Sick coal mine workers cry when they tell their story
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Three coal mine workers tell about the afflictions that they believe they have contracted due to the work in the mine. They are all disappointed with the mining company's treatment.
Jose Luis Morales Vega - sick from chemicals
Mine workers who wash and assemble motors are exposed to chemicals that may, at worst, kill them. We are talking about a regular pandemic, thinks the Colombian trade union Sintracarbon. At the moment, according to Sintracarbon, there are three critical cases of poor health and more than 36 others with symptoms of damaged health resulting from chemicals. 29 named workers have signed an agreement that they have such symptoms.
A random check that the mining company CMC conducted in 2009 took a sample of 40 out of 180 operators in the washing department. 21 people were contaminated, according to the trade union. One of them is Jose Luis Morales Vega, who has worked in the mine for 23 and a half years. Symptoms such as insomnia, memory loss, headache and more revealed lead poisoning and a blood lead level three times higher than allowed.
Eduard Puche - sick from coal dust
At least four workers have, according to the trade union Sintracarbon, died from exposure to quartz and coal dust, and Sintracarbon's latest survey of sick workers shows that 117 had breathing difficulties in 2008. This is an eight per cent increase compared to 2007.
A study made by Sintracarbon in 2002 amongst 600 workers showed that 150 of them had problems with their lungs. 46 named workers figure on a list of workers who at the moment are being re-evaluated by the trade union's doctor, Rafael Zuniga.
One of them is Eduardo Puche, who ”probably” has contracted silicosis from working in the mine – he is waiting for the results from a biopsy. Puche has worked in Cerrejón since 1984 – the first five years entirely without safety equipment and air conditioning. However, he quit in 2006 because he always felt tired. About three years later – in August 2009 – he started to have breathing difficulties, and since then he has visited several specialists at his own expense. Today, he still has trouble breathing, and when he speaks, it is easy to hear that something is completely wrong.
Today, Eduardo Puche wonders how the mining company's annual health checks of its workers have not shown beginning lung problems.
Carlos Hernández - sick from vibrations
According to the Colombian trade union Sintracarbon, 473 workers in the Cerrejón mine had motor disabilities in 2008. Compared to 2007, this is an increase of 84 new cases.
The many damages to the motor apparatus, according to the union, are caused by a combination of long work days and vibrations from the several tons heavy machines that the mine workers use.
Carlos Hernández has worked 27 years in the mine's digging machine, tracked vehicles and bulldozers. Today, the problems with his spine, hips, cervical vertebrae, shoulder, knee and shoulder-joint are so great that he needs to use crutches. He has osteonecrosis and needs new hips. His afflictions have not been recognised as work-related. Three years ago he retired due to his injuries.
