The Chilean mining accident
The recent 2010 Copiapó mining accident, to us known as the Chilean mining accident began on 5th of August 2010 as a large collapse at the San José copper-gold mine in the Atacama Desert. During the collapse there were thirty three men inside the mine; trapped 700 meters underground; five kilometers from the entrance. It is not surprising that the public thought that the miners would not have survived the collapse or starve to death. Thou it sounds like there is no escape, the miners survived underground for a record of sixty nine days.
The mine that collapse had a history of instability that had caused previous accidents, including death. Chile has a long tradition of mining, during the 20th century they made it as the world top producer of copper. According to a review of data collected by the state regulatory agency (Sernageomin data), since the year 2000, it is found out that there is an average of 34 deaths every year due to mining activity in Chile, with a peak of 48 in the year 2008. (Ethiraj, 2010)
More to the accident, when the collapse occurred there were two groups of miners. A dust cloud rose during the collapse, causing enduring eye irritation; blinding the miners for six hours. A first group of miners were near the entrance of the mine and escaped straight away without incident. The main group of thirty three miners was deep inside the mine—that consist of local workers and some subcontracted employees from a different company; who was unfortunate because they would not normally have been with them (Ethiraj, 2010).
The Company Background
The mine is owned by Empresa Minera San Esteban, a company notorious for having a poor safety record and suffered a series of accident, with s...
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...rtrie, C. (2010, August 24). Aussie drill expert called to Chile mine rescue. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from ABC News: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/24/2991575.htm?section=world
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Ross, L. (2010, October 13). Tears of joy as Chile miners complete their great escape. Retrieved April 7, 2011, from London Evening Standard: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23887231-tears-of-joy-as-chile-miners-are-finally-rescued.do
Yang, J. (2010, October 10). From collapse to rescue: Inside the Chile mine disaster. Retrieved April 7, 2010, from TheStar: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/chile/article/873382--from-collapse-to-rescue-inside-the-chile-mine-disaster
...teenth century in South America. His articulation of the disastrous and catastrophic event was detailed, strong, and emotionally invoking. It compelled me to think about how things could have been. What if the viceroy had fully succeeded? What if he had never tried to change Lima’s political, social, or architectural structure? And how might that have affected such a cultural epicenter of that time period? He gives the audience an opportunity to nearly relive the event, but also experience a part of the event aside from the natural disasters that were just as effective to the people of Lima, their future, and the future of their city.
Due to political aspirations, government bureaucracy, and greed 111 men lost their lives and devastated the lives of loved ones and a community. While, I believe that it was collection of people who is to blame for the explosion one person who could have really avoided this situation was Robert M. Medill and his assistant Robert Weir. Robert Medill, Director of the Illinois of Bureau of Mines and Minerals, was a man filled with greed and power and did nearly nothing to fix the hazardous condition in Centralia. Medill department were very aware of the dangerous conditions at the mine but ignored requests to correct violations. Instead, Medill and Weir’s handling of the inspection reports and other communications were not conducive to clearing
On the fateful and unforgettable afternoon of June 17, 1972 Hotel Vendome experienced yet another fire. Actually it experienced several fires in different locations on this date. Electricians working on the first floor reported smoke coming from the upper floors, and a bartender reported smoke in the basement. All occupants in the basement café were safely escorted out, and 3 engine companies, 2 ladder companies, and 1 District Chief arrived on scene noticing ...
...plete report. Before this was done the mine blew up. In the end, the news story that broke was focused on union campaign contributions and not on mine safety.
On March 25, 1947, the Centralia no. 5 mine in Illinois exploded, claiming 111 lives (Martin, 31, 42). The apparent cause was determined to be inadequate mine maintenance by the operator—coal dust had built up on the floor and walls of the mine, creating conditions conducive to a chain reaction of explosions that would kill most of the workers inside of the mine. However, this was not the root cause of the disaster; it was the outcome of a systemic failure within the state government of Illinois. Despite the continuous warnings of a state mining inspector and a chain of notice letters sent from the Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals notifying the mine operator—the Centralia Coal Company—of the dangerous conditions in its mine, the disaster was not averted. The disaster occurred because both the mine operator and the Department itself dismissed the inspector’s warnings. The real, indispensable culprit of the disaster at Centralia no. 5 was political interference within the Department and the failure to conduct independent oversight over it. These failures are near universally applicable to national security organizations and their less...
