| Year | Month | Day | Name of Colliery | Where situated | Owner or Company | First Name | Surname | Occupation | Age | Category | Cause of accident and remarks | Extra details |
| 1892 | January | 6 | Arniston | Edinburgh | Arniston Coal Co Ltd | George | Sneddon | Drawer | 18 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof stone | |
| 1892 | January | 11 | Eddlewood | Lanark | John Watson Ltd | William | Rennie | Screenman | 40 | Above ground | Crushed by trucks From Main body of report: Deceased while moving loaded waggons by means of a pinch was crushed between two of them; no one saw the accident happen. | Newspaper report - Hamilton pages |
| 1892 | January | 11 | Bellfield | Lanark | William Barr & Sons | John | Park | Miner | 37 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | January | 11 | Woodhill No 8 | Kilmarnock | Glengarnock Iron & Steel Co | Edward | Rodger | Trimmer | 62 | Above ground | Run over by waggon while attempting to sprag it | |
| 1892 | January | 15 | Machan | Lanark | Howie & Train | William | Williamson | Pitheadman | 24 | Above ground | By machinery From Main body of report: This accident was indirectly due to the breakage of the cast-iron drum shaft of a winding engine on the second motion. The engine wound water in a chest by one rope and coal by the other. Shortly before the accident and while a loaded hutch was being raised the shaft broke between the side of the drum and the journal next the engine, and after the drum had revolved a few times in the reverse direction it came to rest with the side next the broken part of the shaft a few inches below its original position. .Attempts were made by means of levers to move the drum round so as to bring up the water chest into such a position that it could be secured at the surface, but the drum could not be moved. Deceased then crept through one of the openings in the side of the drum and undamped the upper rope to which the water chest was attached. As he was returning by the same opening the drum moved round a few inches and crushed his head against the engine pillar or against a water pipe inside the pillar, causing instant death. By taking off the weight of the water chest and attached rope, equilibrium had been destroyed and the weight of the cage containing the full hutch moved the drum. The drum shaft was, as already stated, of cast iron, and its diameter was 4 3/4 inches. The material seemed good, but cast iron is not a suitable material for drum shafts. | Newspaper report - Dalserf pages |
| 1892 | January | 18 | Clyde | Lanark | Wilson's & Clyde Coal Co Ltd | Robert | Boyd | overman | 45 | In shafts | Fell in shaft From Main body of report: Deceased was engaged repairing a pump and stood on a scaffold in the shaft about 9 feet from the bottom ; he fell from the scaffold and was so injured that he died in the course of a week. | Newspaper report - Hamilton pages |
| 1892 | January | 19 | Motherwell | Lanark | John Watson Ltd | Samuel | McCulley | Miner | 41 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of stone | Newspaper report |
| 1892 | January | 20 | Gateside No 1 | Cambuslang | Flemington Coal Co | Gilbert | McArthur | Miner | 13 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | January | 21 | Lumphinnans | Fife | Cowdenbeath Coal Co Ltd | Andrew | Beveridge | Bottomer | 33 | In shafts | Fell down pit From Main body of report: Deceased was a bottomer, and having seen the last of the men of his shift on to the cage signalled it away, intending to get on it himself,, but it was raised so quickly that he was crushed against the door heads and his body fell down the shaft to a lower seam. There was no dispute as to signals. The engine-keeper was 23 years of age, and had been in charge of the engine for some 10 days before the accident happened. The signal lever used by the deceased required to be raised instead of lowered as is the usual form. The entrance to the shaft was smaller than is usual, being about 3 feet wide and 4 feet high. The engine-keeper had been on duty for 21 hours when the accident happened. | |
| 1892 | January | 21 | Westfield | Edinburgh | William Baird & Co | John | Ferguson | Miner | 56 | Miscellaneous underground | Fall of limestone, causing him to slip down working From Main body of report: Deceased worked in a room rising about 1 in 2 in the upper bench of a limestone about 20 feet thick. Behind him the lower benches lay as steps, having first a drop of 5 feet, then of 3 feet, and lastly of 8 feet. After firing a shot he returned to the face and was working down the loosened stone, when he either slipped or was knocked down by a fall of the stone and fell over the benches to the floor of the working. | |
| 1892 | January | 26 | Cults | Fife | James Martin | William | Elder | Miner | 40 | Falls of ground | Fall of limestone From Main body of report: The seam is 11 feet 7 inches in thickness, and consists of layers from 1 foot 4 inches to 3 feet 9 inches thick, separated from each other by partings more or less irregular. The bottom layer is taken out first, and those above it blasted down in turn as the working face advances. Deceased had fired two shots in one of the upper layers, which had been undermined for a distance of about 13 feet. As they only brought down a small portion of it, he set his son to drill another hole in the same bed, while he went under it to break up the fallen lime-stone. A few minutes afterwards a stone measuring 12 feet by 10 feet 6 inches at extremes, and averaging 1 foot in thickness, fell upon him, killing him instantly. No props had been set under the stone. Considering the nature and position of the ''backs " in the limestone, and the fact that the stone must have been mere or less shaken by the shots which failed to bring it down, deceased ought not to have gone underneath it. He was an experienced miner, and had wrought in this seam for many years. | Newspaper report - Fife pages |
| 1892 | January | 27 | Herbertshire No 3 | Denny | Robt Addie & Sons | Wm. | Baird | Miner | 24 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face | Newspaper report - Stirling pages |
| 1892 | January | 27 | Maryhill | Lanarkshire | George | McConnachie | Death not listed in Inspectors report | Newspaper report - Lanarkshire pages | ||||
| 1892 | January | 31 | Orbiston | Bellshill | Summerlee & Mossend Iron & Steel Co | Wm. | Carr | Fireman | 44 | Miscellaneous underground | Arm caught between haulage rope and a pulley | |
| 1892 | February | 2 | Shieldhall | Stirling | Carron Co | Michael | Joyce | Labourer | 31 | Above ground | Suffocated in dross hopper From Main body of report: The accident occurred in a large hopper, in which ground dross is stored, to be drawn off as required for the coke ovens. The hopper is 15 feet square inside, by 15 feet 6 inches deep, and rests upon brick piers, its top being about 50 feet above the ground level. Its sides are of timber, strengthened by horizontal tie rods of malleable iron, placed 7 feet above the bottom. The dross is ground by a disintegrator, lifted by an ordinary chain and bucket elevator, and discharged into the hopper at one corner. It is drawn off as required at openings in the hopper bottom, which are fitted with slide valves. Deceased went up into the hopper to shovel some of the dross away from the elevator towards the other corners. While doing so, the dross appears to have slipped, and to have swept him down and covered him. He was missed about an hour afterwards, a portion of the dross was drawn off, and his body was found hanging over one of the rods. No accident had ever happened in the hopper before. It was suggested that, in order to prevent any similar accident, a scaffold or gangway should be fixed inside the hopper, and say 3 feet from its top, upon which the men might stand while raking down the dross, thus avoiding the necessity of standing upon the slopes, which must always be more or less unstable. The manager approved of this and agreed to give effect to it. | |
| 1892 | February | 12 | Bredisholm No 4 | Uddingston | Glasgow Iron & Steel Co | John | Roy | Miner | 35 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of head coal at stoops while knocking out props | |
| 1892 | February | 13 | Addiewell | Edinburgh | Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Co Ltd | Anthony | McAteer | Labourer | -- | Persons not employed and deaths from natural causes | Jumped into the shaft. Suicide | |
