coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

open lamps to be used near hay or other inflammable
substances. Warn your men that you will
discharge at once anyone guilty of leaving candles
or torches burning near timbers; for instance, a
candle that has been wedged between two nails
driven into a post.
Do not permit drunkenness among men on duty,
for this is very often a contributory cause of accidents.
Note the condition of the men when coming
on shift and do not permit even slightly intoxicated
men underground; if such a man is discovered
in the tunnel, send him to the surface at
once. You should discharge those who are habitual
offenders in this respect.
TO THE MINER.
You, the miner, are engaged in a business that
is hazardous under the best conditions. You are
constantly surrounded by dangers, many 0/ which
you are perhaps disregarding daily because you
have become familiar with them and haidened to
them. But you must remember that any accident
caused by carelessness on your part may not
only hurt you but may also injure or possibly kill
one of your fellow workers, in spite of all the precautions
he may have taken for his own safety.
You have therefore not only your own life and
limbs to take care of but you are responsible for
the safety of all the men working near you. Do
not, just because you have been working as a
miner for many years, take chances that you would
be the first to condemn in anybody else. You
may not, know that carelessness is more dangerous
underground than ignorance (for although
the latter is bad enough, it can be cured), and
that you, the miner of 5 or 10 or 20 years' experience,
are more to be feared than a new man, for
you have become hardened to dangers and are
willing to take chances that a new man would be
afraid to take. Do you realize that by far the
greater majority of "accidents" are caused by carelessness
on the part of experienced men like yourself
and that it may be your turn to-morrow or
next week? The only way that you can reduce
the dangers around you is to use extreme care in
doing your own work and to urge every man working
near you to do the same. The following precautions
are those that apply most directly to your
work, but you should also read carefully those intended
for the superintendent and the foreman,
so that you can help them wherever possible in
carrying out their part of the work, for it is only
by co-operation on the part of everyone that the
best results can be obtained.
Do not go back to the face of a tunnel after a
blast without testing the newly exposed roof for
loose rock, for the danger from falls of roof is the
one to which you are most frequently exposed. If
you find any rock that is loose, either clean it
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. .35
down yourself at once or report it to the foreman.
Form the habit of carefully examining the roof of
the tunnel as you pass in and out, testing doubtful
places for vibration by the method described
herein. Call the
FOREMAN'S ATTENTION
to any ground that you think should be timbered
or to any timbers that need relieving to prevent
their breaking.
If you have to use dynamite, do so with great
care, using all the precautions given herein.
Never try to scare anyone by reckless handling of
explosives, and do not overlook carelessness or
recklessness in anyone else, for he owes it to you
to be careful, no matter how little he thinks of his
own safety. If it is your duty to assist in the
loading of holes, do this with great care, using
pressure rather than a blow to tamp the explosive
in the hole, and always be careful not to use too
much force in pushing the charge in, for if a cartridge
should stick in the hole and then suddenly
give way you might force it against the bottom of
the hole with enough force to make it explode.
Such care is especially important when you are
pushing a detonator into the hole.
Find out the rate at which the fuse burns, especially
if a new brand is being tried, and see that
the fuse is cut long enough to give you and your
companions time to reach a place of safety. Protect
the fuse from injury from scraping, blows, or
too great pressure caused either by falling rocks
or by the bar when tamping the hole; never use
a fuse that has been thus damaaged. Do not use
fuse that you know has been stored near a boiler,
steam pipes, or other source of heat, or one that
has been exposed to moisture. If you prepare
the primer, use all the precautions given herein.
If you find a misfire in the face, call the foreman's
attention to it at once so that he can have
the charge detonated. Never attempt to remove
the material in such a hole; either explode it with
a primer, or if this cannot be done, drill and fire
another hole at least two feet away. Use great
care in removing any unexploded dynamite from
the muck pile and be especially cautious if a piece
of fuse is seen near it, for this may show that
there is still a
DETONATOR IN THE CARTRIDGE.
Never handle your pick like a sledge hammer;
pull or scrape the material down rather than
strike it with the pick, for in this way you are
less liable to explode a stray piece of dynamite in
the muck.
Whenever you feel that you are breathing any
harmful gases, especially fumes from dynamite
that has burned, try to get to fresh air as soon as
possible; often the quickest way to do this is to
open the compressed air line or to break down the