In this district the depth to the Hutton Seam is about 450 ft. and the general direction of full dip is 1 in 29 slightly south of east.

Plan No. 2 shows that the small area of solid coal to be worked was bounded on all four sides either by goaf or bord and pillar workings.

The area was entered at its north end by means of a 1 in 6 dip stone drift driven due east from the 4th North Low Main Haulage Road, and its continuation in the seam skirted whole workings on the north side. From this east heading a heading was driven southwards through the heart of the area and won out longwall faces to the east and west. By August, 1947, four conveyor faces had been worked to the west to a barrier line fixed to protect the 4th North Low Main Haulage Road; two conveyor faces had been worked up to and connected with the old Wembley gateway face; and two other faces, the Straight East and 2nd East, were being worked to the east. The Straight East face was the first conveyor face to be started in the district but it had been stopped in September, 1946, on account of very wet natural conditions and was not re-started until July, 1947, by which time it had become dry. To the south of the 2nd East face there were two tub gateway faces working the narrowing strip of coal between the 2nd East face and the barrier being left to support the Low Main Cross-cut Haulage Road to Louisa shaft.

All the coal in this district was hewed with air picks and shots had never been fired in the coal. Top rippings were shot down in all the roadways and the roof on the conveyor faces caved regularly between the gateside packs. All the conveyor machinery and a small hauler on the South Heading were electrically driven, but one small pump in the East Motor bord old right face was driven by compressed air. The two face conveyors were of the chain type: the Straight East conveyor delivering on to a chain conveyor in the gate, and the 2nd East conveyor on to a belt conveyor delivering into tubs on the South Heading. The tubs were hauled from both loading points by rope haulage. Chain conveyors had also been employed on Nos. 3, 4 and 5 old West bords.

Ventilation. The district was ventilated by a split from the 4th North Low Main Haulage Road leading from Morrison North shaft, and owing to its proximity to the upcast shaft the quantity of air passing was heavily regulated, (i) at the Wembley connection by a cloth fixed across a wood door which had been damaged by roof weighting, and (ii) on the North Heading return airway off the Straight East gate by the usual type of wood regulator door.

The quantity recorded on 18th August as entering the district was 9,040 cu. ft. per minute. The air was coursed by means of canvas cloths into the South Heading, up No. 1 West bord and then around the district, as shown on Plan No. 1. Roughly half this quantity was allowed to pass into the return at the Wembley connection, and the remainder (a measured quantity of 4,135 cu. ft.) ventilated the Straight East face and gate on its way out to the North Heading return airway.

No measurement had been taken of the air current at or near a point in the airway ten yards on the intake side of the first working place, as required by No. 6 (c) of the Coal Mines (Ventilation) General Regulations, 1947, but the quantity entering this return airway had been recorded on 18th August as being 4,820 cu. ft. pet minute, which indicated little leakage through the heavy canvas cloth across the short length of the Straight East gate between the district main intake and the return airway.

I return to this matter later in this report, but it can be stated that the amount of air ventilating the district under normal conditions (with the canvas cloths in proper working order) was adequate.

Working Arrangements. The district was worked by a succession of shifts commencing at 3 a.m. on Monday and ending at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday in each week. Four shifts of workmen and three shifts of deputies (one on each shift in rotation) covered this period as follows :-

The arrangement of work in the district was rather complicated. Coal was produced on all shifts except the night shift. On the Straight East face, 40 yards long, six hewers completed a daily advance at the face of about 4½ ft. in one shift, which changed on a weekly rotation; and on the 2nd East face, 60 yards long, hewers were employed on the two other of the three coaling shifts. In the two tub gateways hewers were employed on all the three coal shifts. Conveyor movers and the conveyor gate canchmen came in on the shift immediately following the coal loading shifts, which meant they worked any of the four shifts in different weeks. On the night shift were employed the gateway canchmen, back canchmen and gate conveyor extenders, and men cleaning up spillage and stonedusting; while two stone drillers were usually employed between about 7 p.m. and 12 midnight. Since the introduction of the 5-day week some of the men normally employed on the Friday fore or back shifts were liable to be brought in at 11 o'clock the same night.

On Monday of each week the fore-shift deputy made a pre-shift inspection, after which work was continuous for the week and each of the three deputies made two during-shift inspections and entered a report on each during his shift. The overlap of the three shifts was sufficient to enable them to relieve each other at the meeting station in the district.

On Friday evening of each week the deputies came on shift earlier and on the day of the explosion, Friday, 22nd August, the back shift deputy was J. W. Maughan from 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. (as usual) and the night shift deputy was T. Hebden from 4 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. This deputy, however, reached the surface at Morrison North shaft at 11.20 p.m. and there met the fore shift deputy, John Estell (one of the victims), who should have descended at 11 p.m. Before he left the district Hebden arranged provisionally with a deputy in charge of another district to take charge if Estell eventually failed to turn up.

All the third shift had left at about the same time as deputy Hebden, and the persons on shift in the district about 11.55 p.m. when the explosion occurred were as follows :-

	(a)	Two stone drillers, Johnson and Kilgallon, who had descended Louisa shaft and were admitted to the district by deputy Hebden at 7 p.m.
	(b)	Men who had descended Morrison North shaft at 10 p.m. and were admitted to the district by Hebden at 10.20 p.m. :-
		Three conveyor movers, Bell, Chapman and Fenwick: to advance the 2nd East face conveyor;
		Two stonemen, Appleby and Rowland: to take out a low girder on the South Heading outbye of 2nd East loading point; and
		Two other stonemen, Simpson and Brown: to continue a canch along the West face line towards the inbye tailgate.
	(c)	Men who had descended at 11 p.m. and had reached their working places after deputy Hebden had left, probably before deputy Estell had arrived at the kist :-
		Two stonemen, Bailey and Talbot: to renew a "warrick" girder near the outbye end of the Straight East loading gate;
		Two other stonemen, Minto and Westgarth: to complete the re-aligning of the Straight East gate conveyor and clean up;
		Three datal hands, Reed, Moore and Bell: to clean up on 2nd East loading gate;
		Three other datal hands, McKever, Roe and Martin : to repair the rail track on the South Heading outbye the 2nd East loading point; and
		Four stonemen, Hodgson, Grimley and Rutherford, and Birtle: to canch the 2nd East loading gate, the 2nd East tailgate, and the inbye tub gateways respectively.
	(d)	The deputy, Estell, who had reached the kist at the meeting station within a few minutes of the occurrence.

Four of the fourteen men who came on shift at 11 p.m. had already worked on the fore shift, and four others on the back shift, of the same day. There were thus eight additional persons to the normal night shift on shift at the time.

Each of these men carried an Edison "J" electric cap lamp. Deputy Estell also had his flame safety lamp, but none of the men carried a flame lamp gas detector, as required by the rule of the colliery. Deputy Hebden states that he reported this fact to Estell at the surface, but apparently Estell took no action in the matter and his flame lamp was the only gas detector in the district at the time of the explosion.

Inspections on Day of Explosion. On the fore shift of 22nd August, the day of the explosion, fore overman John Hutchinson had inspected the whole of the district, including the West face line, and had found the ventilation very satisfactory and free from firedamp.

Deputy Maughan found no firedamp during the back shift, nor did deputy Hebden on the third shift; and overman T. Amos had also tested and found the face ripping lip of the Straight East gate clear as late as 10 p.m., two hours before the explosion occurred. Furthermore, as previously stated, there was no history of inflammable gas having been found in this district or in the Hutton Seam at this colliery. The two drillers who had left the inbye East faces about fifteen minutes before the explosion also stated that the conditions seemed to be normal at that time.