The Connecticut labor news., 1924-07-12
By International Labor News Service


 . he strongly hints that neglect of mine . owners to use this method is respon- .. sible for many disastrous explosions. , Recent Disasters Stir Entire Nation.
 Since the first of January of this year five explosions, killing about 383
 men, have occurred i'll the bituminou5
 mines of the United States" says MT.
 Bain, who goes on to say:
 The coal industry has not in years
 suffered as many big disasters i'll so
 short time, and the entire country 1 is properly aroused. Why did these explosions occur? Were they entire
 1y accidental or could they have been prevented? Will similar explosions follow? These are some of the ques 1 tions which are asked. Investigations 1 now under way will determine the causes of the past accidents and what, if anything, might have been done to prevent thent but investigations alone will give no assurance that sim liar accidents will not occur again. The lessons learned must be applied and every possible precaution taken if this killing is to be stopped. Spread of Explosions Can Be Prevented.
 "The 1et-down of morale on the part of the individual miner is indi- cated by an increase in the number of accidents caused by falls of roof or of coal falling at the working face, for the prevention of such accidents IS matter that is mainly in the hands of the individual worker In the ! matter of explosions; however, there | is a collective responsibility which be- gins with the individual whose act or care1essness is the cause of the accl- dent and spreads to the operator who permits mining conditions that allow the extension of a local explosion into one spreading through the mine
 "Whi1e one man may ignite fire damp by smoking or opening safety lamp, or may by firing dangerous shot cause an explosion, the broad casting of these explosions through the mine with the consequent large loss of life, is due invariably, as far as present knowledge goes, to the presence of coal dust, and invest1ga- tions carried On by the Bureau of Mines for more than ten years have demonstrated beyond question ot doubt that such spreading of explo- sions by coal dust can be prevented Responsibilty for this rests upon the mine managements.'
 Rock Dusting" Best Anti-Blast 1 Precaution.
 Discussing methods of preventing explosions, MT. Bain says that two | methods have been tested. He con- | tinues:
 "The first method is to wet the dust | thoroughly so that no dry dust re- mains in the mine. The coal dust IS made into a mud which cannot be thrown up into suspension in the air by concussion. It is this throwing up in a cloud along the entry that per mits the flame to pass from one volatile particle to another, which, when rapid enough becomes an explosion. A bet ter method is to dilute' the coal dust with sha1e dust or limestone dust, or any non-inf1ammab1e dust, so that the explosion will not pass from po1nt to point even though dust cloud be raised | by concussion of blasting or by the wreckage of a trip of cars
 "The objection to the wettfng down of the dust is that it must be done every day and must be thoroughly done to be effective. The second greatest coa1-nine explosion disaster in this country following the omission of watering over two days. The 'shale dusting' method is required by law in Great Britain, where there IS dangerous dust, and 1t is officially ap- proved in France. Except for a few mines, rock dusting or shale dusting, to use the British term, has not been used in the United States, although it has been strongly recommended by the Bureau of Mines. Watering or humidifying has been relied upon in the coal mines of this country, but the numerous COal-duSt eNplOSloll ulo- asters of the past two years, some ot which have occurred in what were considered we11-watered mines, have caused mining men to be susp1c1ous o1 the efficiency of watering.
 Bureau of Mines officials state that watering as general method Is failure and they urgently recom- mend rock dusting. The latter method has several great advantages: It does not have to be applied daily in every part of the mine as does water; the dust is visible and the presence of coal