“You'll Be Fired if You Refuse” - Human Rights Watch

empowered to refuse to continue working in unsafe places—and managers could even face
sanctions for reckless action (for more detail, see text box below on “Best Practices”).
An underground miner at NFCA, who was involved in a 2009 accident, described his
experiences with management regarding safety:
We’ve tried to advise [the Chinese management], to teach them issues of
safety, but they don’t understand. They say, “Speak about safety, stop
working—you’re dismissed.” How do you live like this? … They force us to
work in unsafe places. As the PIC [person-in-charge], I will say “This is unsafe,
we should not go ahead.” But the Chinese boss will say, “No, go work,” and
threaten to dismiss me. If you don’t go along, you don’t keep your job. 164
A boom operator at NFCA, in charge of dynamite blasting, blamed both the Zambian and
Chinese bosses and explained a recent injury he’d seen as a result of a rock fall:
If there’s an unsafe place, both the Zambian and Chinese bosses will tell
you to go work there anyways…. If it’s a Zambian boss, he says he’ll go tell
the Chinese boss that you refused to work even though he said it was safe.
If it’s the Chinese boss, they just don’t care. They’ll say, “No work, job is
finished, job is finished”—which means you’re fired.
Rockfalls are quite common at NFCA, and a lot of it is because we work in
unstable situations. I’ve been involved in an accident in which my arm was
fractured…. Another guy in my group spent three months in the hospital in
2011 after a rock fall badly dislocated his finger…. And when these
accidents happen, the mine captains are careless. We now at least have
first aid boxes underground, but the materials are not okay. The mine
captains don’t check to see what’s missing. So we go underground,
someone gets hurt, and they realize that not all of the first aid materials are
there. Safety just isn’t a priority…. Mine captains are a mix of Chinese and
Zambian, but it is really only the Chinese who are true captains. 165
Human Rights Watch spoke with at least a dozen miners who had suffered serious
illnesses or had been injured or witnessed injuries during accidents at NFCA between 2009
and 2011; illnesses and injuries ranged from lung problems, to crushed fingers and broken
164 Human Rights Watch interview with a PIC at NFCA, Chambishi, July 16, 2011.
165 Human Rights Watch interview with underground boomer operator C, Chambishi, July 16, 2011.
55 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011