James Leslie Jones

British Coal

1983 - 1993 British Coal, Sutton Manor Colliery.

COLLIERY SAFETY OFFICER and;

Part time Mines Rescue

Responsibilities

Ensure compliance with legal requirements and Colliery safety procedures and policies.
Management on preventing injury to personnel and damage to property.
Carry out safety inspections and audits and advise management, as appropriate, to make improvements.
Monitor trends and make policy improvements to manage trends.
Investigate accidents, incidents etc. making recommendations to prevent reoccurrence.
Suggest methods to promote health, safety and environmental awareness at all levels.
Liaise with Enforcing Bodies and Government Officials as is necessary.
Functionally report and respond to safety and environmental incidents and emergencies etc.
Attend Colliery Safety Committee meeting and actively advise on matters.
Report on a daily basis to the colliery manager, hazards, risk report by colliery officials.
Report on a monthly basis to the Board, statistics and performance objectives.

Achievements

Awarded national innovation award for inventing a tool to carry out in-situ shear point cutting on the wheel heads of fire hydrants.

Following a fatal accident at another colliery it was necessary to alter all underground hydrants so they would shear in the event of being struck by machinery etc. To achieve this, districts of the mine had to be closed so the pipes could be drained and the spindles in the hydrants could then be changed. This caused loss of production, massive financial ramifications and required a lot of personnel and planning.

Experimenting in the workshops I discovered a way to cut the shear point in-situ without the need to close any systems down. This was approved by British Coal and I was awarded the national award for innovation.

This position was made redundant and the Mine closed.