| 1892 | February | 13 | Leven | Fife | Fife Coal Co Ltd | Richard | Stewart | Miner | 31 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | Newspaper report - Fife pages |
| 1892 | February | 18 | Monkland | Lanark | Calderbank Steel & Coal Co Ltd | William | Brown | Miner | 30 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | February | 19 | Bathville | Linlithgow | James Wood | David | Rae | Miner | 54 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | February | 19 | Leven | Fife | Fife Coal Co Ltd | Peter | Ostler | Pony driver | 14 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | February | 22 | Westwood | Lanark | Ravenshall Coal Co | Dennis | Hogan | Drawer | 26 | In shafts | Stone fell in shaft From Main body of report: Deceased, a brusher's drawer, was late in arriving at the pit and was lowered by the day shift engine man alone in the cage; no person was then at the shaft bottom. When the cage arrived at the bottom no signal was given to indicate that all was clear. The day shift engineman did not attach any importance to the absence of a signal and left the pit shortly afterwards on the arrival of the night-shift engineman. About three hours after deceased had descended some workmen came to the shaft bottom and found him lying dead on the plates and a large stone in the cage, which was provided with a sufficient cover. The weather had been frosty, but was milder on the day of the accident, and it appeared probable that the melting of some ice in the shaft had released the stone which had fallen as deceased was getting off the cage, struck him, and rebounded on to the cage bottom. | |
| 1892 | February | 23 | Muiredge | Fife | Bowman & Co | Henry | Kinnear | Drawer | 15 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed by hutch From Main body of report: Deceased was turning an empty tub on the grooved plates at the top of a wheel brae. He had lifted its lower end to get the flanges of the wheels out of the grooves in the plates. He had then passed round to its upper end, unhooked the chain, and was in the act of lifting this end of the tub in order to turn it. While doing so his chest pressed against the end of the tub which moved forward, its lower wheels dropped over the end of the plates, causing its upper end to rise suddenly and twist his head against the roof breaking his neck and killing him instantly. To prevent accidents from tubs running away before being attached to, or after being detached from, the chain, a set of ordinary check blocks was placed at each landing, and it was the duty of the wheeler to block the roads before turning out each loaded tub, and of the drawer to block them again before detaching the empty tub from the chain. Had deceased observed this simple precaution the accident would have been prevented. | |
| 1892 | February | 23 | North Motherwell No 1 | Motherwell | Merry & Cunninghame | John | Wallace | overman | 42 | In shafts | Fell down shaft from a mid-working From Main body of report: Occurred at a mid-working, and resulted in the death of an overman. The dip cage, containing an empty hutch, had been raised from the under seam to a mid-working 14 fathoms up the shaft, where the deceased and a fireman were waiting to get the use of the cage in order to repair the signal wire in the shaft. When the empty hutch was drawn off, the overman was in the act of stepping into the cage just as the assistant bottomer had given the first of three signals to the engine man to indicate that men were about to ascend. The moment this signal was given, the cage was raised, and the overman was caught at the doorheads, and fell down the shaft to the bottom. In order to get out the day's output, winding operations required to be smartly performed, and in this case the engineman on receiving the first of the intended signals evidently thought he was getting the signal one to raise the cage, and probably acted too promptly. The deceased, however, was himself to blame for the accident, seeing that in order to comply with the Special Rules he ought to have waited until the bottomer signalled three, and the return signal had been received from the engine-man before he stepped into the cage. | |
| 1892 | February | 25 | Kinneil | Linlithgow | Kinneil Coal & Coke Co | Arthur | Ritchie | Bottomer | 24 | In shafts | Fell down shaft From Main body of report: Deceased pushed a loaded hutch into the shaft at a mid-working and fell with it a distance of 20 fathoms, sustaining injuries resulting fatally a week afterwards. The seam in which deceased acted as bottomer was opening out and the excavation of it had only proceeded a few yards from the shaft, which was unfenced, as the manager did not think there was room to put up a fence. Only one cage was in use, and in this immediately before the accident, an official had ascended, but deceased, apparently forgetting this, deliberately pushed a hutch forward as though the cage stood ready to receive it. I think the manager was wrong in not having the shaft fenced, but any ordinary fence would not have prevented deceased acting as he did, and the accident resulting; and in breaking away a new seam, from a shaft there must be a time when no fence is possible. | |
| 1892 | February | 27 | Common No 10 | Cumnock | Eglinton Iron Co | John Wm. | Brown | overman | 35 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal at stoops | |
| 1892 | March | 3 | Niddrie | Edinburgh | Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co Ltd | Peter | Wylie | Miner | 57 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed by hutches From Main body of report: After descending from the surface by the winding incline deceased and others were proceeding inbye along the lye adjacent to the incline, which is provided with a double line of rails. A rake of loaded hutches drawn by a pony was coming outbye at the time, and deceased, who was on the empty side and would have been perfectly safe there, stepped on to the full road and was crushed by the rake. | |
| 1892 | March | 7 | Pumpherston | Edinburgh | Pumpherston Oil Co Ltd | Robert | Galloway | Roadsman | 30 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | March | 8 | Lanemark No 2 | New Cumnock | Lanemark Coal Co | Wm. | Hamilton | Assistant bottomer | 35 | In shafts | Caught by the cage while crossing the cage seat From Main body of report: An assistant-bottomer lost his life by being caught by the descending cage while attempting to cross the shaft through the cage seat instead of taking the trouble to go by the passage round the end of the shaft. | |
| 1892 | March | 10 | Bothwell Castle No 1 | Bothwell | Wm Baird & Co | John | Morgan | Brusher | 35 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at road head | |
| 1892 | March | 19 | Breich | Linlithgow | Hermand Oil Co Ltd | William | Hamilton | Child | 3 | Persons not employed and deaths from natural causes | Head crushed by bell crank | |
| 1892 | March | 22 | Seafield | Linlithgow | Pumpherston Oil Co Ltd | Thomas | Young | Miner | 27 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of shale and roof | Newspaper report |
| 1892 | March | 25 | Glenboig | Lanark | Glenboig Union Fireclay Co Ltd | John | Irvine | Haulage bottomer | 50 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed by hutch From Main body of report: Deceased, who attended to an endless rope haulage at its inbye end, heard a runaway tub coming inbye, and thinking it was on the empty road stepped in front of some loaded tubs standing on the full road ; the tub was, however, a loaded one that had become detached from the rope, and he was severely crushed by the collision that ensued. | |
| 1892 | March | 25 | Glenclelland No 2 | Motherwell | Kerr & Mitchell | James | McCarron | Miner | 26 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | March | 26 | Windyedge No 1 | Kilmarnock | W C S Cuninghame | David | Mair | Miner | 35 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face while “stooping” | |
| 1892 | March | 29 | Gateside No 1 | Cambuslang | Flemington Coal Co | Robt. | McKechnie | Miner | 18 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face while “stooping” | |
| 1892 | March | 31 | Saracen | Springburn | Springburn Coal Co | Patrick | Bryce | Chain runner | 17 | Miscellaneous underground | Killed by a “dook race”. Supposed to have been riding, contrary to orders | |
| 1892 | April | 1 | Ballochmyle | Auchinleck | Wm. Walker | David | Finnie | Miner | 18 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | April | 1 | Garturk – Bank No 1 | Coatbridge | Wm. Dixon Ltd | John | Grant | Pony driver | 14 | Miscellaneous underground | Kicked by a pony | |
