilated by an air tube in each, the fan was running normally, there was no fall or any movement of the roof to suggest the possibility of one at the junction of No. 2 heading and the No. 7 thirling, and after stopping the No. 3 fan he came outbye at about a.m. While the fan was running the louvres were fully opened so that it would pass its full quantity of air, and it was left in this condition. Nos. 1 and 2 fans which had run during part of the shift were stopped after the men had taken their bait, and were not re-started.

Originally it had been intended to move up the switchgear controlling No. 3 fan, but owing to the difficulty of hauling up the fan – between the old and new positions of the fan the height of the roadway had been reduced by leaving down part of the bottom coal – and the time taken to effect this, it was decided to leave the switchgear in its old position, the length of spare trailing cable being sufficient to allow of this. The trailing cable therefore, as already stated, was pulled up by hand, and though no careful examination of it was made thereafter Glaister and Brown, who assisted with the work, said it was not damaged and they considered its condition satisfactory.

General Regulation 131 (c) requires that the electrician shall be responsible for the fulfilment of certain duties to be carried out by him or by a duly appointed assistant, among which are (ii) the examination and testing of all new apparatus and of all apparatus re-erected in a new position in the mine before it is put into service in the new position. It may be open to question whether such an examination and test was required in this case after the fan (not the switchgear) was moved up, but in my opinion it was. Reference will be made later to a piece of wire found after the explosion to be sticking out between the plug and socket attachment to the fan motor, evidently fitted to earth the pilot pin and complete the remote control circuit – the proper way would be to earth the pilot pin behind the plug socket to the framework of the motor or to use an interrupted pilot adaptor behind the socket, which latter method was in operation on some machines at this colliery. Glaister, who, as already stated, took out the plug before the fan was moved, and Brown who replaced it later both denied any knowledge of having seen such a wire, and said if they had seen it they would have taken it out; neither of them however, claimed to have made a very careful examination of the apparatus and as stated no electrical tests were carried out after moving up.

Unless this wire was put in on the morning of the explosion (which seems unlikely) it must have been there when the fan was re-started after being moved forward, but apparently escaped the notice of the two maintenance engineers, both of whom were trained and regarded as assistant electricians.

Before leaving the district after the fan had been moved up Glaister put the isolator at No. 11 panel in neutral so cutting off all current from the duckbills and scraper conveyors. It was the practice, he said, to have this switch closed during the week, it being opened and the isolator put in "neutral" by the day shift deputy at the end of his shift on the Saturday, and so left until the Monday morning unless the maintenance engineers required the current for any purpose.

On the Sunday afternoon Robert O’Neill, a shotfirer, went down to attend to some pumps in other parts of the mine, but sometime between 2.30 and 3.30 p.m. he had occasion to go into No. 2 district to seek some grease near the scraper conveyor in No. 5 right thirl. He did not examine the place, nor, apart from getting the grease, interfere with anything in the district.

Alan Hannah, the night shift deputy (who had been a deputy only two months but had worked in No. 2 district previously), descended at 11 o’clock on the Sunday night accompanied by James Bateman, a pumpman. His duty was to see that the districts in the Main Band Seam were in order for the Monday morning shift entering.

They proceeded together as far as the first (known as the "back end") pump in the main haulage road where Bateman was left to attend to the pump and Hannah continued inbye to No. 2 district, which he entered by way of No. 2 supply road or heading at about 12.15 a.m. (i.e., Monday morning).

Arriving at No. 1 fan he examined there and finding no gas went into No. 3 heading where the switch panel for this fan was situated and started it. He returned to the No. 1 fan and found it running satisfactorily, then returned to No. 3 heading and reaching No. 2 fan started it up, the air there being clear. Continuing on up No. 3 heading at approximately the junction of No. 5 left thirl he "walked into an accumulation of gas." He had previously passed the switch controlling the No. 3 fan – he did not yet know the new position of the fan – but did not put it in because, as he said, "it is my job to make an inspection of the fan and the area around the fan to see that it is properly clear before starting the fan."

Asked what he then did Hannah said, "When I came across this accumulation of gas I was surprised and I think shocked to find such an accumulation. To shift it properly would have meant that I would have to have more men, and where I was going to get them from I did not know. In fact there was no way of getting men or assistance at that time. I decided I would do my best to shift this accumulation and that I would open the door in No. 5 left, and this I did." "This door," he said, "was about 6 feet high by 4 feet wide and was opened by fastening up the sheet which when closed hung down like a curtain. I then came down the belt road (No. 3), leaving the position as it was, and entering No. 1 district carried out my examinations and left that district clear."

