Single Record

Full Details

Surname

HERIOT

Forename

John

Day

23

Month

11

Year

1932

Age

48

Occupation

Miner

Mine/Quarry Name

Newtongrange, Lingerwood Pit

Mineral Worked

Coal

Owner

Lothian Coal Co. Ltd

Location

Newtongrange

County

Edinburghshire

Details of Event

23 November 1932: Newbattle Miner Killed - John Heriot (48) was killed instantaneously yesterday owing to a fall of material from the pit roof while engaged in repairing an electric signal wire in the Lingerwood Pit, Newbattle. He resided at 13 Dean Park, Newtongrange; and leaves a widow and family. [Scotsman 24 November 1932] Falls of Roof and Sides on Roads - Whilst steel arches offer a certain sense of security even on road ways in unstable ground, care is necessary in such circumstances as was shown at Newbattle Colliery, Midlothian, on November 23 The roadway was 12 feet in width and 8 feet 6 inches in height and was supported by arches five inches by three inches in section set at about three feet intervals. About 120 yards from the face one arch had been displaced by the breaking of a fish-plated joint, and as it fouled the signal wires, it had been removed. A contractor and two miners were hanging up the signal wires when a "bump" occurred causing a fall of roof, 46 feet in length, which bent or broke a number of steel arches leaving them standing amongst the fallen material. The contractor was killed and the two men were slightly injured. The seam was about six feet in thickness at a depth of 255 fathoms, and two seams had been worked underneath this area at depths of 307 and 366 fathoms respectively, some years ago. It was originally intended to have a double unit face, when the road would have been in the middle of the waste, but the rise-side face had been stopped just behind the area where the fall occurred. The road was only from 12 feet to 15 feet from the solid coal and this was probably the first occasion where a main road of such large section had been formed so near a rib side. The roof beds were broken due to the solid coal side and to the proximity of the coal corner left by the abandoned rise face. Prior to the accident I have no doubt the rock which fell was being directly supported by the arches and if they had been well set they ought not to have collapsed since they were capable of sustaining a much bigger load. There were contributing causes to instability which should be mentioned, (1) the sandstone brushing, four feet in thickness, was broken down very irregularly by heavy shots and the only point of contact in most cases between the steel arch and the roof was at the crown, giving a concentrated instead of a distributed load ; (2) the arches were set on thin layers of sandstone built up to a height required to permit the crown to approach the roof, and to allow for subsidence by crushing ; (3) stone packing was built between the arches to steady them but no struts or distance pieces were set and each arch had therefore to sustain its own load. This accident has been described at some length because it is the first I have had to record due to failure of steel arches in this colliery, where similarly erected, they have been used for many years with outstanding success. The two main causes of breakdown in this case appear to have been the position of a road of large sectional area in relation to the solid coal side in a thick seam, where the subsidence on one side of the road was much greater than on the other, and the inadequacy of the methods of setting the individual arches. The placing of the roadway in an area of uniform subsidence as well as the details of the methods of setting the supports are points which merit careful consideration. [From Inspector of Mines Report for 1932]