| 1892 | April | 8 | Pentland | Edinburgh | Clippens Oil Co Ltd | Martin | Butler | Brusher and drawer | 39 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | April | 12 | Carfin No 6 | Motherwell | Wm. Dixon Ltd | John | Kellochan | Brusher | 40 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof while repairing it | |
| 1892 | April | 12 | Cadder No 15 | Maryhill | Carron Co | Wm. | Middleton | Roadsman | 63 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed against the roof while riding on “dook race” contrary to orders | |
| 1892 | April | 13 | Longriggend | Lanark | James Nimmo & Co | James | Laing | Engineman | 50 | Persons not employed and deaths from natural causes | Sudden death | |
| 1892 | April | 18 | Loganlea | Edinburgh | John McCulloch | Patrick | Hanlon | Coke burner | 45 | Persons not employed and deaths from natural causes | Crushed by machinery. Returned to mine in state of intoxication after he had ceased to be employed | |
| 1892 | April | 18 | Lochgelly | Fife | Lochgelly Iron & Coal Co Ltd | William | Mukrise | Miner | 40 | Miscellaneous underground | Struck by stone on wheel brae From Main body of report: This accident occurred on a cut-chain brae 66 yards long, dipping at an angle of 1 in 2, and working six branches or cuts. Deceased worked at the second cut. Above this cut brae was a "gurdie"brae on which one branch worked. It appears that deceased, while coming out with a loaded tub to the side of the brae, lost his light. He shouted to the drawer at the cut below to meet him with a light, on obtaining which he was returning to his branch road, and when near it he heard something coming down the brae ; he called to the drawer below to keep clear, but was himself struck by a stone, which threw him down, and he fell to bottom of brae, a distance of about 30 yards. The stone which struck deceased had fallen from a building on the "gurdie" brae. This building had been noticed by one of the workmen employed there to be defective, but he did not think it was any part of his duty either to repair it or inform the officials. Had the officials been informed of the dangerous state of the building when it was first observed this accident would not have happened. | |
| 1892 | April | 18 | Montgomeriefield | Irvine | A. Kenneth & Sons | Robt. | Montgomerie | Brusher | 50 | Miscellaneous underground | Ignition of a shot to which he returned too soon, thinking the fuse had gone out From Main body of report: While charging shot-holes with compressed powder, two fatal accidents happened. In the one case the charge, apparently, exploded while the deceased was trying to force it past an obstruction in the hole ; and in the other the deceased, after putting in a round of stemming on the top of the powder, seems to have been forcibly driving the needle, as was his custom, through the stemming into the charge, and in this manner ignited it. When men thus wilfully violate the regulations, and thereby expose themselves to unnecessary danger, it is not surprising that they frequently pay the penalty of their rashness with their lives. | |
| 1892 | April | 19 | Addiewell | Edinburgh | Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Co Ltd | John | Smith | Miner | 21 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | April | 22 | Lochgelly | Fife | Lochgelly Iron & Coal Co Ltd | Adam | Peden | Coal trimmer | 29 | Above ground | Jammed by waggons From Main body of report: Deceased, who was ordinarily employed at the screens, was assisting after work was over for the day in taking stock of the surface plant. A locomotive engine collided with some loaded waggons at the screens in order to slack the couplings, so as to allow the brakesman to uncouple one of them ; deceased was then in the act of crossing between the buffers of two of the waggons, he was caught arid so firmly jammed that the locomotive had to draw forward before he could be released. Deceased was not aware that the locomotive was in front of the waggons when he attempted to cross. | Newspaper report - Auchterderran pages |
| 1892 | April | 26 | Westburn No 1 | Cambuslang | Westburn Colliery Co | James | Kay | Miner | 53 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | April | 27 | Newbattle | Edinburgh | Lothian Coal Co Ltd | Ben | Ayre | Sinker | 29 | In shafts | Drowned in shaft From Main body of report: Deceased, who was assisting in the starting of a pump in the large sinking pit at Newbattle, fell from a scaffold into 19 fathoms of water, which filled the pit to within 4 1/2 feet of the scaffold. Another sinker was on the scaffold, but did not know that deceased had fallen until he missed him some little time after. | |
| 1892 | April | 28 | Eddlewood | Lanark | John Watson Ltd | Patrick | McIntyre | Labourer | 38 | Above ground | Crushed by hutch From Main body of report: Deceased was employed by a contractor, who was excavating the surface for the purpose of a fan drift. A hutch loaded with clay was carelessly allowed to descend a temporary inclined roadway, and although several workmen attempted to stop it, it ran over into the excavation and injured deceased so severely that he died in the course of a few days. | |
| 1892 | May | 2 | Roughrigg | Lanark | Robert Forrester | Martyn | Kelly | Miner | 54 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | May | 4 | Govan No 6 | Glasgow | Wm. Dixon Ltd | Wm. | McAuslin | Brusher | 39 | Miscellaneous underground | Ignition of a shot while stemming it From Main body of report: While charging shot-holes with compressed powder, two fatal accidents happened. In the one case the charge, apparently, exploded while the deceased was trying to force it past an obstruction in the hole ; and in the other the deceased, after putting in a round of stemming on the top of the powder, seems to have been forcibly driving the needle, as was his custom, through the stemming into the charge, and in this manner ignited it. When men thus wilfully violate the regulations, and thereby expose themselves to unnecessary danger, it is not surprising that they frequently pay the penalty of their rashness with their lives. | |
| 1892 | May | 9 | Morningside | Lanark | Morningside Coal Co | Henry | Marshall | Pony driver | 13 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | May | 9 | Little Raith | Fife | Lochgelly Iron & Coal Co Ltd | James | Elder | Miner | 20 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | May | 12 | Fauldhouse | Linlithgow | William Dixon Ltd | Douglas | Graham | Pony driver | 15 | Persons not employed and deaths from natural causes | Run over by waggons after work hours | |
| 1892 | May | 17 | Cowdenbeath | Fife | Cowdenbeath Coal Co Ltd | Robert | Lindsay | Locomotive shunter | 24 | Above ground | Crushed by waggon From Main body of report: This was a very sad accident, and one which might not have been fatal, had means been taken at once to stop the bleeding. Two loaded waggons and one empty waggon were being moved from the pit by means of the locomotive engine. The empty waggon was in need of repair, and was to be shunted back into a spare lye. When the waggon was being shunted, deceased got behind it: to uncouple it, and, as he did so, his left foot got firmly fixed in the V of the crossing-plate. Seeing that the loaded waggons were likely to run over him, he threw himself outside the rail, but was unable to extricate his foot, and the front wheel of the first loaded waggon caught the calf of his leg, and laid bare the bone. He was removed to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, but died on the way thither, through loss of blood. The engine-driver saw deceased fall and stopped his engine, but too late to prevent the accident. | |
| 1892 | May | 19 | Rosebank | Fife | John Nimmo & Son | James | Hunter | Fireman and roadsman | 47 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of stone | |
| 1892 | May | 20 | Auchenharvie No 4 | Stevenston | Glengarnock Iron & Steel Co | Alex. | McLaughlan | Brusher | 65 | Miscellaneous underground | Explosion of powder from a spark from his naked light | |
