Changing Communities and Collieries

Abstract

Economic security in the coalfields was intimately connected with underground safety. Hazards were mediated by the effectiveness of trade union representation. Where employers attacked workplace trade unionism, the risks to workers of death, serious injury and illness were increased. This was the pattern in the 1920s and 1930s, when private owners excluded forceful union advocates. The reverse was observable in the 1950s and 1960s, when nationalisation facilitated stronger union voice. The rate of fatality was cut by one half as a result. On this most fundamental of all questions, life and death, nationalisation was an unambiguous success. Major fatal disasters from the 1950s to the early 1970s showed that dangers were diminished but not eradicated. Changes in production, with the application of power-loading in the 1960s, also brought new hazards. Miners were nevertheless empowered by union voice and public ownership to act with greater vigilance in pursuit of safety and were compensated when missing shifts because of injury or illness. This was unmistakable progress towards greater security in the coalfields.