Post by John on Dec 20, 2013 8:15:49 GMT -5
I don't remember many, as the rules were pretty well stuck to most of the time.
One I recall, resulted in one very shocked scooptram (LHD) driver...Caused by a one slip up in safety procedures, could have been very nasty had the driver not have used common sense.
It was at Marblaegis gypsum mine, firing the face, (bords) was done twice a day usually, at snap time and end of the shift, days and nights.
Snaptime everyone on the face knew to stick to snaptime to the minute!! One of the Scooptram drivers was clockwatching, but decided he'd have time for one more load before parking up for his lunch, he pulled into the wrong heading, saw all the shots wired and had the sense to raise his bucket as a shield, and sink as low as he could in his seat, he realised he'd never be able to drive out in time.
The shotfirer for this side of the face was Barney and Brian Peggs, both who I knew very well, I travelled to work and home with them, they both lived on the same estate and just down the road from me. Brian I knew from my apprentice days at Clifton Colliery, he was a faceworker on the same faces I'd worked on.
They had a cabin they used up the face to have snap in and a game of cards or two, the scooptram driver was one who shared the snap cabin and was in their card school.
The face was fired as normal, shotfirers made their way to where they had snap....Barney realized Frank was missing, they waited, and started worrying, so did a search for him down the face line....One heading had lights coming out of it, as they got closer they crapped themselves1!! Engine running lights full on in a heading Barney had fired...As luck had it, Franks was alive but badly shaken, covered in dust and smalls and in deep shock.
The incident was reported to HMI and from it tighter rules were invoked, HMI stated it's hard to prevent an accident in such workings, but we needed more rules to prevent an occurence.
We had two sirens installed on the face, face Chargehand was to take full charge of shotfiring, a full check of all headings was to take place prior to the sirens being sounded. After inspection, shotfirers were to go to their firing point, wave their caplamps to the chargehand, who in turn to wave back, then sirens sounded for so many seconds, then when he was satisfied, the chargehand was to wave his caplamp in an up down motion to signal "FIRE".
Worked pretty good, until one afternoon near the end of day shift the surveyors came on the face.....The face had a conveyor road and one cut through over was the main transport road, rules were, anyone entering the face was to enter via the transport road and report to the face charge hand...
Surveyors came on the face via an old workings road at the bottom of the face.
The chargehand had given the wave to fire when Barney saw lights beyond the chargehand in the same line of cut throughs..Barney waved frantically and the shotfiring was aborted, he pulled his wires from his battery and discharged it, then did a quater mile sprint down the face to kill the surveyors!!! Man was he angry!! He had to be held back, he was foaming at the mouth and shouting "I'll kill the "c's"
The surveyors were ordered off the face and ordered to appear in the managers office straight away. After the face was fired, the chargehand telephoned the mine foreman to report the incident, the surveyors after that incident were ordered to notify a responsible person that they were entering the mine, then to report to the chargehand before entering the face..
Could have been real nasty had Barney not spotted their lights.
Barney is gone now, good bloke, funny and hard working..
One I recall, resulted in one very shocked scooptram (LHD) driver...Caused by a one slip up in safety procedures, could have been very nasty had the driver not have used common sense.
It was at Marblaegis gypsum mine, firing the face, (bords) was done twice a day usually, at snap time and end of the shift, days and nights.
Snaptime everyone on the face knew to stick to snaptime to the minute!! One of the Scooptram drivers was clockwatching, but decided he'd have time for one more load before parking up for his lunch, he pulled into the wrong heading, saw all the shots wired and had the sense to raise his bucket as a shield, and sink as low as he could in his seat, he realised he'd never be able to drive out in time.
The shotfirer for this side of the face was Barney and Brian Peggs, both who I knew very well, I travelled to work and home with them, they both lived on the same estate and just down the road from me. Brian I knew from my apprentice days at Clifton Colliery, he was a faceworker on the same faces I'd worked on.
They had a cabin they used up the face to have snap in and a game of cards or two, the scooptram driver was one who shared the snap cabin and was in their card school.
The face was fired as normal, shotfirers made their way to where they had snap....Barney realized Frank was missing, they waited, and started worrying, so did a search for him down the face line....One heading had lights coming out of it, as they got closer they crapped themselves1!! Engine running lights full on in a heading Barney had fired...As luck had it, Franks was alive but badly shaken, covered in dust and smalls and in deep shock.
The incident was reported to HMI and from it tighter rules were invoked, HMI stated it's hard to prevent an accident in such workings, but we needed more rules to prevent an occurence.
We had two sirens installed on the face, face Chargehand was to take full charge of shotfiring, a full check of all headings was to take place prior to the sirens being sounded. After inspection, shotfirers were to go to their firing point, wave their caplamps to the chargehand, who in turn to wave back, then sirens sounded for so many seconds, then when he was satisfied, the chargehand was to wave his caplamp in an up down motion to signal "FIRE".
Worked pretty good, until one afternoon near the end of day shift the surveyors came on the face.....The face had a conveyor road and one cut through over was the main transport road, rules were, anyone entering the face was to enter via the transport road and report to the face charge hand...
Surveyors came on the face via an old workings road at the bottom of the face.
The chargehand had given the wave to fire when Barney saw lights beyond the chargehand in the same line of cut throughs..Barney waved frantically and the shotfiring was aborted, he pulled his wires from his battery and discharged it, then did a quater mile sprint down the face to kill the surveyors!!! Man was he angry!! He had to be held back, he was foaming at the mouth and shouting "I'll kill the "c's"
The surveyors were ordered off the face and ordered to appear in the managers office straight away. After the face was fired, the chargehand telephoned the mine foreman to report the incident, the surveyors after that incident were ordered to notify a responsible person that they were entering the mine, then to report to the chargehand before entering the face..
Could have been real nasty had Barney not spotted their lights.
Barney is gone now, good bloke, funny and hard working..