| 1892 | May | 23 | Townhill | Fife | Townhill Coal Co | Thomas | Moyes | Waggon shunter | 23 | Above ground | Crushed by waggon From Main body of report: Deceased was employed at a coal washer, which was on the same level as the main lyes for the colliery, but on a lower level than the screens of No. 8 pit. The empty waggons were hauled from the washer to the screens by means of a rope worked by a stationary engine. To the end of the rope is attached a bogie, which is coupled to the waggons. An empty waggon from the coal washer was being hauled to the screens, and when it was near enough to allow the necessary points to be opened, deceased stepped between the buffers of the waggon and the bogie to uncouple them while in motion. The momentum of the waggon caused it to come against the bogie, and he was crushed between them. | |
| 1892 | May | 23 | Bellfield No 1 | Kilmarnock | Glengarnock Iron & Steel Co | John | Hutton | Miner | 19 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | May | 24 | Eddlewood | Lanark | John Watson Ltd | Richard | Peacock | reddsman | 21 | In shafts | Caught by cage From Main body of report: Deceased was directly employed by contractors, with whom he was engaged brushing the lye at the Main Coal bottom. The operations were carried on during the night shift, when no miners were employed in the seam; and the debris from the brushing was drawn to the surface on the dip cage. A number of miners were at the same time employed in the Ell Coal, which lies about 11 fathoms above the Main Coal, and their output was raised on the rise cage. Both cages were wrought by the one engine, the winding drum having two diameters, properly proportioned. The arrangements as to signalling were as follows :—Whenever the brushers wished to hang on tubs at the Main Coal bottom they rang the signal bell twice; the engineman then rested the dip cage at this bottom, and continued to wind from the Main and Ell Coal bottoms alternately, as long as the brushers had tubs to be drawn ; they were then to ring the signal bell twice again, when the engineman was to be at liberty to continue winding from the Ell Coal only, paying no more heed to the Main Coal until the brushers again intimated that they had loaded tubs ready for him. The bells were of the ordinary hammer pattern. Each wire was attached to and rang two bells ; one outside of the engine-house struck upon an iron plate, and the other, inside the engine-house, and immediately in front of the engineman, struck upon a 7-inch bell. The enginemen recognised the inside bell only as a signal bell, looking upon the outside hammer merely as a counterpoise to the wire. At 11.30p.m. deceased signalled for the dip cage, which immediately afterwards landed in the Main Coal bottom. Assisted by his employer, deceased proceeded to hang on a tub, and while doing so, the cage was suddenly raised, and he was crushed against the door heads and injured so severely that he died about an hour afterwards. The engine-man maintained that the Main Coal bell had not been rung, that he was not aware that any one was interfering with the dip cage, and that he merely allowed it to rest at the Main Coal bottom while the pitheadman was taking two loaded tubs off the Ell Coal or rise cage, and replacing them with empty ones. On testing the Main Coal signal bell it was found that when the wire was pulled down for a distance not exceeding 2 1/2 inches, the outside hammer made a distinct signal, but the bell inside of the engine-house did not ring. When the wire was pulled down further than 2 1/2 inches, both bells rang distinctly. The failure of the inside bell in the former case was due to there being 2 1/2 inches of slack wire between the two bells. The engineman was not aware of this, and hence had not reported it; but a careful examination, such as is required by Special Rules 23 and 27, ought to have revealed the defect, and led to the prevention of the accident. | |
| 1892 | May | 24 | Niddrie | Edinburgh | Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co Ltd | John | Roland | Drawer | 18 | Miscellaneous underground | Fell down incline From Main body of report: This accident took place on a brake incline worked by means of a back balance; the incline is in the seam which lies at an angle of about 80°, and is therefore practically a shaft. The carriage containing the tub runs on wheels, and its motion is controlled by a brake attached to the drum which is situated at a higher level than that from which deceased fell. Deceased and other drawers attended to the unloading and loading of the carriage at the various levels. The carriage came to the level at which deceased worked, but was allowed to ascend an inch or two too high; this offered no difficulty in taking off the empty tub, but prevented the loaded tub being pushed on, and deceased went on to the carriage to raise the fore end of the tub, and somehow slipped and fell to the bottom of the incline, a distance of 23 fathoms. | |
| 1892 | May | 25 | Bankend | Lanark | Bankend Coal Co Ltd | Alexander | Drysdale | Miner | 33 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | May | 25 | Leadhills | Lanark | Leadhills Silver-lead Mining and Smelting Co Ltd | James | Tennant | Miner | 39 | Miscellaneous underground | Loose ore fell away From Main body of report: The vein averages 4 feet in thickness, and has a dip of about 80°. Random levels are driven at intervals of 15 fathoms, and, where the vein contains ore, the stopes between these levels are taken out by the ordinary "overhead'' method, the ore and debris or "work" being dropped under the miners' feet, and drawn off at shoots on the level below as it accumulates. The drawing off of the ore is carried on while the miners are at work, and is not considered to be attended with danger to them so long as the "sole" or upper surface of the work upon which they stand subsides regularly. Deceased was taking out the last cut of his stope, and a drawer, working under his directions, was drawing off some boxes of ore on the level, about 14 fathoms below him. The work appeared to be subsiding regularly, but it subsequently transpired that a considerable cavity had been formed in advance of where deceased was working, and where it was hidden from observation by the remaining portion of the stope. Ultimately the work upon which deceased stood slipped into this cavity. He felt it going, but, believing it was only the usual regular subsidence, he made no effort to save himself. He slipped down for a distance of about 10 feet, when a considerable quantity of small debris slipped after and covered him. He was extricated in about ten minutes, but was found to be dead, his mouth being full of small ore. Death was due to suffocation. | Newspaper report - Lead mining pages |
| 1892 | May | 26 | Shawfield | Lanark | Wilson's & Clyde Coal Co Ltd | Robert | Simpson | Screenman | 59 | Above ground | Crushed by waggon From Main body of report: Deceased was employed as a screenman and waggon shifter. He was running forward eight loaded trucks, to make room for empties under the screen. As they appeared to be gaining too much way, he inserted a 6 feet by 4 1/2 inch prop between the spokes of one of the wheels of the second waggon. The prop twisted in the wheel as it came round, and struck him on the right leg, breaking it below the knee. His injuries were not at first considered to be serious, but he died two days afterwards. | |
| 1892 | May | 27 | Douglas No 3 | Paisley | Merry & Cunninghame | Robt. | McCafferty | Drawer | 22 | Miscellaneous underground | Caught by a runaway hutch | |
| 1892 | May | 28 | Leven | Fife | Fife Coal Co Ltd | Thomas | Dobbie | Miner | 50 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | June | 1 | Brownyside | Lanark | William Black & Sons | John | Black | Fireman | 40 | Explosions of fire damp | Explosion of fire-damp From Main body of report: This explosion happened in a thin seam in which fire-damp was occasionally seen in small quantity. Deceased as fireman was making the statutory inspection before the entry of the miners. This inspection should have been made with a locked safety lamp only, but he was using an open light as well and ignited by it an accumulation of fire-damp at the face of a long-wall district of limited area opening up across a trouble. A drawer had been burned by fire-damp in the same district a few days before. Shortly before the explosion deceased was seen by some brushers, who were working near where the explosion happened, to be using an open light. | |
| 1892 | June | 2 | Orbiston No 3 | Bellshill | Summerlee & Mossend Iron & Steel Co | Archd. G. | Whiteford | Miner | 26 | Miscellaneous underground | Explosion of a shot of gelatine to which he returned before it went off | Newspaper report- Bothwell pages |
