The following extract reminded me of an experience I had some years ago.
Two of us were ascending an incline shaft on the coast. I elected to go last and pull the rope up with me.
I had a shout from above that my mate had passed the re belay and the rope was free.
I had climbed about 40 feet when i heard the shout BELOWWWW! and the booming sound of something hurtling down toward me.
The shaft was about four and a half feet wide, and foot wall to hanging wall a little under three feet.
I managed to scuttle, at a pace, to the side of the shaft and wait for the worst.
The object passed me and I felt the draught off it. It let out resounding boom as it hit the bottom of the shaft.
"Are you alright?" came the the call from above.
"You missed!" I shouted back.
Turns out it was a three foot long chunk of timber about 8 inches diameter and soaking wet, about 40 pounds weight.
Lucky day.....

Anyway, on to the story..........

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Seen in the Mining Journal and Commercial Gazette Jan 14 1837

Narrow Escape, - Caution to Sinkers, - On Tuesday December 27, as two miner named John Beynon and David Rees David were engaged in sinking a pit (“air hole”) underground,from one level to another, at Cwm-nant-Wenallt, Aberdare, the following perilous accident occurred;- John Beynon was at the bottom, while David David was about to descend, and had just entered the bucket, when the handle attached to the windlass (a heavy wooden roller) became loose, and in a moment he was precipitated to the bottom, little injured! The bucket was dashed to pieces at his feet, and the heavy roller fell with a dreadful crash beside them. The fall was twelve yards, and the pit only three feet eight inches in diameter. Both men recovered from their fright, astonished, as well they might be, at their narrow escape.

Lots more tales like this in the MJ, but sadly too many with not so good an outcome.

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Narrow Escape, - Caution to Sinkers -

Duly noted by THIS sinker :thumbup:

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Pretty much what happened to me in Coad's a couple of weeks ago.

The British Newspaper Archive is a good place for accounts of mining accidents, but generally only when there are unfortunate fatalities. Look for the full reporting of inquests. Warning - can contain some graphic and disturbing information! Edit - in fact the story above was also published in the North Wales Chronicle.

In a similar vein:

Royal Cornwall Gazette - 3rd May 1850

Accident - Whilst William Cosby was at work in the shaft at Balleswidden mine, on the 29th ult., a piece of half timber, about 3 1/2 feet long, fell a distance of ten fathoms and struck the poor fellow in the head a most violent blow; fortunately he had a hat on at the time, and hopes are entertained that he will recover from the injury he sustained.

Mining is dangerous profession with new hazards everyday especially when breaking ground.
By the same token, there are many tales of interest both practical and scientific, that have been reported in the various journals and newspapers of the day.
Perhaps a dedicated section could be set up where some of these historic reports could be posted for all to see. A great part of mining history is contained in these journals, and the majority of them are not readily available to all.
Any thoughts?

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In a similar vein:

Royal Cornwall Gazette - 3rd May 1850

Accident - Whilst William Cosby was at work in the shaft at Balleswidden mine, on the 29th ult., a piece of half timber, about 3 1/2 feet long, fell a distance of ten fathoms and struck the poor fellow in the head a most violent blow; fortunately he had a hat on at the time, and hopes are entertained that he will recover from the injury he sustained.

jees. A not small piece of timber falls 60' onto his head and they hope he'll be alright? I know he had a "hat" on but this is 1850. Define "hat"... a cap of felt?

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Mining is dangerous profession with new hazards everyday especially when breaking ground.
By the same token, there are many tales of interest both practical and scientific, that have been reported in the various journals and newspapers of the day.
Perhaps a dedicated section could be set up where some of these historic reports could be posted for all to see. A great part of mining history is contained in these journals, and the majority of them are not readily available to all.
Any thoughts?

It would be good if the reports could somehow be directly linked to the entries in the sites database.

In a similar vein:

Royal Cornwall Gazette - 3rd May 1850

Accident - Whilst William Cosby was at work in the shaft at Balleswidden mine, on the 29th ult., a piece of half timber, about 3 1/2 feet long, fell a distance of ten fathoms and struck the poor fellow in the head a most violent blow; fortunately he had a hat on at the time, and hopes are entertained that he will recover from the injury he sustained.

jees. A not small piece of timber falls 60' onto his head and they hope he'll be alright? I know he had a "hat" on but this is 1850. Define "hat"... a cap of felt?

They don't make hats like that any more. Back in the good old days when we had an empire!

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This one looks nice:

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/more-furniture-collectibles/collectibles-curiosities/historical-memorabilia/19th-century-french-leather-miners-helmet/id-f_7501773/ 

This one looks nice:

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/more-furniture-collectibles/collectibles-curiosities/historical-memorabilia/19th-century-french-leather-miners-helmet/id-f_7501773/ 

I doubt a miner could have afforded one of those.

£250 was a lot of money back then.

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BB09

-Aberllyn Mine, last drop down to drainage level, just got out of the ore shoot when p$ykes fooking steel thermos comes bouncing out of the ore pass!!

-There is another incident, where I had a few ££'s of lamp washed off my hat, went in in high water for a "loon about", and when we came out the water was even higher!!! but that was inac**e, so isn't relevant here....

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In a similar vein:

Royal Cornwall Gazette - 3rd May 1850

Accident - Whilst William Cosby was at work in the shaft at Balleswidden mine, on the 29th ult., a piece of half timber, about 3 1/2 feet long, fell a distance of ten fathoms and struck the poor fellow in the head a most violent blow; fortunately he had a hat on at the time, and hopes are entertained that he will recover from the injury he sustained.

jees. A not small piece of timber falls 60' onto his head and they hope he'll be alright? I know he had a "hat" on but this is 1850. Define "hat"... a cap of felt?

His name doesn't appear again in the Archive search, so either he recovered, the archive is incomplete, or his subsequent demise or incapacitation didn't merit a later mention in the Cornish press.

Peter, I believe it could work if when the article is submitted, it is copied and pasted to the documents folder of that mine.
Any other articles not related to any mine, such as improvements to steam engines, or scientific discoveries of the day, could be left on the forum page.

I'm sure that there are may members of AN with archives and historical snippets from publications, which others would find interesting.
The MJ has many reports and interesting letters from all manner of gentlemen of the day, both professional and laymen.

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Yes that would be a workable solution. I'll give it a try later I hope.