The high-profile rescue has focused attention on Chile’s many small and dangerous mines
An amazing story of hope and heroism, few events in recent history have created such a media frenzy as the rescue of 33 Chilean copper miners after 69 days trapped more than 700 metres underground.
As the events unfolded, Laurence Golborne, the country’s mining minister, expressed outrage upon learning that the emergency ladder, which every mine in Chile is supposed to have, did not exist. “That evacuation exit was clear for 48 hours after the accident, and the miners could have escaped if the ladder had been fully in place,” he said.
A new national focus on mine safety has since emerged, with the government of the right-wing president, Sebastian Pinera, vowing to overhaul the country’s labour safety regulations. He has pledged to increase funding for oversight and laws to protect whistleblowers. Mining regulators, for example, staff a paltry 18 inspectors for an industry with more than 1,000 private mines.
Standards enforcement
Some observers say Chile already has one of the strictest mining safety standards in the world, especially in large mining operations where there are specific codes and dedicated regulatory agencies. Rather, the problem tends towards proper enforcement in small and medium-sized mines that saw – according to official figures – 23 of 35 deaths from accidents in 2009, while accounting for only a fifth of the industry’s workforce.
Testifying before an investigatory committee looking into the San José mine collapse, however, the director of the state regulatory agency, Mariano Gajardo, estimated that in fact 90% of ores mined do not meet the minimum safety conditions. “We have a political and economic problem to solve,” he said.
Even ranking Chile’s safety record in comparison to other developing countries with similarly oversized extractive industries is a hugely difficult task, owing to underreporting and risk factors associated with varying geological conditions. Trade unions, for example, claim there were 443 deaths in 2009, a huge disparity from official statistics reported by the Chilean government.
“President Pinera has publicly committed himself to passing ILO 176 but we are concerned given his pro-business political beliefs,” says Joe Drexler of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy Mine and General Workers’ Unions.
Drexler says the ratification of the International Labour Organisation’s 176 convention on safety and health in mines would be the best way for the country’s political leaders to demonstrate their commitment to improving mine labour conditions.
The convention, which has been ratified by just 24 countries – in Latin America, only Brazil and Peru have signed – requires states to legislate on safety in mines and to enforce regulations of the kind that were flouted in the San José mine, such as the requirement of two escape routes.
Implicit in all ILO conventions is recognition of union constituencies, which the business community and state have fiercely opposed. In 2009, just 12.5% of the workforce in Chile was unionised, according to official statistics, far below the average of the industrialised countries grouped in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which Chile joined this year.
If a worker is in a mine where proper safety conditions are not in place, under the ILO convention he can automatically report the situation and stop working, and he would be protected, Drexler says. Do that now and miners in Chile say you would most probably be fired.