| 1892 | June | 4 | Haughhead | Uddingston | Haughhead Coal Co | Catherine | Nugent | Stone picker | 17 | Above ground | Clothes caught by a revolving shaft of picking table From Main body of report: Illustrates the necessity there is for the securely fencing of all the moving parts of machinery. A young woman, employed at the pit head in cleaning coal, which passed over a travelling picking table, was standing looking out of a window when her clothing got caught by a revolving shaft, which was about a foot above the level of the floor. Being unable to extricate herself, she was carried round the shaft, and before the engine was stopped she was so severely injured that she was dead when taken out. | |
| 1892 | June | 6 | Hareshaw | Lanark | Hareshaw Coal Co | Patrick | Donnelly | Bottomer | 65 | In shafts | Fell down shaft From Main body of report: This shaft was originally sunk to the Upper Drumgray Coal at a depth of 27 fathoms, but shortly before the accident occurred, it had been extended to the Lower Drumgray, at a further depth of 12 fathoms. Both cages ran to the lower bottom, but the output from this seam was raised wholly upon the dip cage, while that from the Upper Drungray was raised wholly upon the rise cage. At the upper landing the dip winding space was enclosed by bratticing, for purposes of ventilation, while the rise space was fenced by a horizontal bar, which rested in keepers placed 2 feet 3 inches above the plates. It appeared, however, that the bar was only placed in position at meal hours, or when the shift closed ; and that during the rest of the day it was pushed to one side. Deceased was employed as bottomer at the upper landing. A drawer having brought a loaded tub to this bottom, and the rise cage being then at the pithead, deceased shouted to the bottomer at the lower landing to bell away the dip cage, in order that he might get the other down. Immediately afterwards, before the dip cage had been moved, deceased and the loaded tub fell down the rise winding space. It was surmised that, after shouting down, he had placed the shuts in position to intercept the rise cage when it descended, had brought forward the loaded tub, and had either carelessly pushed it too far, or had forgotten that the cage was not at the landing. His right thigh and several ribs were fractured. He never regained consciousness sufficiently to offer any explanation, and died about eight hours afterwards. This method of fencing a shaft is objectionable, on account of the inconvenience in taking down and replacing the bar when each tub is hung on, and the consequent temptation to lay it aside altogether, as was done here. The accident would have been prevented had an automatic fence been in use. | |
| 1892 | June | 15 | Greenfield | Lanark | Archibald Russell | William | Boyd | Pony driver | 18 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof stone | |
| 1892 | June | 16 | Ballochmyle | Auchinleck | Wm Walker | John | McLelland | Miner | 27 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | June | 17 | Holmes | Linlithgow | Holmes Oil Co Ltd | Patrick | McLachlan | Drawer | 23 | Explosions of fire damp | Explosion of fire-damp From Main body of report: This explosion took place in an oil shale mine. The seam was lying at a considerable angle, and deceased climbed up into the waste with a naked light for the purpose of getting loose shale and ignited some fire-damp. The fireman stated he had examined the district with a safety lamp before the entry of deceased and other workmen, and had found no fire-damp. Deceased had no right to go into the waste; the miner from whom he drew worked in an upset from the level some distance back from the point where deceased was burned. | |
| 1892 | June | 20 | Knownoble | Lanark | Kerr & Mitchell | David | Black | Miner | 21 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | June | 21 | Haywood | Lanark | Haywood Gas Coal Co | Alexander | Adam | Brusher | 45 | In shafts | Fell down pit From Main body of report: The shaft is 57 1/2 fathoms in depth, and passes through the Main Coal workings at 30 fathoms, and the Gas Coal workings at 53 fathoms from the surface. It had only been used as a winding pit for about a fortnight before the accident occurred, prior to which the output from this section of the field was drawn underground to and raised at No. 5 pit. The side from which the tubs were hung on at the Main Coal landing was fenced by chains hung horizontally 2 feet 2 inches and 4 feet 2 inches above the plates. The other or back side was fenced by a bridge rail 12 feet long, resting upon nails driven into the wall-plates, 2 feet 9 inches above the plates. The chains appeared to be in regular use, but the bottomers differed as to the extent to which the rail was made use of. The night shift bottomer left off work at about 1.50 a.m., and failed to put up the rail or otherwise securely fence the back side of the shift at the Main Coal, thereby contravening Special Rule 57. Deceased, who was employed in making an air crossing on this side of, and about 100 yards distant from, the shaft, went outbye to get a pair of rails. There was a bye road 5 feet in width past the rise end of the shaft, but he walked towards and fell down the dip winding space. His light was burning when he fell, but he is said to have been short-sighted. It was surmised that he wished to send for the cage, and was reaching across the shaft to catch the signal wire, to save passing round to the other side of the shaft, where the signal lever was. The fencing arrangements here were defective, but were only temporary. Such temporary expedients should never be resorted to, and accidents are most likely to happen at such a time, when the work is more or less new to the person employed. | |
| 1892 | June | 28 | Newton No 2 | Cambuslang | James Dunlop & Co | Hamilton | Fleming | Miner | 35 | Miscellaneous underground | Run over by empty “race” on a dook while stepping out of the way of a full “race” | |
| 1892 | July | 9 | Stravenhouse | Lanark | Trustees of James Thornton | James | Dick | Pony driver | 14 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed by hutch From Main body of report: Deceased was a driver, and as he was absent with his rake longer than usual one of the roadsmen proceeded inbye to ascertain if anything had happened, and when 70 yards from the faces he found the horse standing and the tub derailed in front, and deceased lying under it quite dead. It is supposed, from the position in which deceased was lying, that when walking between the horse and the tub he had stumbled and fallen, and the horse had pulled the tub over him, as the tail chain was rigid. | |
| 1892 | July | 9 | Farme | Rutherglen | Allan Farie | Robt. | Bennett | Miner | 26 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face | |
| 1892 | July | 11 | Denbeath | Fife | Bowman & Co | William | Matthew | Brusher | 26 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of stone | |
| 1892 | July | 11 | Bogleshole No 4 | Cambuslang | James Dunlop & Co | David | Liddell | Miner | 30 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face | Newspaper report |
| 1892 | July | 13 | Newbattle | Edinburgh | Lothian Coal Co Ltd | Thomas | Scott | Dook header | 19 | Miscellaneous underground | Burned by oil From Main body of report: Deceased was employed at the head of a dook not far from the shaft bottom. The dook head is ordinarily illuminated by electric lights, but on the day of the accident these were not in use, and lamps of the shape of an ordinary tin miner's lamp, but much larger in size, were in use. There was no considerable current of air at the dook head unless a door, through which persons often passed, between it and the shaft was opened. Deceased was filling one of the lamps while it was lighted with oil from a gallon can, and it was supposed that the opening of the door caused the flame, to deflect and ignite the oil, and deceased's clothing was set on fire ; he ran about in a state of frenzy, and although workmen near attempted to extinguish his burning clothing this was not accomplished until he was so severely burned that he succumbed the same day. | |
| 1892 | July | 16 | Parkhead No 17 | Motherwell | Glasgow Iron & Steel Co | Edward | Fairley | Engineman | 60 | Miscellaneous underground | Caught by the flywheel of underground pumping engine | |
