On Coal Mine Accidents And Their Government In Britain In The Middle And Late Nineteenth Century

Mine disaster is a long-standing problem in the coal mining industry,and is increasing with the rapid development of the industry.However,the British mine disaster began to show a downward trend after reaching the highest level of casualties in the middle and late nineteenth Century,and never increased after that.The development curve of the whole mine accident appeared to turn to a decline during this period.This paper first analyzes the main characteristics and causes of the serious coal mine disaster in the middle and late nineteenth Century.Secondly,it discusses the social reaction caused by this problem,and then discusses the main measures and development stages of government management of mine disaster.Finally,it summarizes the extensive influence of these measures on the British coal mine industry,and the content is divided into five chapters.The first chapter introduces the development stages of coal mine accidents in Britain,and summarizes the characteristics and causes of mine accidents in the middle and late nineteenth Century.First,the development stage of coal mine disaster is introduced.Before the mid sixteenth Century,the coal mine safety was the first stage.The scale of coal mine was small,the number of the casualties were small.The mid sixteenth Century to the early nineteenth Century is the second stage,the mine owners expanded the size of the coal mine,and there are more and more coal mine accident in mining area.Collapse,water permeability and equipment failures are the three main types of accidents.In these two stages,miners are the main body to deal with accidents.The technical equipment they use is inferior,and the guiding ideology is empiricism.The statistics of accidents are very scarce,and little attention from society has been paid to this issue.Secondly,the mine disaster situation in the middle and late nineteenth Century is introduced.After 50 s,the data of mine disaster were statistics,and the single death toll,total death toll and outbreak frequency of mining disasters showed a rapid upward trend.The main types of mine disaster are gas explosion and collapse.In the industrial field,the mortality rate of coal mining industry is obviously higher than that of all other industries,and it has become the most dangerous industry in the country.Compared with the major coal producing countries on the European continent,Britain is the country with the second highest mortality rate of coal mine disasters.The high mortality rate of coal mines has attracted more attention from the public and the media.There are two main reasons why coal mine accidents have evolved to such a serious degree.The first is the overall development of coal mining,mine depth,the number of miners,the number of equipment,coal production,and so on,the second is that the coal mine safety has not been paid enough attention,the safety technology and equipment stay at the previous level,and can not provide the corresponding protection.The second chapter mainly discusses the social reaction caused by frequent coal mine accidents.The middle and late nineteenth Century is a critical time for the working class to actively strive for its own power.In the two reform process of the parliament,the working class is a force that can not be ignored.Miners,as an important force,actively promote the development of coal mine safety.During this time,many new miners' organizations were set up by miners,and workers' associations and trade unions were among them.In the previous workers' movement,coal mine safety was seldom mentioned,and it has been clearly put forward and become one of the important goals.Miners have submitted a large number of petitions to the home secretary,and miners' representatives have actively consulted with mine owners and government officials on plans for coal mine legislation and coal mine management.The British utilitarianism prevailed in the nineteenth Century.Under the influence of this trend of thought,the British government dispatched investigators in many industries and implemented a positive intervention policy,which had a profound impact on the society.Many enthusiasts in the coal industry have a clear support for utilitarianism.The first coal mine investigation report was made by the utilitarianism,and some of the members of the Council and government members of the government were utilitarian.They advocated the implementation of the government intervention policy in the field of coal mines,and finally succeeded in achieving their own claims.The scientific circles are constantly analyzing the causes of coal mine accidents,such as atmospheric pressure,coal dust,the level of miners education,economic factors and other new interpretation angles.At the same time,new technology and equipment have been put into use in the fields of support system,hoist equipment,gas indicator,ventilation,explosive and other fields.However,new technologies and equipment will also create new dangers,especially the use of explosives that causes explosion accidents,and the coal mine act have to make a unified standard for the use of some equipment later.In a word,the response to coal mine accidents in different social fields is not only re aware of the coal mine accidents from the natural angle,but also the factors such as the level of the manager,the discipline and system of the coal