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National Association of colliery ManagersNorth Staffs Branch Aug 1964

Presidential Address by R. Boote

IntroductionIt is not unusual, in a presidential address, to review the coal industry

of the past, and of the present, with its ever increasing problems; and to contemplate upon its future.

Some 38 years ago, an event occurred in the mining industry which bred bitter memories to all who took part in it .May Day 1926 marked the beginning of a stoppage of work in the coalfields that was to last over six months. This following the report of the Samuel commission set up to investigate the coal industry, as it was then, and to make or suggest plans for its future. This report among other matters stated that 75% of the coal was being produced at a loss, were it not for the government subsidy which it was receiving. Despite this, it recommended that this subsidy should be stopped. The commission listened to miners union’s complaints of inefficiency, and wasteful methods of production, distribution and marketing, and then went on to recommend a drop in wages of all in the industry, to save it from disaster. This the miners refused to consider. The government of the time, despite the miners being backed up by a General Strike, failed to affect any compromise, and the strike dragged on week after week. The outcome was eventually, the surrender of the miners, on the owner’s terms of longer hours and shorter pay. As the years have passed by and particularly since Nationalization in 1947, the victimization or persecution complex has slowly died down although it still exists here and there, despite gradually increasing pay and better working conditions.Even so, the miners could not have reached the state today where they are amongst the best paid workers without shedding their unpleasant memories on the way.

As far as the industry is concerned, on looking back we find that production improved from Nationalisation in 1947 to 1955 to 232 million tons but since 1957 to the present time, the increasing competition of oil and other fuels has become very real. In fact in 1959 we had dropped to 190 million ton sales, whilst the sale of oil alone rose to 17 million tons per annum.

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Output contraction in this industry could be dangerous as in an industry like ours, geared to a certain size, i.e. 200 million tons per-annum ,there are fixed overhead charges which cannot be reduced and which must be carried, and do not vary with production figures.At 200 million tons per annum these costs are around 22/6d. per ton At 180 million these would be 25/-d. whilst at 150 million tons they would increase to 30/-d. per ton

Here in a nutshell lies the danger of contraction. If the price of coal went up again, orders would be lost, so, if prices increase, more contraction, and fixed charges cost more per ton, and so on, in a vicious circle. The success of the Chairman and the Board, with management and all in the industry, has been such, that wage costs have been held to the 1956 level, whilst average weekly earnings have increased by over 2 pounds per week

To maintain the progress we had up to the end of 1963 will not be easy, but if we, by combined effort, and eliminating waste, both in materials and unproductive manpower, continue to improve, if not spectacularly, then there will be good future prospects for all in the industry.

With these thoughts in mind, I am led to reflect on the work of the Colliery Manager, his daily task, and generalize on industrial relations:-

In mining operations, all types of people, Managers, Officials, Workpeople, etc, all enter into various kinds of relationships with each other – work relations, social relations, family relations, and so we come inevitably to industrial relations, which are but a part of the total relationship to each other. In industry our technical and other relationships develop from time to time into conflicts which need to be resolved with out delay. As far as present day techniques are concerned, strong management is needed to interpret and carry out the Boards policies, and this requires a willing and loyal response to leadership. Also the various trade unions are needed, and their strength, as does management, lies in correct carrying out of policy at all levels, and having response to good leadership. The job of industrial relations then, is to establish relations between all people in the industry so that maximum results are achieved with a minimum of conflict.

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Another important point is that any management team however good, faces an impossible task if it has to negotiate with too many unions on the same problem.

Better industrial relations in the industry could also be achieved by a more rational system of wage payments, particularly if it was applied to the piece work wage structure.

In numerous cases we have another aspect of industrial relations such as between workmen in the same team, or workmen and officials. It is well known that one man can upset many in a team, for no good reason except that he is fond of “rabble-rousing”.

Then we come to those people who are so fond of setting out the moral and other attributes that the manager should have, in order to deal adequately with the endless problems he has to face daily

These recommended attributes that the Manager should have, add un to a type of man we wouldn’t recognize – in fact. A person, who, 24 hours a day is always patient – kind – sympathetic, always willing to listen and discuss, never gets tired, never gets worried or exasperated, and in fact pleases everybody – those above him and those below him, all of the time – such a man does not exist, in any case if he did, he wouldn’t be a Colliery Manager.

The task which has to be faced is not that of reforming the management, although wrong attitudes will most likely cause trouble, it is the task of dealing with the sometimes impossible conditions in which he or they have to operate.One example is where the piece work rate involves endless arguments and rows between officials and workmen, in fact at some pits; a large part of the Manager’s time is occupied with day to day wage arguments.

The answer is to rationalize the whole wages structure into an up-to-date, and down to earth system, which everybody – workmen and officials alike, clearly understand and operate.