| 1892 | July | 19 | Niddrie | Edinburgh | Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co Ltd | Daniel | McMillan | Miner | 45 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | July | 27 | Ayr – Sundrum No 3 | Ayr | Geo Taylor & Co | Hugh | Wales | Waggon shifter | 19 | Above ground | Fell while breaking loaded waggons and was run over | |
| 1892 | July | 29 | Birkenshaw | Lanark | Birkenshaw Coal Co | George | McInnes | Miner | 31 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of stone | |
| 1892 | July | 29 | Gartshore No3 | Kilsyth | Wm Baird & Co | Archd. | Armstrong | Drawer | 17 | Explosions of fire damp | Explosion of fire-damp From Main body of report: It appears that on the day of the explosion, about three hours after commencing work, the deceased and his brother were taking a full hutch from the working face out their drawing road, and had reached a point where two hurdle screens had been erected on account of firedamp having previously been found in a cavity in the roof. Some firedamp which had accumulated there ignited at their naked lights, and both were injured by the explosion. The elder brother subsequently succumbed to his injuries, which were followed by an attack of scarlatina. It was said that no firedamp had been found there by the fireman when he made his morning inspection, nor for some time previously, but that a miner in the adjoining working place had fired a shot some 25 minutes before the explosion and partially closed the airway, and this was the probable cause of the gas accumulating. Another explosion occurred in this pit on the same day, and again another a fortnight afterwards. I requested the owners to discontinue the use of naked lights, which they agreed to do, and the pit is now worked with safety lamps. | |
| 1892 | August | 2 | Newbattle | Edinburgh | Lothian Coal Co Ltd | Robert | Pryde | Miner | 36 | Miscellaneous underground | Explosion of shot From Main body of report: Deceased was engaged in making an underground stable. He bored a vertical up over hole in stone to a depth of 1 foot 7 inches, and charged it with 1 lb. of gunpowder. The fuse used was an ordinary paper squib, and as the hole was perpendicular he fixed it with a piece of clay, and attached to it a match consisting of a piece of cotton wick saturated with liquid tallow. All being in readiness, he proceeded to light the match, when the shot exploded, killing him almost instantaneously. In applying flame to the match he had evidently ignited the squib. The shot was blown out; only a small portion of stone was detached at the mouth of the hole. | |
| 1892 | August | 4 | Lochgelly | Fife | Lochgelly Iron & Coal Co Ltd | James | Walkingshaw | Miner | 60 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | August | 7 | Cadder No 16 | Bishopbriggs | Carron Co | Archd. | Morrison | Shaftsman | 40 | In shafts | Fell down the shaft while renewing a scaffold From Main body of report: A shafts man lost his life by falling a distance of 37 fathoms from a permanent scaffold which he and other two men were repairing. They were taking out a broken beam which was placed across the shaft, previous to replacing it by another, when the deceased incautiously, and in spite of the warning of his fellow workmen, stepped upon it in order to fasten a rope round it. The beam gave way with his weight, and he was precipitated to the bottom. | |
| 1892 | August | 12 | Wellsgreen | Fife | Fife Coal Co Ltd | Henry | McCartney | Miner | 63 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | August | 18 | Bartonshill No 1 | Baillieston | Wm Baird & Co | Jas. | McLeod | Pony driver | 17 | Miscellaneous underground | Run over by a hutch on a self-acting incline | |
| 1892 | August | 19 | Stravenhouse | Lanark | Trustees of James Thornton | James | Cowden | Miner | 58 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of stone | |
| 1892 | August | 20 | Wilsontown | Lanark | William Dixon Ltd | William | Bryce | Roadsman | 45 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of stone | |
| 1892 | August | 22 | Merryton | Lanark | Merryton Coal Co | Robert | Todd | Miner | 15 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed by hutch From Main body of report: In this case deceased was overpowered by an empty tub which he was easing down an inclined roadway. He was forced backwards some distance and crushed against a loaded tub standing on the main roadway. Shortly before the accident a heavy gunpowder shot, fired in an adjoining stone mine, filled the roadway with smoke, and apparently caused deceased to lower the tub past the branch road up which he intended to shove it, and on to a gradient too steep for him to control it : this accident is another illustration of the danger drawers expose themselves to by being in front of tubs coming down hill. | |
| 1892 | August | 27 | Goatfoot | Galston | Brand & Co | Andrew | Spiers | Horse overseer | 72 | In shafts | While placing hay on the cage the engineman lowered it | |
| 1892 | August | 27 | Carfin No 2 | Holytown | Carfin Coal Co | Neil | Brown | Screenman | 19 | Above ground | Run over by a waggon while breaking it | |
| 1892 | August | 29 | Donibristle | Fife | Donibristle Colliery Co | Thomas | Cuthbert | Drawer | 34 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of head coal | |
| 1892 | September | 6 | Stravenhouse | Lanark | Trustees of James Thornton | Alfred | Jenkins | Miner | 26 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | September | 7 | Quarter No 1 | Denny | Wm Baird & Co | Wm. | Hunter | Miner | 40 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | September | 12 | Douglas Park No 1 | Bothwell | Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co | Wm. | Rutherford | Brusher | 23 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at brushing face | |
| 1892 | September | 15 | Kames | Muirkirk | Eglinton Iron Co | Matthew | Holden | Pony driver | 15 | In shafts | While adjusting a hutch on the cage the engineman started without having first got the signal, and he was crushed against the side of the shaft | Newspaper Report - Muirkirk pages |
| 1892 | September | 16 | Craighead No 2 | Bothwell | Wm Baird & Co | Cormick | Higgins | Miner | 67 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at brushing face | |
| 1892 | September | 17 | Muiredge | Fife | Bowman & Co | Charles | Frazer | Hutch mender | 72 | Above ground | Run over by waggons From Main body of report: Deceased had been employed repairing hutches at No. 2 pit, and was proceeding thence towards the blacksmith's shop to get some bolts. While walking along one of the sidings near the pit, he was knocked down and run over by two empty trucks and a locomotive which was pushing them towards a screen. The locomotive driver blew his steam whistle, and stood on the left side of his engine keeping a look-out ahead, but owing to a curve in the road he was unable to see deceased. The brakesman was lying along the foot-plate in front of the engine, in readiness to uncouple the trucks, and did not see deceased until they had passed over him. The right wheels of both trucks and the locomotive had passed over his right foot; he had received a severe flesh wound in the left leg, and a slight cut near the left eye. He died about two hours afterwards. Owing to his advanced age, his hearing was somewhat defective; hence his disregard of the warning whistle, which, if he heard it at all, he probably assumed to come from an engine shunting in the coal sidings close by. When shunting in busy sidings so close to a pit, workshop, &c,, where people are constantly passing to and fro, the brakesman or guard should be required to walk in front of the moving waggons, or to ride in such a position that he can at all times see the road in front of them | |
| 1892 | September | 19 | Niddrie | Edinburgh | Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co Ltd | Young | Marshall | Shaftsman | 25 | In shafts | Fell down incline From Main body of report: This accident happened in a perpendicular brake shaft in the coal seam in the highly inclined measures at Niddrie. Deceased had been employed as a shaft man in this shaft for several years, and was a good practical workman. Repairs were being made near the top, and when these were almost completed, deceased descended on the cage to an old level, and in stepping off he slipped and fell to the bottom of the shaft, a distance of about 80 fathoms. | |
