Single Record

Full Details

Details of Event: Information from the Inspectors of Mines - 1929: Shaft Accident At Kinneil Colliery two men were killed through ice falling down the shaft and depressing the cage cover when a cage load of men was about to be raised. There had been a period of nine days of very severe frost, and ice formed on the wet sides of the shaft. Three shaftsmen were engaged nightly in scaling off this ice, as far as it was possible to do so, and there could not have been a large quantity anywhere on the day of the accident, for the shaft sides were entirely clear next day. If the cage cover had been of stronger material it might have resisted the blow of the falling ice. It had been considered strong enough before, but it was at once strengthened. The lesson apart from the unusual occurrence of ice, is that all cage covers should be of extra strong construction . In passing let me say all cages should also be of such height that the head of the tallest man cannot touch the cover. There have been in past years occasional accidents reported from other collieries where something small has fallen on the cage top when men were riding and the shock transmitted to the head of a man when touching the inside of the cover has been sufficient to render him unconscious. In one such case a man received a fracture of his skull and died, although the mark on the outside of the cage cover was barely more than noticeable.