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

limbs, to death. A miner who witnessed a 2009 fatality and suffered from his own health
complications from what he believes were bad safety practices attested to the difficulty of
complaining about substandard safety conditions:
I am developing ulcers and have had chest pain for a long time, as we are
working in very bad conditions, horrible conditions. After a blast, it takes an
hour for the dust, gases, and fumes to move out of the area. We’re supposed
to wait to go in. But with the Chinese, they say, “Go, go, rush right away!” And
if you don’t, they’ll terminate your contract. So we go straight into an area full
of fumes and dust. And they don’t even give us respirators. We just receive
mouth cloths, they say that respirators are too expensive…. The doctor said
that these gases have caused my ulcers and chest pain….
The Chinese just don’t know safety. They only concentrate on production,
production, we are nothing to them. I’ve seen people killed this way. Back
in 2009, our mine captain, a Chinese guy, told one in my group to charge
the end. The man said it was dangerous, said we shouldn’t go ahead
because it wasn’t stable. The boss said that if he didn’t, he’d be dismissed.
When the charge was set, rocks came down and crushed the guy’s leg. They
failed to control the bleed, and he died…. I saw a similar thing happen back
in 2006. That time, the rocks crushed the guy’s neck and he died instantly….
This stuff still happens, they still force us to work in unsafe places. And if
you deny, if you refuse, they are going to dismiss you. 166
In describing the 2009 fatality, the Mines Safety Department’s annual report states that when
“charging a development end a rock dislodged from the roof causing a deep cut on the
[deceased’s] thigh.... The accident could have been avoided had the area been adequately
barred down.” 167 It does not specifically discuss threats by the Chinese boss, though admits,
in passive voice, that better safety practices could have prevented the accident. While each
individual accident could not be specifically attributed to Chinese managers’ threats or
inattention to safety, forcing people to work in dangerous locations under threat of being fired
may have contributed to the commonality of accidents. One former miner at NFCA, who was
166 Human Rights Watch interview with underground load operator A at NFCA, Chambishi, July 16, 2011. Another worker at
NFCA highlighted the problem of forcing people to rush immediately after blasting, saying, “We’ll have just done blasting,
and there will be lots of smoke. No ventilation, dust everywhere. In most mines, you’d wait for that to clear out. But with the
Chinese, they tell the loader drivers to rush immediately. They tell you to go work there right away, and they say that if you
say no, they’ll terminate your contact. We have to choose between the threat of termination and working in unsafe places.”
Human Rights Watch interview with underground boomer operator D at NFCA, Chambishi, July 16, 2011.
167 Mines Safety Department, 2009 Annual Report, January 2010 (on file with Human Rights Watch).
“YOU’LL BE FIRED IF YOU REFUSE” 56