This is a list of the persons mentioned in two accident books relating to the Royal Ordnance Factory, Radway Green.
ROF Radway Green was built in early 1940 to produce ammunition for the British Army, a task which it still carries out today as part of the BAe Systems group.
Careful examination of the original of the official photograph above, taken during the building of the factory, shows machinery already installed ready for production to start, even before the roof and walls were finished. Britain needed ammunition badly.
It was the women of the country who provided it.
The workforce for Radway Green numbered many thousands, and they lived all over the area. The site is on the southern edge of Cheshire, very close to the Staffordshire border. Many of the workers from further afield lived in a specially built hostel in Alsager; others would lodge with local families. Women are likely to have been sent to Radway Green from other parts of the country to do "war work".
The accident books are just two of those which came to light recently during a clear-out in the old Administration Block. They cover the periods 21 February 1944 to 26 March 1944 and 7 May 1944 to 19 June 1944. These books and many other records have now been handed over to the National Archives.
The original books contain the following headings:-
Full name, Address and Occupation of Injured Workman
Signature of Injured Workman or other person making this Entry
Date when Entry made
Date of Accident
Room or Place where Accident happened
Cause and Nature of Injury
The accident books contain details of persons who may still be alive, so I am unable to make the full details publicly available. This list contains only the first and last names of the injured party, and the township where the casualty lived (where known). The original book normally gives a full postal address, and the time of the accident is usually shown - the factory worked day and night.
The injuries mentioned here are almost entirely of a nature we would describe as minor. In most workplaces today they would probably go unreported, but when you are dealing with explosives, a graze to an ankle might become contaminated, with serious consequences for health.
Many of the persons are mentioned more than once - these people did a dangerous job in a dangerous place. Some of the entries probably relate to the same person, but the address is different, or one entry gives only an initial for the first name. There may well be errors in my transcription - the original was handwritten.
If you believe that one of your relatives, or even yourself, is mentioned, I would be happy to send the images of the relevant pages by email. Please contact me at andrewalston(at)hotmail.com. Note that the records are only for personal use and not for publication without the permission of the National Archives.