Mining In Chile

I suppose I should comment on the one event that has captured the attention of the whole world in the last week - the successful release of the Chilean miners from their underground tomb. These men were cut-off by two explosions in the San Jose mine in Chile 70 days ago and it was 17 days before we found out even that they were all alive and well in a safety shelter deep underground. Mining everywhere has always been a hazardous occupation and in most places it still is. Safety has been much improved in many western countries but accidents still occur. The numbers of deaths in mining disasters annually is still staggeringly high and the deaths from accidents does not include deaths from mining related diseases. In this situation it has been uplifting for the whole world to see all 33 of the Chilean miners - to be successfully rescued one by one in an escape pod that was drawn up through a narrow tube drilled through 700 metres of solid rock. And the rescue operation, shown live on TV around the world, went without a hitch. It is a tribute to all the engineers, the miners and medical people that worked tirelessly to get the job done. It may be that the safety in Chilean mines has not been shown in an attractive light but the escape has given Chile's international status quite a boost. The president has given his total backing to the escape project and there is no doubt that he has been wringing considerable political advantage from the success of the project. But he used his authority to bring in any experts that could help to maximize the chances of success. Correspondingly, had it all gone wrong he would have carried the can. Now he has promised to give H&S greater attention throughout all Chilean industries and ensure that miners lives are better protected than they were in the San Jose mine.

Well done all concerned with this successful mission impossible. It is being suggested that the joy and Roy of the Rovers romanticism of this astonishing rescue will raise the image of engineering and encourage more young people to look seriously at engineering again as a possible career move. It will be a big improvement on rushing off to "socially useless" tasks in investment banks or pinning everything on X Factor success.

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