mine,the overall quality of the miners,the use of the technical equipment and so on.The joint role of these forces is an important guarantee for the reduction of coal mine accidents,and also provides assistance for the implementation of government intervention measures.The third chapter mainly discusses the measures taken by the government to control coal mine accidents in 1840 s and 50 s.40s was the beginning of government intervention in coal mines,and 50 s was the beginning of the government's efforts to manage coal mine accidents.Britain did not mention coal mine accidents before 1842.In 1842,the parliament passed the first coal mine legislation,the Ashely act,which mainly prohibited the employment of women workers at the bottom of the land,and the employment of child workers at the bottom of the ground.The main content was to provide an inspector for the inspection of coal mine surface.In essence,this bill is mainly the government's intervention in the employment of coal mines.The obvious effect is the gradual disappearance of women workers and the reduction of child labour.The impact of coal mine safety is very limited,but after all,this is the first direct coal mine legislation,marking the beginning of government intervention in coal mines.Both her supporters and opponents predicted that there would be a lot of coal mine legislation,which would have a profound impact on all aspects of the coal industry.50s was the beginning of the government's control of coal mine accidents.The ten year parliament has promulgated two bills,the first is the coal mine management act of 1850,the second has the name,but the content is slightly updated.These two bills are all drawn from serious coal mine accidents.The main content is to stipulate general rules and special rules in coal mines.The general rules are made by the government,which involves the appointment of coal mine managers,the arrangement of mines,the safe use of explosives and some mining equipment,and all coal mines in the country are to be carried out.Special rules are formulated by the mine owners and managers according to their own conditions,and their contents are more detailed and diversified.The two bill is mainly from a management point of view to prevent mine accidents.The 50 s bill is mainly about coal mine safety affairs,marking the beginning of the government's management of coal mine accidents.The fourth chapter discusses the measures for the government to govern coal mine accidents in sixty and 70 s nineteenth Century.60 s is the development stage of the coal mine legislation,and 70 s is the mature stage of the coal mine legislation.The coal mine management act passed in 1860 and the amendment of the bill in 1862 were representative act of 60 s.The achievements of these ten years are mainly three points.First of all,the emphasis is placed on education for child labor,and the improvement of the education level of miners is regarded as an important way to reduce coal mine accidents.The second is to extend the scope of the coal mine bill to iron ore mining.Finally,the amendment of 1862 stipulates that all coal mines must have double mines.The act passed in 1872 is a milestone in coal mine legislation.The contents of the bill include the administrator qualification certificate examination system,the words and the legislative contents cover all aspects of the coal mine safety field.The following legislation is the adjustment of the existing content in different degrees,and no new angle is added,and the government has not taken new measures to intervene.Therefore,70 s can be described as the maturity stage of coal mine legislation.Under the background of the development of coal mine legislation and the development of the national inspection system,the coal mine inspector system has gradually formed its own characteristics.In 40 s,the inspector can only monitor the operation of coal mine.In 70 s,the inspector can enter the coal mine to monitor most of the coal mine at any time,and have the power to request the mine owner to rectify.The inspection system has also increased the number of personnel and funds,and the effect has been improved significantly.The inspection system is not only an important channel to collect information on coal mines and respond to the government,but also a major force in implementing government intervention in coal mine legislation.In a word,from forty to 70 s in nineteenth Century,the British government had passed a series of bills to manage the coal mine industry,and established the system of inspectors to understand the actual situation of the coal mine in time and ensure the implementation of the bill,so as to improve the safety level of the coal mine.The fifth chapter describes the comprehensive effects of these factors on coal mines.First,the number of deaths in coal mines has been reduced.From the point of view of the total number of deaths and the proportion of deaths and the total number of coal miners and coal production,the coal mine accidents were curbed and the safety level of coal mines improved significantly.Second,the establishment of coal mine managers' qualification certificate system improved the level ofcoal mine management.Miners' education level and knowledge level have also been improved.Finally,these changes have improved the living conditions and ways of the coal mining community.On the whole,the coal industry has become more civilized and modernized.