There is an acute need for complete understanding at all levels of wage agreements, such as divisional power loading agreements, a need for attention to administrative detail, so that the contents and nature of wage agreements are set out so simply, that the various misinterpretations and misapplications of these agreements cannot occur. This alone will do much to improve relations at pit level.

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Even so, if a Manager achieved the best in these matters it does not follow that his pit would be perfect, because there are so many factors over which he has no control.

Safety I will now move on for a few minutes on the perennial subject of

safety and accidents.Mining men usually claim that mining is the most dangerous

occupation of all, and sometimes try to justify that as the main reason for the worst accident rate, despite improvements over the years, of any of the large industries.

The general trend over the years has been in the direction of greater safety. But mining men generally and Colliery Managers in particular, are more than disappointed that the greatest safety drive ever undertaken, “The National Safety Year”, was almost a flop.

In the West Midlands the accident rate showed no improvement at all, in fact the fatalities increased

( I do not intend to quote reams of figures tonight) The President of the N.U.M . at a recent conference stated that there was not much point in securing wage increases if the accident rate was not going to be reduced. Management was not omitted in his criticism in that it had not always supplied proper safety precautions. This only obscures the issue, as the management is always keen to discuss safety within its organization and to put any necessary improvements into operation.

Accidents of even trivial kinds cause delay and cost a lot of money. In many cases cost is a heavy item to say nothing of losses in output, pain and suffering, and upsets to family life.

A lot of the blame lies at the door of men who fail to take ordinary precautions or to exercise ordinary common sense –and who deliberately take unnecessary risks.

A better standard of safety is good business, as high efficiency just is not possible with a high accident rate.

An important point to note is the different accident patterns which are emerging following the great increase in mechanized mining. The big powerful coal getting machines now being increasingly used at the coal face together with the mechanization of roof supports have far greater accident potential, than ever the old hand filled faces had – if wrongly or carelessly used. The fact remains that with correct training of personal who are to use and operate them, then accidents ought to be reduced.

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So we come to few factors bearing on safety and productivity:-In addition to achieving greater competence, by proper training,

amongst the workmen, wherever employed – whether face, elsewhere underground or surface, we need a higher standard of personal discipline and behavior.

We have, of course other vital factors to attend to them are:-1. A good standard of planning of layouts, and organization;2. Good leadership by example, and a ready and loyal acceptance

of responsibility by officials at all levels;3. A good standard of workmanship from disciplined men who

have been provided with the best possible working conditions and servicing – thus ensuring a decent standard of remuneration of their work.

Where the planning and organization is defective, we usually high rate of get a high rate of absenteeism amongst the workmen and (not least by any means) amongst the under officials.

We get complaints about shortage of essential supplies, particularly on the coal faces, which soon leads to poor work standards. Face men expose themselves to greater risks, due to, on, occasions, insufficient support and the temptation to draw waste side supports in a slovenly and furtive ( to them the quickest ) manner.

Work left incomplete from the previous shift due to absenteeism or breakdown, is a frequent cause of accidents, as odd men are brought in to complete the work and they are not conversant, nor is their effort the same as the regular men on the job. Also in many cases odd men are called to work under difficult conditions due to work getting behind and off cycle.

Classic examples of these are ripping, packing, caving and stowing, often clashing or overlapping on the production shifts. All this obviously increases the accident potential.

Lack of foresight in development work , added to which is often a constant chasing after essential supplies and equipment from the departments set up to service the collieries, often leads to new faces having to be put into production before they are ready, resulting in continuous trouble, accidents and poor results for a long time. Often, essential installations, like good coal clearance, materials transport systems and the like are often neglected or only half done, and the result is semi-chaos. Hence the officials put in charge lose face, as far as discipline is concerned and play off on the least excuse adding further to the troubles of the already overburdened Colliery Manager.

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Bad work on the faces, whether face side or waste side leads inevitably to bad roof conditions, and bad faces, resulting in lost output, unsatisfactory working conditions and of course, poorer wages and unsettled workmen.

Faces get off cycle, absenteeism is high and men stay away from work on the least excuse when the face conditions are rough, often booking an accident as the cause when none occurred.

Lack of leadership and sense of responsibility on the part of the officials, allows workmen to adopt slovenly practices and to ignore safety instructions, and to go slow if price agreements do not fit in with their idea of what they think they should be earning, maliciously or carelessly losing supports or damage to machinery. They tend to leave off early their work uncompleted, and are slow or late in starting.

Where lack of supervision and discipline prevails, men place their own degree of priority on the jobs to be done, leaving the most urgent jobs for “the other shift”.

