Although the element of risk was greatly reduced by implementing strict safety rules along with constant monitoring of the huts, working with explosives could be extremely dangerous.  To reduce the potential for disaster, the huts were strategically placed a distance away from each other, surrounded by earthen hills to reduce the force of the blast. 

Safety checks were carried out before employees entered the huts to ensure that they didn’t have matches or anything else in their possession which could potentially cause an explosion.  Those found with matches could find themselves brought before the magistrates at Kilmarnock Court.  Depending upon how many times they were charged, most were let off with a warning.

However, those stupid enough to arrive at work drunk at either Nobel’s factory (later ICI) in Stevenston or H.M. Royal Ordnance explosives factory in Irvine were treated more harshly.  In 1918 George Wilson, who worked at the Royal Ordnance Factory, was given a six months prison sentence for being drunk at work and having matches, alcohol and nitro cellulose in his possession.

The rigid enforcement of safety rules can be seen in the low death toll of 31 people between the inception of the factory in 1871 and 1913.  The worst disaster in those years occurred on 08 May 1884 when ten girls were killed and four others injured, when the dynamite in one of the huts where four girls were making cartridges exploded.  The fire spread to three other huts.  A poem written by Margaret Park records the names of the ten girls who died.

On Monday 10th March 1913, at 11.10am, a gigantic column of black smoke shot up from the factory, then spread outwards like a mushroom.  The explosion could be heard as far away as Kilmarnock and Lanarkshire.  In nearby Irvine the shock of the blast caused many windows to shatter.  At Irvine Grammar School, the windows facing the factory were all destroyed by the force of the blast.  Thankfully, the children were not in the classrooms at the time.

For the townspeople of Stevenston and Saltcoats, everything stilled.  Fearing the worst and hoping for the best, a throng of frightened people began to make their way to the factory gates, composed mostly of women, the mothers and wives of the men and girls working at the factory.  Not allowed past the factory gates, here the crowd waited with bated breath for news.

As they waited hours for news, a special train arrived at Nobel’s to take the wounded to hospitals in Glasgow.  Eventually the general manager of Nobel’s, Colonel Sir Frederic Nathan provided the waiting crowd with the news they were waiting for.

“At 11.10am, an explosion occurred in one of the huts at Nobel’s factory, used for drying gun cotton.  The fire spread to three other huts, all of which were destroyed.  Six men had been killed and ten others injured.” 

The names of the dead were:

•            Alexander McCubbin (37), married, from Townhead, Stevenston

•            George Heron Watt (35), married, from Byres Road, Kilwinning

•            Alexander Brown (42), married, from Dynamite Road, Stevenston

•            Adam Houliston (40), married, from Parkend Road, Saltcoats

•            Robert Orr (21), unmarried, from Sharphill Road, Saltcoats

•            John Borland Scott (27), married, from Stanley Road, Saltcoats.

Of the ten men taken to the infirmary, Charles Millar McMurtrie (32) of Kilbirnie later died from his injuries.

During World War Two censorship meant that information about explosions occurring at the factory were not recorded in the newspapers.  They simply state that an explosion occurred in a Northern Explosives factory.  Only the death intimations provide an indicator of how serious the explosion was.