Tweet

SIR,

1. In compliance with the direction of your predecessor in office, the Rt. Hon. Emanuel Shinwell, M.P., I have held a Formal Investigation under the provisions of Section 83 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911, and under the Ministry of Fuel and Power Act, 1945, into the causes of, and circumstances attending, the explosion at the Whitehaven "William" Pit, Cumberland, which occurred on the 15th August, 1947, causing the loss of 104 lives.

A list of the persons killed and injured is given in Appendix I.

2. Being in complete agreement with the unanimous opinion of the mining and other experts who gave evidence at the Inquiry, namely, that the explosion originated with the firing of a charge of sheathed permitted explosive placed in a shot-hole drilled in the roof, and directed towards the waste behind and immediately contiguous to a longwall face, and being apprehensive of the danger portending in other pits in the country where a similar practice existed, I deemed it necessary that the immediate attention of the managements at such collieries should be directed to the grave risks attending this practice. Accordingly, on the 15th October, 1947, I submitted to you an Interim Report in which I described very briefly the origin, cause and nature of the explosion, and made some suggestions and recommendations for the avoidance of a similar type of explosion in the future. The Interim Report was presented by you to Parliament on the 23rd October, 1947, and published as Cmd. 7236.

3. The Interim Report was well received by the Mining Industry, and served its purpose in that it led to immediate steps being taken at many collieries to avert the danger envisaged. I have now the honour to submit my Final Report on the explosion.

4. The Inquiry was held in the Methodist Church Schoolroom, Whitehaven, from the 7th to the 10th October, 1947, inclusive. A list of the forty-six witnesses examined during the proceedings is given in Appendix II.

5. The appearances were as follows :–

(a) Ministry of Fuel and Power :
Mr. R. J. Edwards, H.M. Divisional Inspector of Mines, and
Mr. G. D. Nussey, H.M. District Inspector of Mines.
Dr. H. F. Coward, Director of Safety in Mines Research and Testing Branch.
(b) National Coal Board :
Mr. Paul E. Sandlands, K.C., and
Mr. G. R. Swanwick, instructed by Messrs. Brockbank, Helder & Ormrod, Whitehaven.
(c) National Union of Mineworkers :
Mr. Abe Moffat and Mr. J. R. A. Machen.
(d) Cumberland Area of National Union of Mineworkers :
Mr. T. Stephenson, Mr. J. Martin and Mr. R. Beattie.
(e) National Association of Colliery Managers :
Major R. W. Anderson and Mr. Dean Harrison.
(f) National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shot-Firers :
Mr. B. Walsh, Mr. H. Skerry and Mr. F. Pattinson.
(g) Association of Mining Electrical and Mechanical Engineers :
Mr. S. A. Simon, M.A., and Mr. E. J. Westcott.