coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

58 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
especially true of electrical installations. It is
not necessary to rehearse all of these conditions,
as everyone here is familiar with them.
The knowledge of the existence of danger requires
that steps be taken to prevent accidents.
It is certain that haphazard methods will not
solve the safety problem any more than they will
SOLVE THE HAULAGE PROISLEM
or the ventilation problem. Measures to be effective
must be well considered.
Unfortunately the safety problem can not be
solved on just the same basis as the ventilation
problem, for instance. Safety can not be calculated
mathematically by the use of constants obtained
from experience. Definite data as to what
will produce safety under the complex conditions
involved are not available. It has seemed to me
that a good way to begin is to outline methods
that, so far as we can see, will surely produce
safety and then to determine how these methods
can be put into practical operation. For the sake
of discussion, therefore, I will make the following
five suggestions for reducing the number of
accidents due to the use of electricity in mines:
Suggestions.
1. Remove contributory causes.
2. Remove from the vicinity of electrical apparatus
all elements susceptible to its influence
( gas, dust, explosives, combustible material 1.
3. Keep the electric current where it belongs.
4. If, under certain circumstances, the current
can not be entirely confined, at least limit
the area of its activity by the use of protective
devices.
5. Insure a high factor of safety by:
(al Selecting materials and apparatus with
care.
(b) Installing equipment in a strictly firstclass
manner.
(c) Inspecting equipment frequently and
thoroughly.
(d) Maintaining it in good condition at all
times.
Suppose that it is agreed that these measures
(or any others) will solve the problem, the next
question is how to put those into effect. To
GET THE BEST RESULTS
the co-operation of all concerned must be secured.
There may be, no doubt there will be, many ways
of getting the desired result. Each one has his
own experiences and his own views based thereon,
but disorganized forces acting along different
lines will not produce the results of concerted
action along lines that, in the light of combined
experience, may be agreed upon by the majority
of those interested. The greatest benefit can be
derived if, from the great mass of experience of
the many who are interested in safeguarding
electricity in mines, a definite plan of common
action can be evolved and a code of rules laid
clown, which in the opinion of all will bring about
the safe conditions that all desire. If such a code
were put into effect generally, its weak points
could be strengthened from time to time by the
common experience of many engineers and operators,
who would be trying out the same requirements
under various conditions.
My experience and that of others reported to
me leads me to believe that a code of rules would
be welcomed by the underground electrical men
who are to put them in force. Those men, as a
whole, desire to do things in the proper way
and would be glad to have the proper way pointed
out to them. They enjoy arbitrary criticism
as little as anyone, but I believe that most of
them would appreciate constructive criticism and
would co-operate in carrying out suggestions
made by people in whom they have confidence.
If such a movement could be started its difficulties
would grow less as time went on, because
the power of tradition is nearly as strong for
good as it is for evil. The average electrical
worker on the surface knowns how to install
electrical apparatus, because he has been educated
and guided by the underwriters' rules which
have established a tradition for good work which
can not lightly be set aside.
I wish to emphasize that the solution of this
problem rests largely with the underground electrical
worker. If
GOOD MEN ARE SELECTED
for this position and are properly instructed and
encouraged to look out for the safety side of the
electrical work, the problem is practically solved.
I believe that we shall see the day when electricity,
so far from being considered a menace to
those who work in mines, will be regarded as a
means of safeguarding life and property and reducing
the accidents that heretofore have occurred.
Already there are certain electrical devices
whose adoption and general use will make
for safety. Among these are the telephone, the
electrical shot-firing device, the storage battery
locomotive, and portable electric mine lamps. If
the storage battery locomotive can be developed
so that it can successfully displace the trolley
wire locomotive, the greatest single cause of electrical
accidents, the trolley wire, can be withdrawn
from service at least to a large extent.
The Engineers of the Bureau of Mines ancl
other engineers believe that the use of portable
electric lamps will do much toward reducing the
number of accidents in mines, and with this in
mind we are making every effort to assist in the
development and urge the adoption of these lamps.
Based upon the undoubtedly true premise that
the battery is the part of a portable lamp equ' iment
most difficult to develop, there has been a