After a short consultation, the jury returned a verdict of “Accidental death” and the foreman handed to the coroner the following presentment:

We desire to express our opinion that here has not been sufficient care exercised in working this mine, and naked lights ought never to have been used and we recommend that for future locked lamps be used in all the Bullhurst and Banbury seams in the district.

The local newspaper commented;

It seems men who have escaped perils, get into the habit of treating them with impunity. Precautions have been taken when they appeared to be unnecessary, and being neglected in consequence, dangers suddenly arise that work terrible mischief. Most of the causalities of life arrive from this cause.

Among the men who have to face and brave death, and associated with who’s labour should be an ever vigilant watchfulness to lessen by needful precautions the dangers that threaten, are the miners.

But the facts connected with the frequent direful catastrophes, which cannot always rightly be called accidents, shows that thousands of lives are lost from easily preventable causes. The Bignall Hill explosion, in North Staffordshire and others, both show the force of the argument.

At the adjourned inquest held in the former case, one witness stated, that he observed gas in the pit; he did not think it was necessary to order the use of safety lamps instead of naked light. The government inspector called the witnesses attention to one of the colliery rules, which directed that when gas was detected in any of the workings, it should be cleared out, and before the men were allowed to work they should be supplied with locked safety lamps until the manager said it was safe to use naked lights.

The witness in reply, said he thought it was not necessary, as there was so little gas. The inspector properly replied that the rule did not say any small, but “any gas”.

It is quite certain that no danger was apprehended, that all responsible managers and underlookers of the mine considered the workings were safe. But the fact that 17 lives were lost proves how treacherously fatal these mere assumptions of safety are.

It is thought that the immediate cause of the accident was the taken of a naked light by the man, Machin, (one of the slain) into the bolt hole where gas had been observed, though he had been told to take his lamp with him and examine it.

 Another comment was:

It would appear as though the year 1874 was determined to be remembered more for the events of the last few days of its life than for the previous eleven months. First we have the colliery explosion at Bignall Hill, which adds another to the long list of mining disasters. From the report of the inquest upon the bodies of the sacrificed breadwinners, it will be apparent that it is the old tale, the constant working with naked lights tempting danger and death, which comes in the shape of an unexpected accumulation of gas, which, catching the exposed light, destroys all within its reach.

 It was admitted in the evidence at the coroner’s inquest that gas was observed, but no effective means were taken to get rid of it, nor were the men stopped working. No doubt gas in small quantities has been observed before, and it would therefore be though a trifling matter that did not call for inconvenient and extreme remedy. It is taking this risk that is the cause why many accidents in mines are not prevented. But is it not time that the prayer of the sturdy advocates of the miners’ rights was granted, and that no pits be allowed to be worked that have not sufficient means of ventilation to prevent the accumulation of gas in dangerous quantities? And besides, their request should be granted that a clause be inserted in the Mines Act, making it imperative on mine owners to have a fire damp indicator fixed in every mine which is worked with naked lights.

Lord Kinnaird lately stated that the objection which the masters had to this, when the Act was under discussion in the House of Lords, was not so much the expense, but the conviction that the men had not gone the pits, if they knew the risks they were running. Wherever mines are worked with naked lights, and the coal is at all liable to give off gas there is an element of danger constantly present.

This explosion, we contend, is one of the preventable calamities, which lie at the door of society, which in this day and in matters such as the regulation of working in mines, is held to be the guardians of its members. The Mines Regulation Act is not perfect yet, and will some day have to be made more comprehensive and stringent, if our hard-working colliers are not to be snatched in a moment away from their families.

Names of the men killed