| 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 | Deceased while moving loaded waggons by means of a pinch was crushed between two of them; no one saw the accident happen. Newspaper report |
| 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 | 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 |
| 1892 | January | 18 | Clyde | Lanark | Wilson's & Clyde Coal Co Ltd | Robert | Boyd | overman | 45 | In shafts | Fell in shaft | 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 |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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. |
| 1892 | January | 27 | Herbertshire No 3 | Denny | Robt Addie & Sons | Wm. | Baird | Miner | 24 | Falls of roof & sides | Fall of roof at working face | |
| 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 | 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 |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 |
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. |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 |
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 | 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 |
| 1892 | May | 26 | Shawfield | Lanark | Wilson's & Clyde Coal Co Ltd | Robert | Simpson | Screenman | 59 | Above ground | Crushed by waggon | 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 | 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 |
| 1892 | June | 4 | Haughhead | Uddingston | Haughhead Coal Co | Catherine | Nugent | Stone picker | 17 | Above ground | Clothes caught by a revolving shaft of picking table | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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” |
