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Small‐scale technologies and E uropean coal mine safety, 1850–1900
Author(s) -
Murray John E.,
Silvestre Javier
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/ehr.12080
Subject(s) - electrification , emerging technologies , scale (ratio) , coal mining , business , government (linguistics) , variety (cybernetics) , coal , forensic engineering , environmental economics , environmental science , engineering , waste management , computer science , economics , geography , electricity , linguistics , philosophy , cartography , artificial intelligence , electrical engineering
This article considers new technologies and fatal accident rates in E uropean coal mining from 1850 to 1900. Its contributions are twofold: to recover and emphasize improvements in small‐scale mine technologies such as safety lamps and ventilation, and, second, to deny any role at this time for later macroinventions such as electrification and mechanization. We discuss the influence of these safety‐improving technologies as well as government regulations on different kinds of fatal accident rates. It is proposed that an important and overlooked source of the reduction in fatalities from certain kinds of accidents was the introduction and diffusion of a variety of safety‐related technologies, none of particularly large scale.