From Durham Mining Museum website Rush (George) Pit of the Etherley Collieries [Co. Durham]. At the bottom of the shaft a steam-boiler is fixed for driving an engine used for pumping and hauling purposes, and is within about 54 feet of the shaft side. A "sludge drift" for carrying off the waste water connects the boiler-house with the sump at the bottom of the pit; the sump is 24 feet deep, and at 16 feet from the bottom a scaffold is placed across for cleaning and other purposes. The boiler is fed by gravitation from a cistern fixed in a seam higher up the shaft, and the feed is regulated by a valve fixed on the pipe connecting it with the boiler.
At 10 o'clock on the night of the accident, Dinsdale, the master shifter, went into the engine-room and told Vitty, the man in charge of the boiler, that they were going to clean out the sump that night, and that he was to be careful not to unplug or sludge the boiler until after they were done ; to which he replied, "All right."
The work proceeded until near midnight, when suddenly there was a rush of hot water down the drift, which fell on to the deceased (Barrett) who was standing on the scaffold in the sump, unable to get out, even with assistance, for two or three minutes, and was badly scalded all over his body, dying after 15 days' suffering.
Immediately after the accident, Dinsdale went to the engine-room, and, addressing Vitty, asked him if he knew what he had done; to which he replied, "Yes; I quite forgot the men were in the sump." It transpired in evidence that the necessity for this sludging of the boiler was caused by the further neglect of duty of Vitty in carelessly allowing the boiler feed to remain on too long, and until the boiler was too full of water, and to cover his own neglect he ran the water out of the boiler, which fell into the sump and on to deceased. Vitty was censured by the coroner and jury for his negligence. As I could find no section in the Act, or any special rule, under which to prosecute Vitty, I communicated with the chief constable of the county, who placed the case in the hands of the Public Prosecutor, and as there appeared to be great difficulty in gaining a conviction it was allowed to drop.
| Source: | 1884 Mines Inspectors Report (C 4429), Durham District (No. 4) by Thomas Bell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 222 |
Mike Gill
If you need to leave the list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] -
leave mining-history
---------
|