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On 5th August around lunch hour a mine near the northern town of
Copiapo collapsed with 32 Chileans and 1 Bolivian miners being
trapped in San Jose private mine. Many miners thought that the
survival of those trapped miners will be nothing less than a miracle
as there were high chances of trapped miners ending themselves in
disaster zone if they struggle to come out themselves. After 17 days
the 33 trapped miners were found alive when a note from one the
trapped miner got on surface. The joy of trapped miners family knew
no bounds when this news travelled to their ears, but the issue was
not resolved then, the miners were still in the mine and the
undersecretary of mining Pablo Wagner said that it was a long
procedure to dig a hole deep enough to bring up the trapped miners
and would not take less than 3 months. CODELCO Andina mine
another state owned mine in Los Andes was sending machinery to
San Jose private mine to dig a 2.2 feet wide chimney type hole in
order to bring the trapped miners out as the probe that made
contact with the trapped miners was relatively very narrow. Once
the path through which the trapped miners will be helped to
resurface is made secured, the next focus would be to provide food,
water and medicine. The officials tried to establish a communication
network with the trapped miners and their families in order to boost
their spirit and help them remain composed. The situation was surely
not out of danger due to occurrence of frequent cave-ins. A group of
rescue workers were also blocked due to a fall of a mammoth rock
blocking their route completely and thus the authorities had to
withdraw from their effort as the mine came to an unstable state.

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It is quite valid for a human brain to think of a question that requires

the reasons and causes of the accident.

We always prefer to follow prevention is better than cure and it was

good to experience that Chile government cured the accident and its
victim very professionally but we should focus on the strategies to
avoid those accidents to happen again. As we celebrate the miners
safe and successful return, lets lighten the issue of the safety for
mines in Chile, labour rights and the expected dangers of an export-
oriented development strategy. These are important issues which
must not be ignored at any cost.

"Los 33" was discovered in late August, but Chile government which
is famous for their incredible development pace, a good economic
growth rate and a stable country found their miners after almost 2
weeks. If they would have failed to detect them after 2 weeks the
trapped miners would have died due to lack of technical͛s resources
and that is the worst scenario a country may face.

Many commentators such as international trade unions have

disclosed Chile͛s failure to approve International Labour Organisation
(ILO) principles on health and safety in mines and failure to draw
attention to the aftermath of inappropriate workplace safety
standards across the country. According to the Inter Press Service, in
2009 alone Chile had a total of 191,685 workplace accidents,
including 443 deaths.
Carmon Espinoza, chairman of the Chilean NGO Programa de
Economia del Trabajo (Labour Economy Program) stated in late
august that in Chile job insecurities mean miners "for logical reasons
pay greater attention to keeping their jobs than to work safety".

The San José mine does not have good reputation in these few years
as dozen of lives have been lost in there and hence it has become a
tragedy for any miner working there.

Bélgica Ramírez who is the sister-in-law for one of the trapped

miners, said that workers did try to raise their concerns to the
management but always gets a cold shoulder from the authorities,
"The mine was in precarious condition and they [the miners] always
told the bosses, but the only thing they cared about was production,"
she said.

In early September, a Guardian report displayed that "the dangers

were so well known that locals called its miners 'the kamikazes'." The
owners cannot be left for open breathing as the owner of the San
Jose mine new the risk and hence all his miners were employed on a
salary 30% higher than average, which clearly shows that the job
required extraordinary sacrifices.

Other reporters further argued that factors like rapid economic

growth and emphasizing on an export oriented development
strategy can very much be patterned for being a cause.

Jean Paul Tarud, Chile ambassador in Abu Dhabi told Gulf-News on

an interview that ͞ It was known that the owner of the mine had not
followed safety regulations but that it was the tight legal framework
of Chile which played an important role in saving the miners.

"The inspections had found some tunnels unfit for operation and had
asked the owner to reinforce them before operating them. He
however failed to do so and had sent in the miners, who agreed to
work because they are paid on a day-to day basis," Tarud explained.

"People are not known to survive mining accidents. But the steel-
reinforced shelters that are required by our legal system, and the
supplies of food, water and oxygen in them is what saved these
workers," he added.

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After being trapped underground for more than 2 months the

officials finally announced a day on 10 th of October when the rescue
operation will start. The announcement was made immediately after
engineers completed constructing a 622-metre-deep shaft which will
go straight down through to the emergency shelter where the men
were supposedly sheltered since the August 5 collapse of the gold
and copper mine in northern Chile. Mining Minister Laurence
Golborne told reporters that they are willing to set a start date near
Wednesday for the rescue operation as the shaft needed time to
stabilize. Almost a day and a half would be required to reinforce the
exit shaft encased with 96 meters of steel piping and it would be
done overnight. Apart from that, an additional 48 hours was needed
to setup the metal cage and the complex pulley system for lowering
it to the miners and lifting out one at a time. The shaft was designed
in a way that only one person could fit in and when the shaft will be
brought pulled it would make around ten circles within its axis.

The first group of miners to exit would be those who are physically
fit, followed by a group considered the weakest due to chronic
health problems like high blood pressure or lung ailments, and
ending with another group of the stronger ones, officials said.
According to the authorities if the rescue starts on Wednesday, all
the miners could be expected to be out and reunited with loved ones
by Friday. Trapped miners would be hoisted out one at a time and
the operation may take about 3 to 10 days. The miners at that time
were found to be trapped deep beneath the desert floor after a
partial collapse that blocked the mine exit, surviving longer than
anyone has before under similar situation.

