Britain: An official handbook > 1956

INDUSTRY
I7I
manager is chairman, and he nominates three colliery officials to be on the com¬
mittee. There are also Consultative Councils at the area, divisional and national levels
on which the Board and the four parties representing the people employed in the
industry the National Association of Colliery Managers, the British Association
of Colliery Management, the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies
and Shot-firers, and the National Union of Mineworkers—are represented.
Safety and Health
The safety and health of miners is the subject of comprehensive legislation, which
was consolidated and brought up to date by the Mines and Quarries Act, 1954 (see
p. 270). Responsibility for the enforcement of safety regulations lies with the Mines
and Quarries Inspectorate of the Ministry of Fuel and Power.
The National Coal Board has its own safety organization and, in accordance with the
Nationalization Act, follows a policy directed towards securing the safety, health and
welfare of its employees; examples of recent major advances in safety resulting from
voluntary action by the Board are the installation of fire-resistant conveyor belts,
the replacement of light alloy supports (which had been found to be liable to pro¬
duce dangerous sparks) and the widespread introduction of courses of training for
various classes of officials and workmen. The Board has also continued to strengthen
the medical services which existed before nationalization. Chief Divisional and Area
Medical Officers have been appointed and doctors have been appointed to large
collieries and groups of collieries. Medical centres are being set up at the pit-head.
Research into problems of safety and health is carried out at the Ministry of Fuel
and Power’s Safety in Mines Research Establishment, which maintains a close
liaison with the Mines Inspectorate and the National Coal Board’s research
organization.
Development and Research
Contraction and curtailment of development in the industry since the peak year,
1913, had led to a position in which less than one-third of current output was
coming from pits started in the twentieth century. Large-scale development was
therefore essential.
In 1950 the National Coal Board announced its long-term plan of development
for the industry involving the reorganization and increased mechanization of exist¬
ing mines and the sinking of new ones. The plan envisaged a capital investment of
£635 million at 1949 prices between 1950 and 1965, when it was estimated that the
annual output of coal would have risen to about 240 million tons. The plan was not
a rigid blueprint, room being left for modifications in the light of changing circum¬
stances and new knowledge. The plan was reviewed in 1954 and it was estimated
that a higher annual output, of about 250 million tons, would be needed by 1965.
Actual capital expenditure in the years 1950-54 was £258 million at current prices.
When the programme is completed, four-fifths of Britain’s coal will be coming
from virtually new mines.
The mechanical cutting and conveying of coal are now the general practice: in
I954> 85 per cent of total deepmined output was mechanically cut and 91 per cent
was mechanically conveyed. The loading of coal at the working face offers, at pre¬
sent, the next most important possibility for increased coalface mechanization. In
I9S4, !6 million tons were power loaded by nearly 400 machines, compared with
13 million tons in 1953 and 5 million tons in 1947.
In 1947 the National Coal Board took over, with other assets, the Coal Survey,
a national organization for surveying coal resources within Britain, and 70 labora¬
tories in the various coalfields, which it has since extended and modernized.