An account of the early history coal-dust explosionsin the United Kingdom indicates how the pioneering investigatorsdeveloped methods of analysing these disasters as early as 1886.The logic of their conclusions was not readily accepted, but theirwork led to the development of coal-dust research facilities in theUnited Kingdom and later worldwide. The progress of legislationto bring the hazard under control is traced: the early legislation,however, produced poor results and coal-dust explosionscontinued in the United Kingdom after the nationalization of thecoal industry. The work of the working party set up by the CoalIndustry National Consultative Council in 1959 is reviewed; itsfinal report, produced in 1967, appears to have been a turning-point in the United Kingdom experience of coal-dust explosions.An examination of coal-dust explosions in recent years inGermany, the U.S.A., Australia and southern and South Africademonstrates the continuing reluctance of coal-mining industriesworldwide to accept the importance of coal dust as a fuel for mineexplosions. Some of the actions that are necessary if coal-dustexplosions are to be avoided in future are listed.
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