Mines Department and Successor: Safety in Mines Research Board and Sub-Committee:...

POWE 59

1921-1942

This series contains signed copies of minutes of meetings of the Safety in Mines Research Board and its Wire Ropes, Publications and Support of Workings in Mines Committees.

Public Record(s)

English

• Mines Department, Mining Dangers Research Board, 1920-1922
• Mines Department, Safety in Mines Research Board, 1922-1942

8 volume(s)

Topics

Research

Mining and quarrying

In 1920 responsibility for the Eskmeals testing station in Cumberland passed to the Mines Department. It had originally been built by the Home Office in 1911-1912 to carry out experiments under the direction of the Explosions in Mines Committee.

In July 1921 the secretary for mines appointed a board to conduct and co-ordinate research into the causes of mining dangers and the means of preventing them. Initially this was called the Mining Dangers Research Board; in May 1922 its name was changed to the Safety in Mines Research Board.

As the programme of the board's work was extended, Eskmeals was replaced by two new research stations. These were at Buxton and Sheffield; they opened in June 1927 and October 1928 respectively. In June 1947 the board was wound up and its functions assumed by the Safety in Mines Research and Testing Branch, within the Ministry of Fuel and Power. In October 1950 this became the Safety in Mines Research Establishment

Work at these establishments involved the testing of mining equipment and the general promotion of safety in mines. It was largely financed by the Miners' Welfare Fund. Outside this experimental research, the board took over supervision of various advisory panels and committees involved in the field. Prominent among these was the Hot and Deep Mines Research Committee, which was placed under the control of the board on its transfer to the Mines Department from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in April 1922. This body was primarily concerned with investigating atmospheric conditions in such mines and steps that could be taken to alleviate the difficult working conditions.