After about an hour or an hour and a quarter he returned to No. 2 district and went to No. 5 left thirl which he found clear. "This" he said "proved to me that the intake and the return from No. 5 left was clear of any obstruction; any obstruction I thought that was preventing the air from travelling up to the last (No. 7) thirl, was up in that area. I then decided that I would take the tubes from the No. 2 fan out of No. 5 right and put them straight up No. 3 heading." To do this he stopped No. 2 fan and then re-started it after fixing two lengths of tubing, i.e. 34 yards, up the No. 3 heading – the position of the fan was about 2 yards outbye of No. 4 left and the end of the tubes then some 10 yards beyond the entrance to No. 5 right. After transferring the tubes from No. 5 right thirl up the straight he opened the "door" of the canvas screen in that thirl to ventilate No. 4 heading. The velocity of air issuing from the tubes blowing up No. 3 was good; there was a good draught through the door in No. 5 left and the air seemed to be going beyond No. 5 left and being drawn back through that door.

He said he tested the air outbye the end of the tubing in No. 3 heading by beating dust from his clothes and by breathing into the air to see if any recirculation was taking place and there was none. He was satisfied the gas was not coming back on him but that the ventilation was taking its natural course, and then returned to Bateman at the pump to have his bait, leaving the No. 2 fan running. When he reached Bateman it was 3.5 a.m.

Bateman was an old and experienced pitman and Hannah discussed the position with him; after having their bait they returned to No. 2 district together each having a flame safety lamp and a cap lamp. They went to No. 5 left thirl and found the gas had receded somewhat further up No. 3 heading. Going through No. 5 thirl Hannah went as far as No. 2 heading where in making a test for gas, his light was extinguished by the gas. showing that beyond that thirl the No. 2 heading was also fouled.

Wishing to find out what the position was higher up Hannah, taking only his electric cap lamp, ran up to No. 6 left thirl (where there was a scraper chain conveyor) and opened the screen there. The canvas screen, he said, was opened in two halves, the first one on the prop on which the door was made by means of a five foot boring drill and the other side was jammed with a sleeper. On his way back he closed the screen in No. 5 left thirl, after having erected a fence at the junction of this thirl with No. 2 heading. He did not then test again for gas in No. 2 heading. In going up to No. 6 thirl Hannah passed the No. 3 fan in its new position, but there was no brattice sheet across the heading or other obstruction therein.

When he left the No. 3 heading there was gas down to about 20 yards inbye of No. 5 left thirl, but the impression he gained was that air was passing inbye beyond that point.

The door through the screen in No. 5 right thirl still remained open and was so left. Tests for firedamp in the No. 4 heading and the extension of No. 5 right thirl were made before and after removing the tubing from this thirl, but none was found.

As nothing more could then usefully be done in No. 3 heading Hannah proceeded outbye, through No. 3 left thirl into No. 1 heading, up this heading, leaving Bateman just inbye No. 1 fan and, following the course of the air tubes from No. 1 fan, went to near the end of the tube where he made an examination and found about one per cent. of gas of which, however, he took little notice as it was not uncommon to find a little there and he thought some gas would be coming from No. 2 heading. Although he did not then know that any one was to work there, he knew timber was being drawn out of these workings and that if men were to work in this section it would be at this place. This was where the brothers Bird were found after the explosion. It was about 4.30 a.m. when this examination was made, and he then proceeded outbye by No. 2 level to No. 4 district to make his pre-shift examination, leaving Bateman at No. 6 pump, and thence to the Lickbank Junction where he reported in the report book the accumulation of gas he had found in No. 2 district and that he had fenced the area off. Thereafter he proceeded to the shaft where he met the overman Hoodless in the undermanager’s cabin and told him of the position. The undermanager then came in and he too was told of the position.

James Bateman gave confirmatory evidence of the conditions as found when he accompanied Hannah into the No. 2 district, except that he said that when the deputy first tested at the face of No. 4 heading his lamp, in Bateman’s view, showed about one per cent. of gas present; when he tested later, however, there was none to be seen.

Bateman further said that after the deputy had returned to him upon opening the screen in No. 6 left thirl they stayed some 15 minutes in the No. 3 heading during which the deputy made several tests for gas; they formed the opinion that conditions were improving because, although Hannah went no further up the heading during that time, he was able to raise his light a bit higher in the roadway before finding the gas.