Occupations

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Transforming oilshale into a diverse range of products involved the efforts of many different trades and professions. Each played a specific role in a process or activity, and might carry particular status and responsibilities. Some occupations employed skills that were common to other industries and businesses, but other roles were peculiar to the shale oil industry. The terms and titles used to describe a particular job sometimes varied according to location and period, and often a confusing range of names might be attached to what is basically the same job role. These pages outline the more common job titles used within the shale industry, taken mainly from employment records.

Some of the job descriptions provided, particularly for the mining trades, are adapted from the "Directory of Occupational Terms", produced by the Ministry of Labour in 1927.

Main job types - by area

  • Underground workers
      • Bottomer - runs full hutches forward close to cage seat in readiness for descending cage; runs empty tubs into sidings, after being pulled off cage, in readiness for their removal along haulage roads
      • Bratticeman - erects canvas or wooden brattice. i.e., partition in heading, shaft, or gallery used for ventilation, to direct current of air close to working face; outs wooden battens to size, nails together to make framework, nails on brattice cloth; where air pipes are used extends them as working advances
      • Brusher - cuts away thickness of stone in roof, floor, or side of coal working to improve height or gradient of road; may also drill holes for blasting by fireman; builds stone thus obtained into pack walls alongside and parallel to roadways to support overlying strata.
      • Chain runner - a person attending to underground haulage
      • Cleek hunter - supervises movement of tubs on underground roadways, so as to clear shale away from working face
      • Dookheadman - a person working at the dook head (the end of an inclined tunnel?)
      • Drawer -shovels coal into trams or tubs or upon conveyor at coal face; often also draws or pushes trams to haulage road to load and move hutches underground Usually paid by the faceman, often a family member.
      • Greaser - greases axles of wheels of tubs, etc., or rollers or sheaves of haulage apparatus
      • Miner - undertakes working of shale at fixed rate of so much a ton; may employ other men under him, whom he pays himself
      • Oncost worker - a man working underground, not working shale, but paid by the day for general repair work.
      • Pony driver - a person attending horses hauling hutches underground
      • Rope splicer splices and keeps in repair wire ropes used for hauling purposes in and about the mine; (occupatiom code 269).
      • Sinker - an employee or contractor employed to sink new mine shafts
      • Snibbler - inserts lockers, scotches, sprags, or snibbles, into wheels of trams to check speed or to prevent their moving when disconnected from haulage rope at landings, junctions or pit bottom
      • Underground locomotive driver - drives diesel locomotives in shale mines
  • Pithead workers

      • Checkweighman - oversees the interests of the shale miners in accordance with provisions of Section 13 of Coal Mines Act, 1887, by overseeing the weighing of shale by weigher, in hutches; estimates amount of foreign matter or dirt in hutch and sees that only authorised deductions are made; checks tare or weight of hutch itself; makes records in his own weigh book against number and name of miner and agrees weights with weigher.
      • Crowpicker - or "shale inspector" examines hutches when delivered at the pithead and rejects unsuitable material.
      • Engineman; - a person in charge of the winding engine.
      • Fanhouse worker - attends to fans providing underground ventilation
      • Lampman - is in charge of lamproom on surface; inspects, trims, lights and locks, and makes ready miners' safety lamps, and does minor repairs
      • Magazine attendant - issues explosives to miners
      • Pitheadman - weighs tubs of shale on weighing machine as they come up from pit. on behalf of oil company; reads dial of weighing machine, estimates amount of dirt or foreign matter; checks with checkweighman; records name and number of miner, gross weight, tare and weight of dirt, in company's books.
      • Pithead hutch repair man - undertaking minor repairs to hutches at the pithead
      • Pithead runner - a person attending to surface haulage
      • Pithead worker - a general labourer at the pithead
  • Mining officials
      • Deputy -in charge of district or section of seam; is responsible for ventilation; makes reports as to gas, state of roof and sides and general safety; takes temperature and barometer readings; in some cases also sets timber, lays rails, fixes brattices
      • Mining agent - in complete control of technical and commercial affairs of colliery or shale mine and is responsible to directors alone; appoints subordinate superintending staff (occupational code 041)
      • Mining manager - has entire management of colliery or shale mine, and is responsible for observance of Coal Mines Act, 1911, and of general regulations thereunder; must hold first class certificate of competency under the Mines Department and be not less than 25 years of age; must make daily personal supervision of mine and acquire practical experience of all work done
      • Shaftsman - goes down shafts daily on top of cage and examines, visually and by tapping, sides of shaft, shackles, guides, fangs, ropes, etc(occupational code 047)
      • Mining surveyor - takes bearings in mine by means of dial or compass; books all bearings and length of bearing as measured by chain man (occupational code 047)
  • Surface and railway workers
  • Retort and crude oil processing workers
  • Refinery and by-products workers
  • Workshop, trades and estate staff
  • Vehicle and plant operators, and utility workers
  • Support and general workers
  • Administration, clerical, support and sales staff
  • Technical, professional and scientific staff
  • Senior staff
  • Board and senior officials

    • Job titles, listed alphabetically

  • A ....... occupational terms starting with A
  • B ....... occupational terms starting with B
  • C ....... occupational terms starting with C
  • D ....... occupational terms starting with D
  • E ....... occupational terms starting with E
  • F ....... occupational terms starting with F
  • G ....... occupational terms starting with G
  • H ....... occupational terms starting with H
  • I ....... occupational terms starting with I
      • Insurance clerk; - see Clerk
  • J ....... occupational terms starting with J
  • K ....... occupational terms starting with K
  • L ....... occupational terms starting with L
  • M ....... occupational terms starting with M
  • N ....... occupational terms starting with N
  • O ....... occupational terms starting with O
  • P ....... occupational terms starting with P
  • R ....... occupational terms starting with R
  • S ....... occupational terms starting with S
  • T ....... occupational terms starting with T
  • U ....... occupational terms starting with U
  • V ....... occupational terms starting with V
  • W ....... occupational terms starting with W
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