Show Posts
3151
The Common Room / Re: Colliery accidents and consequences
« on: Sunday 19 February 12 23:07 GMT (UK) »
I've been reading up a bit in the records - an ancestor was one of HM INspectors of Mines. His annual reports repeatedly complain that magistrates wouldn't take safety and breaches of regulations seriously, and that penalties were small on masters and on men. Some of the Press reports when miners were prosecuted for safety breaches are quite scary, too, with people saying that they had always done it this way....although I do have an 1899 report, headline: Reckless colliers in the mines. Opening a lamp in the Albion Colliery. Defendant sent to prison for three months.
As for compensation, the answer is, not much. My grandfather who had to do with colliery fatalities as part of his work as Procurator Fiscal used to say it was better to be killed with many others, as the collection for widows and children would raise more money than if just one man died.
As for compensation, the answer is, not much. My grandfather who had to do with colliery fatalities as part of his work as Procurator Fiscal used to say it was better to be killed with many others, as the collection for widows and children would raise more money than if just one man died.