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Full Details

Surname
BUTLER
Forename
William
Day
12
Month
09
Year
1914
Age
41
Occupation
Platelayer
Mine/Quarry Name
Cowcroft Quarry
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Bath & Portland Stone Firms Ltd
Location
County
Dorsetshire
Details of Event
A hand-powered crane was being used for lifting a channelling machine, weighing about 5 tons, with a view to placing it on a wagon on which it was to be transferred to another quarry. The channeller stood behind the crane, and in order to reach it the jib was swung round between the back stays. When the crane took the load, the upward thrust due to the compression of the back stays, forced the swivel pin out of the top of the mast, when the crane immediately collapsed. One of the back stays in falling struck deceased on the head and killed him instantly. The attachment of the swivel pin to the top of the mast was defective in respect that it was only held in position by a 5-8 inch bolt which passed through it horizontally, and the ends of which were hidden from observation by a malleable iron lug driven down on the mast. Subsequent examination showed that the pin had been broken before the accident, but there was no means of detecting this by previously by external observation.