In the absence of leadership, men tend to please themselves and a large proportion of them tend to work the easiest, idlest, slovenliest and certainly not the safest way.

This could be the yardstick to use on at least half of the fatal and reportable accidents, and not to call it, - as is common, lack of care and attention – lack of ordinary common sense is nearer the truth.

Summarizing all this, it might be said, that in the Mining Industry, where danger is always with us, the possibility of accidents, arising from absentmindedness – neglectfulness – misbehavior – and foolhardiness, are probably greater than in any other industry, and many of the risks taken in day to day mining operations are quiet unnecessary, and are a major cause of the high accident rate among mineworkers.

The remedy for this may be found in getting over to all workmen, and officials, that better standards of human behavior whether walking, or working at the daily task is essential, before we can hope for any substantial improvement in the accident rate.

If by better training, and education, particularly directed to the job a man is called upon to do, we can instill into the consciousness of every man in the industry good safety habits that he will not forget, and will last him his lifetime, then the reward is such that lives are saved, injuries prevented and a far safer industry to work in.

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This leads me to contemplate the task of the Safety Officers at the collieries, and now, the Safety Engineers being presently appointed must as far as possible be carefully chosen for their position. With the best type of men in these jobs the work of preventing accidents is already half done. He should be fully aware of all development programs and the like, and should know beforehand of the next type of machine or system to be installed and take an active part in the safety aspect and requirements of all new face developments, in addition to all the rest of the pit. And finally – all management must take a keen interest in all matters of safety, and endeavor to make every workman safety minded. Maintain adequate supervision with the right type of official who can command respect and get work done, paid for fairly, and run their districts without fear or favour.

All these matters discussed are bound to bring down the accident rate and make the pits safer to work in.

Finally, the Chief Inspector of Mines said, that one of the main difficulties lies in getting down to the people doing the job, the people who are most likely to get hurt. It has been said often, that “common sense is not so common” and this certainly applies in mining, or we shouldn’t have so many silly accidents. After all, safety consciousness is developed from experience, training and intelligence, which, when acquired, produces in an individual an almost sixth sense which tells him to avoid accident potential situations.

Finally it is worth having another look at our massive safety organization, from Headquarters down the line, which has not much to show for its activities. Perhaps a lot less form filling, reports, returns and the like – and a lot more pit work, in other words, get down to the real problem of accident prevention – on the job. I am certain this would pay good dividends.

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Now, just a few words on our production possibilities in the future. It is common knowledge that, due to the wise policy of the Board, backed up by a loyal Management team, we produced 196 million tons, and disposed of 201 million tons in 1963, the highest since 1957. This – with 27000 fewer men employed.

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Old uneconomic pits were closed, and men transferred (and officials) to other areas and to more efficient and reconstructed pits. Production has been concentrated on fewer collieries and fewer coal faces. The average daily output, per production face. Has risen from 313 tons in 1962 to 350 tons in 1963, and this improved productivity has helped reduced costs, so that 1963 broke through the “red” barrier and into the “black”. Admitted it was only just over a penny a ton, but it was a start. We need much higher efficiency in 1964 and future years if the Board is to attain the position of ploughing back capital instead of working on borrowed money with the tremendous interest payments involved. This is not going to be done without the maximum effort, our full co-operation. And all our skill and driving force, if this efficiency is to be obtained, to enable the industry to hold its own against the increasingly fierce competition of alternative fuels such as oil and imported gas.

A very important factor will be the more efficient deployment of manpower, and to increase cheaply produced marginal output. Every man must be employed where he can be relatively most productive. Schemes are going ahead to eliminate manpower particularly in handling materials which are usually the most wasteful and drudging jobs in the industry.

Other factors will be a still further reduction in the number of faces, and these will have to be far more efficient than the average today, despite our present improvements. Far greater machine operating time will have to be obtained, when we consider that most power loading machines are at present operating (and producing) less than four hours out of the 24. More man riding must be used to give increased time at the coal face. Another place which is most wasteful of manpower is at the road-head stables. If these can be properly mechanized – or better still, eliminated altogether then the face efficiency could be improved as much as 40%, for it is well known, that on most Power Loaded faces there are nearly as many men employed in stables as all the rest of the power loading operations. There are many other instances, which need not be repeated, such as sequence control of belts, automated roof supports and the like, which will all improve efficiency

On this occasion I am fortunate in not being exposed to (like the parson) a host of awkward questions.

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If I have been controversial on any matters it is simply to renew your thoughts on the many general problems and daily managerial problems with which we are all confronted, in the task of securing our industry’s future.

Thank you Gentlemen, for your attention and patience in listening to me.

A careers visit to Sneyd colliery in 1950Photo and presentation donated by Matthew Boote

Grandson of Richard (Dicky) Boote