| 1892 | September | 24 | Pentland | Edinburgh | Clippens Oil Co Ltd | John | Dollan | Dirt picker | 70 | Above ground | Run over by waggons From Main body of report: Deceased was a "crow picker'' but on the day of the accident he had been engaged cutting timber for the mines. During the afternoon some tipsy men were fighting on the opposite side of the railway from where deceased was working, and it appears he left his work to go and see what was the cause of the quarrel. He attempted to get under some empty waggons which at the moment were stationary, not knowing that the locomotive engine was about to shunt them. Just as he got under the buffers the waggons moved; he tried to retrace his steps, but his left foot caught in the points and two of the waggons passed over his legs. | |
| 1892 | September | 24 | Milburn | Lanark | Archibald Russell | Thomas | Halley | Miner | 24 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | September | 26 | Haugh No 1 | Kilsyth | Wm Baird & Co | Robt. | Anderson | Drawer | 24 | Miscellaneous underground | While drawing in front of a hutch his head struck the lintel of a screen | |
| 1892 | September | 27 | Common No 15 | Cumnock | Eglinton Iron Co | John | Robertson | Pony driver | 15 | Miscellaneous underground | Supposed to have fallen in front of his “race” and got run over | |
| 1892 | October | 1 | Bonnyton No 6 | Kilmarnock | Gilmour, Anderson & Co | Wm. | Currans | Miner | 35 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face | |
| 1892 | October | 3 | Bellfield | Lanark | William Barr & Sons | William | Brown | Sinker | 44 | In shafts | Fell down shaft From Main body of report: This accident was caused through the fracture of a cast-iron drum shaft of a winding engine geared 3 to 1. Deceased was engaged with some others in enlarging an old shaft. The work was done from a temporary scaffold fixed in the shaft. As the work proceeded downwards this scaffold was taken out and refixed at a lower level. The scaffold was 19 fathoms from the surface when the accident took place. Deceased gave the signal to ascend, and after the usual short interval he was raised in the kettle, and when about 15 feet from the surface the drum shaft broke, and the weight of the kettle, &c. caused the drum to revolve in the contrary direction. The kettle was precipitated right through the scaffold to the bottom of the shaft, a distance of 55 fathoms. When the kettle began to descend the engineman and the contractor, who happened to be in the engine-house, ran to the brake on the drum, but evidently the speed gained was too great, as they were unable to stop it. The engine was an old one, transferred from an abandoned colliery in the district; the drum shaft was 5 inches in diameter except at the journals, where it was 4 inches. The fracture was a clean one. | |
| 1892 | October | 5 | Whitehill | Edinburgh | Lothian Coal Co Ltd | David | Cairns | Fireman | 59 | Persons not employed and deaths from natural causes | Leg bruised by fall of stone. Died from apoplexy; stated by doctor to have no connexion with the injury | |
| 1892 | October | 6 | Niddrie | Edinburgh | Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co Ltd | Alexander | Henderson | Miner | 30 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | October | 6 | Cowdenbeath | Fife | Cowdenbeath Coal Co Ltd | David | Noble | Brusher | 58 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed by hutch From Main body of report: Deceased was a contractor brusher, and worked at night with two of his men rebrushing a level at top of a self-acting incline, 53 yards long and dipping 1 in 3. A tub was filled with debris and brought out to the head of the incline, and deceased took hold of it in front to turn it on to the full road ; while doing so his left foot inadvertently knocked out the "block," and the tub ran over on to the incline, forcing him before it for 30 feet, when it left the rails and injured him so severely that he died two hours after. | |
| 1892 | October | 7 | Hamilton Palace | Bothwell | Bent Colliery Co | Patrick | Cunningham | Miner | 32 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | October | 7 | Newton No 2 | Cambuslang | Jas Dunlop & Co | Walter | Stewart | reddsman | 35 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof on haulage road while repairing it | |
| 1892 | October | 11 | Newbattle | Edinburgh | Lothian Coal Co Ltd | William | Morrison | Hammerman | 67 | In shafts | Fell down pit From Main body of report: The shaft is 150 fathoms in depth, and the tubs are raised in it upon three-decked cages, 13 feet in height. Both sides of the shaft at the top scaffold are fenced by sparred gates which work between wood guides, and are raised and lowered by the cages. After the ordinary winding operations had ceased for the day, the rise cage was taken off and replaced by a new one. The work was done under the supervision of the foreman blacksmith, and deceased, who was a hammerman, was assisting. The gates had been removed, the old cage taken off and laid aside upon the scaffold, and the winding rope attached to the new cage, which lay upon a temporary gangway sloping up from the ground to the permanent scaffold. It was intended that the engine should draw it up, while some men assisted it with levers. Deceased, who had been present during the operations and who was then upon the top scaffold, was told by the foreman to go down and assist some others who were behind the cage. He went towards the shaft to descend by a stair a few feet beyond it and was not again seen alive. About half an hour afterwards he was missed, and, as he could not be found elsewhere, it was suspected that he had fallen down the shaft. Two men descended and found his body in the sump. A bye road 4 feet 2 inches in width, passes the rise end of the shaft and is separated from it by a fixed fence. Deceased was believed to have been making for this bye road and to have inadvertently walked into the open shaft, which was partially obscured by some steam leaking from a column of pipes in it. | Newspaper report - Beath pages |
| 1892 | October | 11 | Newton No 2 | Cambuslang | Jas Dunlop & Co | Adam | Cameron | Brusher | 25 | Miscellaneous underground | Explosion of compressed powder while stemming a shot | |
| 1892 | October | 11 | Gartshore No 9 | Kilsyth | Wm Baird & Co | John | Hanan | Brusher | 33 | Explosions of fire damp | Explosion of firedamp while firing a shot From Main body of report: Resulted in the death of one brusher and the injury of other two persons. The coking coal workings of this pit are worked with safety lamps, and it seems that on the night of the explosion the night fireman, Alexander Milligan, made his inspection about 9p.m., and afterwards met the two brushers at the station where he told them that they might go into the new " slope " road, where they were to be engaged brushing, but that, as the air was a little foul, they were to be careful. The two brushers accordingly commenced to brush the road about six yards distant from the face. Shortly after 10 p.m. Milligan fired a shot for them at the face of the brushing, and again at 2 a.m. he visited them to fire another, and it appears that when lighting the fuse he ignited an accumulation of firedamp. The result was an explosion which injured both brushers and the fireman, and from the effects of his injuries one of the brushers subsequently died. It is evident that this shot ought not to have been fired under the circumstances. The fireman failed to make a report of the condition of the workings in terms of General Rule 4, and was afterwards charged with this contravention of the statute as well as of special Rule 38 in permitting workmen to enter the working place before thoroughly clearing the same of firedamp. The result was that the second charge was found "not proven'' but the maximum penalty of £2 was imposed for the other offence. | |
| 1892 | October | 12 | Niddrie | Edinburgh | Niddrie & Benhar Coal Co Ltd | George | Johnstone | Miner | 60 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | October | 18 | Leadhills | Lanark | Leadhills Silver-lead Mining and Smelting Co Ltd | George | Watson | Filler | 20 | In shafts | Fell in ladder shaft From Main body of report: Deceased was employed as a filler of the kibble in which the ore was raised to the surface in Wilson's shaft, and he attended at several levels for that purpose. He passed from one level to another by ladders placed at one end of the shaft. While descending from the 85 to the 100 fathom level he fell from the ladders on to the roof of the 100 and was killed. The ladders from the 85 to the 100 .were in one continuous length of 25 yards, and were placed on the foot wall of the vein, which had a grade of from 1 foot to 2 foot per fathom. The ladders were made of wood, and were of the ordinary construction. It was stated by persons who had descended from the 85 to the 100 immediately before the accident that the ladders were then in good order. After the accident it was found that the 36th rung from the 85 had been torn off, the nail at one end was broken, and at the other torn out; the rung was not found. Whether the rung gave way by the weight of deceased in the course of ordinary descent or had been clutched by him and wrenched off after he had begun to fall could not be determined. | |
