| Allan Wilson:
I join fellow
members in congratulating Helen Eadie on her excellent speech and on lodging
her motion for debate.
Tricia Marwick
asked how we know who we are. I firmly believe that we are all products
of our environment and of our communities. One of the many features that
link the communities of Ayrshire and Fife is our common coal-mining heritage.
As Alex Neil said, we share the pain of disaster and know the true price
of coal.
For the people
of Fife, coal mining is the cornerstone of their heritage and of their
present-day community spirit. The Donibristle colliery disaster of 1901
made an indelible mark on the collective memory of the mining communities
of Fife. Eight men died, leaving seven widows and 15 children. Three hundred
volunteers were prepared to risk their lives in various attempts to rescue
their colleagues. That fact alone bears witness to the spirit of the Fife
mining communities.
As members have
pointed out, that spirit was reflected throughout the Scottish coalfields.
Scotland's industrial might was founded on our coal mines. Today, it is
all too easy to forget the price that was paid for that valuable fuel by
miners in Fife, the Lothians, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.
As Alex Neil
mentioned, the natural hazards of flammable and noxious gases, unstable
ground, fire and inrushes of wet materials have not changed; they are present
in today's mines exactly as they were for the Donibristle miners in 1901.
The Donibristle pit disaster was one incident in mining history that was,
in part, responsible for the continuous improvements in mining health and
safety legislation.
As Marilyn Livingstone
mentioned, other health hazards have recently come to the fore. We now
better appreciate the effects of long-term exposure to vibrating tools
or equipment, particularly hand-arm vibration syndrome and vibration white
finger. The Health and Safety Executive's mines inspectorate is working
with employers to prevent such hazards by changing working practices and
assessing alternative equipment.
Modern mining
health and safety legislation, particularly the Escape and Rescue from
Mines Regulations 1995, draws heavily on the lessons of the past. Those
regulations set out the measures that mine owners and managers must take
so that, in the event of an emergency, those below ground may escape to
safety or be rescued.
Historically,
the development of mining legislation was largely a response to such disasters.
There was no mines rescue service at the time of the Donibristle disaster
or at the time of the Hill of Beath colliery disaster—also in Fife—which
occurred one month earlier. In 1906, a royal commission was established;
its recommendations led to the Coal Mines Act 1911, which made provision
for mines rescue, first aid and a mines inspectorate.
The people of
Fife, however, were not content to wait for the legislators. Scott Barrie
has referred to the establishment in 1910 by the Fife and Clackmannan coal
owners association of the first mines rescue station at Stenhouse Street,
Cowdenbeath. The first superintendent was David Stephenson, a first-aider
from Bowhill colliery. The rescue brigadesmen were trained to use Garforth
breathing apparatus to enable them to travel through irrespirable atmospheres
to save people. No one would now doubt the importance of having well-established
procedures for dealing with emergencies at mines. Indeed, history has shown
that on such occasions a quick and professional response can make the difference
between life and death.
Today, the Scottish
coal industry consists of one deep mine at Longannet employing about 650
people. The Longannet miners recognise the debt of gratitude that they
owe to the men of Donibristle and those thousands of other Scots, Welsh
and English miners who, as has been mentioned, lost their lives through
pit disasters. Not only did they provide Britain with a secure energy supply,
they delivered the stringent mine safety regulatory framework that our
miners enjoy today.
I take on board
the points that have been made about a heritage centre. Too often, local
history is either forgotten or scorned as unimportant. When I researched
this speech, I looked up the words of the war poet Wilfred Owen. He recognised
that failure when he wrote these words:
"The centuries
will burn rich loads
With which
we groaned,
Whose warmth
shall lull their dreaming lids
While songs
are crooned.
But they will
not dream of us poor lads,
Lost in the
ground."
It speaks volumes
for the Dunfermline East community that teachers and pupils alike not only
remember but pay tribute to the men who lost their lives in the Donibristle
pit disaster. I say to John McAllion that I am pleased and proud to send
out appropriate messages to those people. I commend the teachers and pupils
in Cowdenbeath—at Crossgates Primary School and Hill of Beath Primary School—for
their respectful commemoration.
Helen Eadie
has enriched our Parliament with this debate in memory of the brave men
who lost their lives at Donibristle more than 100 years ago. We thank her
for that.
To
read this debate in full, click here
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