Chilean Miners: A tribute, and a reminder

By Emma Burnell / @Scarletstand

The story of the survival and rescue of the Chilean Mineworkers is an extraordinary tale of the best of humanity. No one watching could fail to be moved by their strength, dignity and courage.

But we shold not forget that this is also a tale of the worst of humanity. The mine collapse occured in a mine owned by a company with a poor safety record. There are only three mine inspectors in the whole Atacama region covering 884 mines due to budget cutbacks.

So while we rightfully rejoice in this amazing feat of human endurance and struggle, let us not forget the other human side of this story, and the reality of what it is to live with companies shirking health and safety duties.

Perhaps the best tribute to the miners the British government could make would be to end the war on Health and Safety at work legislation that they and the tabloids have so effectively promoted, and start a more grown up conversation about the absolute necessity of protecting workers from the ravaging of profit based cost cutting.

Emma slso writes at Scarlet Standard.