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Full Details

Surname
BURTON
Forename
George
Day
02
Month
12
Year
1914
Age
51
Occupation
Engine Winder
Mine/Quarry Name
Himley, No.06A
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Earl of Dudley
Location
Gornalwood
County
Staffordshire
Details of Event
Deceased was examining a vertical donkey pump which was not acting properly, and on taking off the discharge valve cover hot water and steam rushed out and scalded him on the back, neck, face, arms and legs. He succumbed to his injuries a few hours afterwards. The valves between the donkey pump and the boiler were ordinary screw down feed valves with a fast spindle. Deceased stated that they had been screwed down, and the engine man who relieved him found them screwed down, but there was no one at the pit when the accident happened except deceased himself. Either the valves had not been screwed down, or they were leaking and the steam pressure from the boilers reacting on the water in the feed pipe had driven it out. The feed water is cold, and consequently the scalding must have been due to hot water or steam from the boiler. It was suggested that a proper automatic check valve should be placed between the donkey pump and the boiler in order to prevent back pressure from the boiler, and the manager agreed to do this. The pump was placed in a narrow recess between the winding engine house and tile boiler seating. There was only one entrance, and the engineman being behind the pump had no way out except through a narrow passage past the pump. The attention of the manager was drawn to the requirements of Section 59. He had not considered it a steam engine room, but agreed remove the back wall from the recess, and thus form a through passage.