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One of the miner told Reuters that almost every trapped miner was
mentally prepared for death and were just waiting for their last
breath when the authorities found there spot and gave them back a
glimmer of hope.

Yonni Barrios 50 years of age said while fighting back his tears in an
interview taken after all the miners were resurfaced that they were
all trying to figure out the factor that was keeping them alive.

Barrios was the most senior of all being trapped under the gold and
copper mine and was the head of the team being trapped. When
coming out the mine with his fellow miners after 69 days Barrios said
that every miner used to ask him the exact time of help.

Trapped miners after being resurfaced had to go through medical

treatments as the primary health concern for all of them was no sun
exposure for almost 69 days. Barrios told the reporters that he finds
it very difficult wearing shades throughout the daytime as the
sunlight pinches him and makes him feel as if somebody is poking his
eye.

Barrios and his co-workers when asked about the whole incident
they said that they were caught in a cave-in on 5th August and had to
go through a very strict diet for next 17 days and all their hopes were
drowned before being found.

Barrios said that they felt very frustrated deep inside because the
only thing that would killed them was hunger and he found it hard to
believe that starvation would be the cause of their death.

The authorities on the land were also very concerned about them
and they first driller the place just to provide necessary nutrition to
the miners and then their second drill was to pull the miners out.

Barrios said that his co-miners alongside with him didn͛t thought
mercy killing a way to end their pain and everyone fighted till their
last breath and rest as they say everything is destined.

"We never thought about that," said Barrios. "Everybody had

accepted that if we weren't rescued we were going to die. And that if
we had to die, then we had to die, and that was all that remained."

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The miners no longer came out as miners but they became super
heroes who fought for their survival, for their families and for the
world to set up a good example that nothing is impossible and one
shouldn͛t lose hope of their life in any condition. When not on land
they were celebrities and when they showed up to world they
became heroes. They were rewarded with both intrinsic and extrinsic
compensation. Huge signing amount from the media channels for
their exclusive interview, offers from Hollywood, and publishers
offering them to write a book. Their courage and inner strength has
made other mining firms to give out attractive job offers for them.
Government also gave incentives and subsidies to the miners and
their families, miners are given fully paid holidays along with all-
expense paid tour around the world to divert their attention from
their disturbing past.

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Reading the Blog on the Reuters site, Stacy Torres, a PhD student at
New York University, pointed out the lack of safety standards
protecting the workers contributing majorly to Chile͛s success. She
argued that while holding the position as Latin America's economic
powerhouse for the past 20 years but even today Chile continues to
suffer from a high level of income inequality in the world. The
struggle of Chile͛s trapped miners has once again exposed the
human costs of such progress.

Chile is the world's largest producer of copper and is being trusted by

many. Chile͛s 4-5 % growth rate has largely summed up by copper
exports to Europe, United States, China and India. The government
considers Chile as a credible name for a prime investment
destination, and is proud of it as being the only country of Latin
America for achieving such a high economic growth rate.

Chile͛s poverty rate has dropped considerably low from 40% in 1990
to 14-15% but the unequal distribution of income in the country has
barely improved. As per the 2009 UN human development report, of
147 countries unfortunately Chile is the 19th most unequal state in
the world in terms of distribution of the country's wealth. Figures
from the report gives an idea that the richest 10% account for 40% of
Chile's income and expenditures, while the poorest account for only
1.6%. Labour standards and rights are often sidelined by the Chile͛s
economists and they are the fundamental components of human
development.

A 2004 report from the UK's Department for International

Development argued that achieving the improvements in labour
standards is a vital task for any country to sustain competitive
advantage.

Though the ILO has reported that "more than 75% of the global
population do not enjoy a set of social guarantees that allow them to
deal with life's risks", it argues that the promotion not just of work,
but of "decent work" ʹ underpinned by rights and social protections,
including safeguards for income, health and safety ʹ is necessary for
the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (MDG1).

The issues being discussed above is surely sidelined and hence Chile
is struggling to perform hundred percent.

Mining is one of the biggest industry and occupation in Chile in terms

of monetary value as well and thousands of gold, copper, silver,
lithium, iron and magnesium mines are in operation around the
country.

The government after being aware of the media power is now

setting up an inspection team to root out the cause.

The diplomats have also assured the workers that the government
will surely be more careful and efficient for the safety of their
citizens. Inspectors will make sure that the emergency shelters which
played a vital role in the survival of the 33 miners will be
standardized but tunnels which have suffered damages due to
February's 8.8 earthquake and its 237 aftershocks are first deemed
safe before being used again.

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Conclusively, we have learned in our case that Chile is a very

developing nation ignoring the fact that it has a huge income gap.
And we learned how the miners where stuck in the mine for so long
but the government and authorities where successful to retrieve
them with safety. Additionally the main purpose of this report is to
prove the grave importance of occupational health and safety and
how it must be taken in to consideration by both employers and
employees. Every business every organization must place
occupational health and safety on its top priorities as it protects the
most precious asset of a firm, that is its people.