The chat wasn’t the only lasting result of the mining; left in this corner of Oklahoma was also 300 miles of mining tunnels (5). These tunnels were created by a method known as room-and-pillar (1). Large rooms were mined to get access to the desired minerals, and only pillars are left so the mine won’t collapse.... ... middle of paper ...
Meshkati, Najmedin. "Human Factors in Large-Scale Technological Systems' Accidents: Three Mile Island, Bhopal, Chernobyl." Industrial Crisis Quarterly 5 (1991): 131-54. Personal World Wide Web Pages. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. .
One of the biggest problems with working in a mine is the the health risks you are taking when stepping into a mine and staying there anywhere from 10-16 hours of the day. Miners of the Gilded Age, needless to say, did not live very long at all. Some of the diseases they contracted were black lung, Silicosis, and COPD. Coal Miner’s Pneumoconiosis, more commonly referred to as Black Lung, is caused by inhaling respirable coal mine dust. Silicosis is a more specific, but yet still commonly found in coal miners, version of Black Lung caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica, such as Quartz, a major component in rocks. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD, is still common today in people who don’t even work in mines. COPD is a progressive disease that increases airway
The excitement for mining and excavating for minerals was sparked in prospectors and people looking for an easy way of profit in the 60’s.This second gold rush of speaks, despite most of the minerals they were after was more on the lines of copper, nickel, iron and the like, brought high hopes of those wanting to get rich fast. Though thousands had hope in making money from mining on their own, many excavators found little gold on their own efforts. Most needed to actually find work in mines. But, they almost got something even better. The v...
On January 12, 2010, while vacationing in Santo Domingo, DR. Tragedy hit and my strong foundation no longer stood. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 shook and uprooted homes, places of business and my sense of peace. After hearing news of the earthquake, I rush to Port-au-Prince to check on my family. I was reassured that my family was secured and had no life threatening injuries, but the same was not said to my grandparent’s neighbor. Their neighbor suffered from a head injury and deep laceratio...
"The Great Quake: 1906-2006 / Rising from the Ashes." SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.
El Salvador, 6 April 1992--Three siblings died near the Guazapa volcano last weekend when they stepped on a mine planted during the period of civil warfare. Ironically, their parents had returned to the area only a few days earlier. The children were four, six and eight years old. Parts from the three children's bodies were found as far as 30 metres from the explosion site. (qtd. in Grant 25)
The accidents involving machinery kill and/or hurt more coal miners in a year than any other mining accident. The machinery in mines are located in cramped spaces with little light, causing miners to have two times the chance of accidents. The accidents involving roof and rib failures can usually be averted if a mining company has a roof support plan. For a roof support plan to be made, information like entry widths, mine geometry, the number of pillars that must be left up right, and the number of bolts that must be used are needed (Cobb 3 of 5) Accumulations of gases in underground coal mines is another very serious hazard. If certain gases like methane and carbon monoxide are at or above 5% in the air they can cause violent explosions. Blasting in coal mines are the main cause for such dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
Nearly three decades ago, the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal India had a devastated tragedy. The toxic chemical and methyl isocyanate gas leak from the plant killed thousands of civilians who were sleeping and injured hundreds of thousands of people in the nearby neighborhood. For those who survived from this catastrophic incident had injuries ranging from blindness to suffering burns of the skins. The cause of this accident was due to the lack of safety standards and the decision making of Management of Union Carbide in the U.S and management in India in which it played a huge role on how this incident unfold and the many lives that were affected by this horrific accident. The Union Carbide manager in India’s overlooked at safety issues that could have clued them to the problem that needed to be resolved. And if management had a high priority for the safety of their employee’s well-being instead of profit, this situation could have been avoided. After the incident, it was a matter of who was responsible and who will compensate for the injured victims.
Warhurst, A. (1999). Mining and the environment: case studies from the Americas. Ottawa, ON, Canada: International Development Research Centre.