Causes of Accidents in Mines

Maoriland Worker, Volume I, Issue 7, 20 March 1911, Page 16

Causes of Accidents in Mines

. + The lay ojnnion is that explosions in mines are due to an emission of gas (fire damp) in the workings which is accidentally ignited by a faulty lamp or by shot-firing, or, as employers almost always suggest, by carelessness on the part of underground workers. But there is strong reason for the belief that potent as the fire damp may be, it may not be the chief cause of those terrible outbursts which sweep with devastating force through mines, carrying with them death and destruction. It has been found, for instance, that three ounces of fine coal dust per cubic yard of space is sufficient to cause a dust explosion in the entire absence of firedamp. There are two directions in which engineers may work, now that the lethal possibilities ot coal dust have been adequately demonstrated. Attempts can be made to reduce the dust in the roads of mines below the danger point, which varies with the amount of volatile matter known to exist in different workings, and to keep what remains in a damp condition. And, next, experiments can be carried on for the discovery of the permitted explosive least likely to cause' ignition 111 dusty mines. When we axe able to say that the dust problem has been effectively solved it is probable we shall have made much more remote tiban they are the recurrence of such calamities as those of Whitehaven and Bolton. Ehist explosions also may occur in flour mills, woollen factories, etc., unless precautions are and this cause of danger has frequently engaged the attention of fire insurance officers.