BLASTING ACCIDENT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 39, 9 November 1938, Page 8

BLASTING ACCIDENT

Magisterial Inquiry Held DEATH OF QUARRYMAN The accident at the Moa Point quarry, Wellington, on September 2. in which a quarryman, Frederick Charles Liddy, aged 57, died following injuries received when lie was stiuck by a fragment of stone during blasting operations was the subject of a magisterial inquiry before Mr. W. i. Stilwell yesterday. The Court visited the quarry during the day. At the conclusion of the hearing in the afternoon Mr .Stilwell said, he would give his judgment at 9.30 a.m. to-day. He had come to an opinion on tire question and his finding would not be adverse to the quarry foreman. Mr C H. Tavlor, of the Crown Law Office, appeared for the inspector of quarries; Mr. G, G. G. Watson for the quarry foreman; Mr. C. H. Arndt for the relatives of Liddy and the workers union of which he was a member; the city solicitor, Mr. O’Shea, for the Wellington City Corporation. Mr. Taylor, outlining the circuinstances surrounding the accident, said in the vicinity there were two ridges. Charges of explosive were placed m three holes near the top of the westerly ridge. When the shots were ready for firing the quarry foreman sent. ' the men over to the far side of the easterly ridge. The men were about 180 feet from the point of the blasting. V ben tire shots were tired, some of the rock came right over the ridge. Liddy was hit on the head and died shortly after. Others were also hit. The inspector of quarries, said. Mr Taylor, inquired into the accident and came to the conclusion that it was due to negligence iu that the men had not been sent under cover or further atvij. The inspector considered that that constituted negligence on the part of the quarry foreman. Inspector’s Evidence. Evidence was submitted by R. H. Schoen, inspector of the Mines Department, and Leonard James Glennie, quarry foreman employed by the Public Works Department. They had inspected the Moa Point quarry. Neither considered 180 ft. a. sufficient distance to have had the men away from the scene of the shot. They considered 450 ft. the minimum safe distance. Phillip Wallace Vautier, licensed surveyor employed by the Wellington City Council, said he had drawn a map of the scene of the fatality. 'To Mr. Watson, witness said a radius of 450 ft. from the scene of the blasting would lead on to the Miramar golf links, Cook Strait, and the road. Rocks from blasting (had not been known to carry so far. Evidence was given by a number ot workmen present at the scene of the fatality. . Norman Douglas Cooper, assistant shot firer, said that since he had been at Moa Point he bad assisted in firing about 6000 shots and this was the only case iu which there had been trouble. Edward William Paine, quarry foreman at Moa Point, called by Mr. O’Shea, said, he expected the spoil to go toward the sea. He directed, the men to go in the opjiosite direction. He thought Hie men were absolutely safe. Cross-examined by Mr. 'Taylor, witness said he still hold that the position in .which the men were was quite safe. That some of the material in this case went where it was not expected to go could only be because there was a “greasyback” where the shots were fired. ~ To Mr. Watson, he said that in all the thousands of shots at Moa Point, he had had trouble only with backfiring through a "greasyback.’.’