Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 23 May 1930
Absenteeism.
Startling Figures for Hickleton Main.
100,000 Shifts A Year Lost.
Mr. John Minnikin, general manager of the Hickleton Main Colliery, has been elected president of the Yorkshire branch of the Colliery Managers’ Association. In his presidential address he raised a number of important questions regarding coal mining practice, and gave some startling statistics of absenteeism in connection with his own colliery.
The subject of absenteeism had, he said, recently been dealt with in an able paper by Dr. Bedson, who set out a number of causes for it, including the distance which men had to travel above and below ground, the length of shifts, the high temperature of mines, and so forth.
Recently he (Mr. Minnikin) got out a few statistics relating to absenteeism at the Hickleton Main Colliery for the year 1929.
During that year the pit worked 285 days, an average of 4.7 shifts per week.
The number of shifts lost was 100,538, and this figure was distributed as follows:
Colliers, 55,455; daymen, 11,215; contractors, 9,190; haulage, 14,592; surface, 10,036.
The value of the wages lost was £59,195 18s. 9d or deducting ten per cent. for illness, accident and other causes of unavoidable absenteeism £53,376 7s.
These figures were astounding. The colliery employed 3,500 men and boys and the figures showed an average of 28 days in a year of lost time for each person employed, and a loss of wages of £16 per head. They represented also a loss of 193,000 tons of output and a consequent increase in the cost of production. Whet was the reason for this serious loss? There was a time when there was very little absenteeism, when wages were lower, and when those who did occasionally lose shifts were regarded by their mates as lazy. He (the speaker) was afraid that the dole was a factor in the hours of absenteeism.
Another serious matter calling for attention was that of physique. Recently in the House of Commons, it was stated that of 72,268 men presenting themselves for enlistment in the Army, only 39 per cent. were accepted. Was there a general deterioration in physique? Much hard work formerly done by hand was now done by machine. Colliery work was certainly not more arduous to-day than it was 25 years ago. That was undoubtedly true with regard to haulage and surface work; and yet men employed on that work at his colliery lost over 24,000 shifts last year.
The Army medical figures he had quoted seemed to suggest that a large number of men employed in and about the mines would probably be rejected for railway work. There were two matters which were of grave concern to the employer; the loss of output and increase of cost due to the employment of C 3 or C 4 men, and the increased liabilities of accidents.
With regard to the latter point, plight injuries had sometimes serious results in the case of men of low physique involving heavy costs of compensation, whereas in the case of fit men there was no ill effect at all, Then there was the rather high proportion of avoidable accidents, fatal and otherwise, involving me n who, though experienced in their work—usually repair work—did not take due precaution., and sometimes took unnecessary risks which were not required of them.