Introduction
To truly understand the mining industry, one must look at its roots; from ancient times, gold, silver, copper, coal, and other valuable items have been mined. Described as pioneers and often a subset of culture, miners developed a distinctive ethos, which defined them and was passed down from generation to generation. This principle of miner brotherhood dictated acceptable practices including: the labor-intensive day-to-day functions, the risks associated with carving into nature, and the recompense for a hard days work. A miner, in essence was equivalent to a lifestyle; values, customs, behavioral norms, and standards revolved around this culture of mining. This world inside of a world granted a greater cohesion in the mining …show more content…
Death from mining was inevitable, so this risk was accepted as an integral part of the miner brotherhood. To outsiders, the working conditions were contemptible and even denounced as inhumane, but to the miners, this was life as usual. Relatively unchanged for generations, the political needs during and following World War II uprooted this social class when the economic pressures demanded high production of coal regardless of the present dangers of an overworked, undertrained workforce, and prevalent safety issues stemming from years of neglect. Furthermore, these mines became properties of big companies, and the miner culture was lost in the pursuit of profits and greed. Today, we only understand this extinct subculture by reading diaries or from the memories of survivors. Technology, education, and awareness have made coal mining safer, but the true threat to the coal mining industry is more sinister than the working conditions: it is the politics in the background seizing and controlling the …show more content…
“Yes, the U.S. coal industry has made great strides and it is most evident in the wake of the Soma tragedy. Look into the eyes of those Turkish miners and you will see men who are envious of the technology and regulations we have in the U.S. It’s a shame that these tragedies still occur, but at least they are happening less frequently (Fiscor, 2014). “Turkey remains one of the few countries not to have signed up for a convention on mining safety by the U.N. 's International Labor Organization, which has 178 member nations. An average of 71 miners a year died in accidents in Turkish pits between 2009 and 2012 (Newsweek Global, 2014).
Notably the worst coal mining disaster in history occurred in Benxi, Liaoning providence of China. Similarly, the political pressure from the Chinese Government for increased production, safety concerns were diverted and, thus 1,549 Chinese miners were killed in a gas explosion (Encyclopedia, 2015). In a war with the Japanese, the Chinese miners were
To truly understand the mining industry, one must look at its roots; from ancient times, gold, silver, copper, coal, and other valuable items have been mined. Described as pioneers and often a subset of culture, miners developed a distinctive ethos, which defined them and was passed down from generation to generation. This principle of miner brotherhood dictated acceptable practices including: the labor-intensive day-to-day functions, the risks associated with carving into nature, and the recompense for a hard days work. A miner, in essence was equivalent to a lifestyle; values, customs, behavioral norms, and standards revolved around this culture of mining. This world inside of a world granted a greater cohesion in the mining …show more content…
Death from mining was inevitable, so this risk was accepted as an integral part of the miner brotherhood. To outsiders, the working conditions were contemptible and even denounced as inhumane, but to the miners, this was life as usual. Relatively unchanged for generations, the political needs during and following World War II uprooted this social class when the economic pressures demanded high production of coal regardless of the present dangers of an overworked, undertrained workforce, and prevalent safety issues stemming from years of neglect. Furthermore, these mines became properties of big companies, and the miner culture was lost in the pursuit of profits and greed. Today, we only understand this extinct subculture by reading diaries or from the memories of survivors. Technology, education, and awareness have made coal mining safer, but the true threat to the coal mining industry is more sinister than the working conditions: it is the politics in the background seizing and controlling the …show more content…
“Yes, the U.S. coal industry has made great strides and it is most evident in the wake of the Soma tragedy. Look into the eyes of those Turkish miners and you will see men who are envious of the technology and regulations we have in the U.S. It’s a shame that these tragedies still occur, but at least they are happening less frequently (Fiscor, 2014). “Turkey remains one of the few countries not to have signed up for a convention on mining safety by the U.N. 's International Labor Organization, which has 178 member nations. An average of 71 miners a year died in accidents in Turkish pits between 2009 and 2012 (Newsweek Global, 2014).
Notably the worst coal mining disaster in history occurred in Benxi, Liaoning providence of China. Similarly, the political pressure from the Chinese Government for increased production, safety concerns were diverted and, thus 1,549 Chinese miners were killed in a gas explosion (Encyclopedia, 2015). In a war with the Japanese, the Chinese miners were