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Full Details

Surname
McGINNES
Forename
Francis
Day
24
Month
07
Year
1929
Age
Occupation
Mine/Quarry Name
Motherwell
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
John Watson Ltd
Location
Motherwell
County
Lanarkshire
Details of Event
Information from the Inspectors of Mines - 1929: By machinery The third accident occurred at Motherwell Colliery, Lanark, when the attendant of a small electric haulage was struck on the abdomen by a flying piece of metal when the casing of the centrifugal coupling pulley burst.  The hauler was a very small Hugh Wood main and tail rope machine designed apparently for flat roads or roads of moderate gradient. In this case it was being used as a main or direct rope haulage to haul two empty tubs at a time up a short stone drift between one seam and another and to lower two loaded tubs by the drum brake, the motor being at rest and the centrifugal coupling automatically free.  When in gear pulling the tubs uphill the haulage speed was one mile per hour with a motor speed of 700 revolutions per minute, but when being lowered free of the motor the tubs ran at three to four miles per hour, which meant the centrifugal coupling casing ran at 2,000 to 3,000 revolutions per minute. After the accident happened one of the drum brake posts, which was of cast metal and was of light section, was found broken as was also the centrifugal coupling. At the Fatal Accident Inquiry one witness said he saw the lad who was killed holding a sleeper or wooden strap against the coupling, as this was necessary to help to hold the load sometimes. Others said they had done the same when employed at the same work. As the coupling was running very fast it may be that it burst owing to centrifugal action alone ; on the other hand the pressure applied by the sleeper or strap to the coupling casing may have pushed it sufficiently to engage the connection to the standing motor so causing the disastrous result.  In any event the hauler was being used for conditions for which it was not meant.  Apparently other machines of the same type had been used successfully for similar work without failure in Motherwell and in other Collieries, but this failure should be a warning to managers and engineers that a handy and convenient machine has its limits and men must not be asked to do the impossible with it. [Identfied from Register of FAI]