Report of the Bureau of Mines of the Department of Internal Affairs of ...

92 REPORT OF THE INSPECTORS OF MINES. Off. Doc.
There are 177 fire bosses employed in the mines of this district
who devote their time entirely to making examinations for gas and
watching the men, and air currents.
Thirty fatal and 94 serious non-fatal accidents were caused by
falls of roof and of coal, either from the face or sides. These are by
a large majority the most numerous class of accidents in every year.
A large proportion occur when the miner is prying down either loose
coal or loose rock and has taken a position from which he cannot retreat
when the thing is falling. The only w'ay to avert these accidents
is for the men to use better precaution to secure a safe position
and assure themselves that there is room to retreat before commencing
to pry any loose rock or coal down.
A number of this class of casualties occur when men are trying
hurriedlj^ to replace a prop which has just been knocked down by a
blast. It is remarkable how great a risk men will take to replace a
prop to prevent a piece of roof from falling, even when the roof gives
ominous indications of its approaching fall, and w'here they fail to
replace it, are caught under it and either killed or injured. This class
of casualties is peculiar to seams which cannot be undermined and
where the coal is mined entirely by blasting with powder or high
explosives.
Occasionally an accident by fall of roof or coal occurs because
the miner neglects to pull a loose piece down as soon as he discovers
it to be loose. Miners are too prone to put such work off until they
have finished doing something else, or until the coal is loaded out from
beneath, if it is rock, so as to keep it from mixing with the coal. It
is chiefly a careless, shiftless class of miners that are caught in this
manner, and they are a class that cannot be taught to improve because
they are nearly all sluggards by nature.
A number of casualties occur owing to the haste of miners to see
the effects of a blast. They rush forward into the powder smoke to
see the effect, when something loosened by the blast and wliich they
cannot see owing to the presence of smoke, falls upon them, causing
fatal or serious injury. All that is necessary to prevent these is for
the miners to wait a few minutes until the smoke has cleared and
until everything that is loosened has fallen.
A few casualties from falls occur because the roof and face have
not been examined and sounded ])roi)erly in order to ascertain whether
or not anything is loose, so that it can be pulled down or secured with
props or double timbering. This class of accidents occurs chiefly
in places that are comparatively safe and whcrt' apjx'arances indicate
no danger. Indifference to this is rapidly bred in what is known
as safe places and the only excuse given when an accident occurs is
that it was not known that any danger existed in the place. Examination
by sounding should be frecpiently made in all places, no