| 1892 | October | 21 | Newbattle | Edinburgh | Lothian Coal Co Ltd | William | Goldie | Sinker | 23 | In shafts | Fell off scaffold in shaft From Main body of report: Deceased and another sinker were engaged in removing a temporary water scaffold. They stood upon the upper deck of a walling scaffold which was suspended in the shaft at a distance of about 47 fathoms from the bottom. The scaffold was constructed of malleable iron ; it was circular in plan, its lower deck being 1 1/2 inches and its upper deck 18 inches less in diameter than the finished size of the shaft. The two decks were 9 feet apart, and in their centre an aperture or well 11 feet 2 inches by 6 feet was formed through which the kettles ran to and from the sinkers below. The water scaffold had been fitted up to protect the wallers. The outer ends of the deals of which it was composed rested upon and were nailed to a plank which was laid upon the upper deck of the walling scaffold, just clear of the rectangular well. Deceased's mate pulled off one of the scaffolding deals and handed it to him to lay it aside. He turned to do so, and appeared to trip over the plank referred to, and fell headlong through the well of the scaffold. His skull and several of his limbs were fractured. | |
| 1892 | October | 21 | Rochsolloch | Lanark | Airdrie Coal Co | John | Wylie | Brusher | 42 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of stone | |
| 1892 | October | 22 | Bardykes | Cambuslang | Merry & Cunninghame | Hamilton | Ramage | Waggon shifter | 27 | Above ground | Crushed between waggons while moving them | |
| 1892 | October | 31 | Fergushill No 28 | Irvine | Archd. Finnie & Son | John | Knox | Miner | 35 | Miscellaneous underground | Premature ignition of a shot while lighting the squib | |
| 1892 | October | 31 | Rosehall No 10 | Coatbridge | Robt Addie & Son | Samuel | Stevenson | Miner | 40 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face | |
| 1892 | November | 15 | Wellsgreen | Fife | Fife Coal Co Ltd | Thomas | Thomson | Pithead worker | 24 | Above ground | Fell from scaffold From Main body of report: Deceased and other runners were engaged emptying tubs of refuse over a shoot into a waggon standing on the main line. It is supposed that while looking to see if the waggon was filled, he leaned forward over the top railing on the pithead scaffold, causing the railing to give way, and he fell on to the railway below, a distance of 30 feet. In his fall his head came in contact with a locomotive engine which was standing beneath the scaffold. The railing did not appear to be very securely fixed. | |
| 1892 | November | 16 | Gilbertfield No 2 | Cambuslang | Cambuslang Coal Co | Terence | Gaffney | Miner | 50 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | November | 21 | Bothwell Park | Bothwell | Wm Baird & Co | Wm. | Jackson | Roadsman | 30 | Miscellaneous underground | Run over by runaway hutches on a haulage road | |
| 1892 | November | 23 | Pennyvenie No 2 | Dalmellington | Dalmellington Iron Co | Jas. | McJannet | Miner | 54 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face | |
| 1892 | November | 24 | Auchinraith No 2 | Blantyre | Merry & Cunninghame | Thos. | McAnney | Pony driver | 16 | Miscellaneous underground | Crushed between hutches | |
| 1892 | November | 29 | Hallside | Cambuslang | Jas Dunlop & Co | John | Gibb | Miner | 25 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at brushing face | |
| 1892 | December | 1 | Douglas Park No 2 | Bellshill | Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co | Wm. | Barr | Miner | 21 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face while “stooping” | |
| 1892 | December | 5 | Dunsyston | Lanark | Summerlee & Mossend Iron & Steel Co Ltd | Thomas | Britton | Miner | 20 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof | |
| 1892 | December | 15 | Udston | Lanark | Udston Coal Co Ltd | James | Dunsmore | Miner | 46 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of head coal | |
| 1892 | December | 15 | Gilbertfield No 2 | Cambuslang | Cambuslang Coal Co | Jas. | Laird | Miner | 20 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of coal | |
| 1892 | December | 17 | Drumclair | Stirling | James Nimmo & Co | Andrew | Brown | Child | 3 | Persons not employed and deaths from natural causes | Haulage wheel | |
| 1892 | December | 20 | Pumpherston | Edinburgh | Pumpherston Oil Co Ltd | Peter | Ward | Miner | 23 | Miscellaneous underground | Explosion of shot From Main body of report: A miner had bored a hole for a holing shot in oil shale at the face of on upset inclined at 40° ; he charged it with 1 ½ lbs. of gunpowder, inserted a needle, stemmed the shot and withdrew the needle; he then inserted a squib prepared by another miner, and deceased, who worked near, offered to fire it. This was agreed to, and deceased prepared a match consisting of a piece of cotton wick dipped in oil, which he attached to the squib and afterwards ignited. Before he could get clear the shot exploded, and he was struck by dislodged mineral and fell to the bottom of the upset, a distance of four or five yards, receiving injuries that resulted fatally in the course of an hour or two. It appeared that instructions had been given, on the ground of safety, that the miners should use gutta-percha fuse, or strum as it is termed, instead of squibs in firing shots. The miners have two objections to the use of fuse as compared with squibs: 1st. In holing shots, which they consider require hard stemming, the fuse is apt to be cut or bruised, and a miss fire results. 2nd. Fuse is more costly than a squib. | |
| 1892 | December | 21 | Kirkhill | Cambuslang | Kirkhill Coal Co | Hugh | McGuigan | Miner | 45 | Miscellaneous underground | Explosion of compressed powder from a spark off his naked light | |
| 1892 | December | 22 | Wanlockhead – North Glencrieff Mine | Wanlockhead | Duke of Buccleuch | James | Gilmour | Joiner | 60 | In shafts | Fell from part way down the shaft From Main body of report: It occurred at Wanlockhead lead mine in one of the winding shafts which lies at an angle of 62°, and is provided with a cage in one division and a counterbalance in the other. A ladder runs down the middle of the floor of the counterbalance division, and the rope attached to the balance runs on pulleys on the top of the ladder, which is only used for purposes of repair to the shaft. It appears that the assistant-manager, accompanied by a miner, was about to be lowered in the cage from the surface to the 90 fathom level when the deceased informed him that he intended going down the ladder to see if the rope in the counterbalance division of the shaft was running properly in the grooves of the guiding pulleys. The under-manager at once prohibited him from entering the shaft in this manner, and the cage was then lowered with the deceased to the adit level, 12 fathoms from the surface, after which it was again raised to take the under-manager to his destination. Just as the cage reached the 90 fathom level the deceased fell down the shaft, having, in spite of the prohibition, gone down the ladder. It is probable that on meeting the ascending counterbalance he endeavoured to avoid it by stepping upon a bunton between the two divisions, and either fell or was knocked off by the counterbalance. | |
| 1892 | December | 27 | Devon | Clackmannan | Alloa Coal Co | Alexander | Paterson | Miner | 14 | In shafts | Fell from cage From Main body of report: Deceased, a lad of 14, who had been employed underground three months, was ascending the shaft with seven other persons in a single decked cage provided with a sufficient cover and bars to hold on by. Deceased stood at the outside and he was carrying a pick. When a short distance above meetings he fell from the cage, but the cause of his falling could not be ascertained. | Newspaper report - Clackmannan pages |