The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-02-07

OuIlng 1871 Cnere were employed
at the mines in Great Britain and
Ireland, 1,156,938 men. Of this
number, 924,629 worked under
ground. Their underground acct
dents were:
Killed Injured
Explosions of fire.
damp or coal dust. 10 so
Falls Of ground. -. 383 31,O47
Shaft accidents 49,. 26 $50
Haulage accidents ;. ITO 1884
Miscellaneous ..... 81 29,471
"In 1921 only nineteen men were
killed by explosion of firedamp and
coal dust. Ten deaths were caused
by naked lights, five by matches or
smoking, one by shot-fring (iame of
explosive), one by safety lamp in de-
fective condition and four by mis-
cellaneous and unknown causes. The
same difficulty in determining what
is gaseous mine is encounte&ed
there as here.
Davy Safety Lamp Strapped
"The result of permitting the use
of mixed light mines is shown by
the above table, in which ten of the
nineteen explosion fatalities were
electric-is much higher than in
America. In 1920 there were 924,-
629 workers underground, and of
these $751; were equipped with
fame safety lamps and 245,9O0 with
electric safety lamps, or total of
$751; OPT protected with closed lights.
The electric lamps is replacing the
flame lamp at the rate of about 3d.
600 per year, and the Davy safety
lamp, still looked upon by some min
ing men in this country as a safe and
efficient lamp, is no longer permitted
in Great Britain, its native home.
There are about 10000 still in use
in this country.
"The first definite regulations COW
ering rescue work were made in
1918, amended in 1914 and extended
by general regulation in 1920.
Approved Rescue Apparatus.
Briefly, the requirements are that
all coal mines and all oil shale mines
shall have the protection of approved
rescue apparatus and framed bril-
gades. Each mine may have its own
individual rescue station; the num-
Der of brigades is regulated by the
number of employees. Or a group of
companies may combine to form a
central rescue station, the require
ments being that the central rescue
station must maintain a permanent
Erescue corps to serve all the mines
within a radius of ten miles from the
station. The central rescue station
idea is a popular one, and the great
majority of the mines operate under
such protection. This central rescue
station idea is worked out to greater
advantage in Great Britain than in
this country, as there are usually a
greater number of mines in a given
area, all connected by fine, level
roads.
"These central rescue stations are
manned with from two to sixteen
permanent employees, depending upon
the number of brigades which come
to the station for training. The sta
tons having sixteen permanent en-
ployes are combination rescue and
fire stations and are located in the
lleluS WncTe LntI0 10 COnSlueIdDit
trouble with underground fires. In
these districts they have found it
worth while to have crew Of at
least eight men Immediately avail
able to answer fire calls. The sta
tons are also equipped to take care
Of surface fires; this protection
makes possible a material reduction
in fire insurance premiums.
Fire Hazard Greatest
"There are comparatively few ex-
blossoms; the majority Of the calls
on rescue stations are for mine fires,
most of which are caused by spon-
taneous combustion. In some areas
this danger of spontaneous fire is so
great that a single stick Of timber
left In the goat may start fire, so
that all timber must be removed re-
CARELESS of cost. Underground fires
in general are quite different from
those in the United States. Active,
fierce-burning fires such as occur in
our mines, worked on the room and
pillar system. are infrequent. Con-
sequently methods Of fighting and
controlling are different"