Chilean Copper Mine Collapse Essay Example for Free

Chilean Copper Mine Collapse Essay On August 5, 2010 at San Jose mine in northern Chile a cave collapsed trapping 33 miners more than 2000-feet underground (Weik, n. d. ). This should have been just another day, a normal 12-hour shift at work, but it instead it turned into a 69 day nightmare. Minors did not know it would be the last time for nearly two months they would see the light of day. Miners, much like fire fighters and policemen, know there is a risk in the work they do. Their families also know that there is a risk and accept that someday they may get a call with bad news. Knowing this and seeing it happen are two different things. Communicating with the Families and Employees The families are from different backgrounds and different nationalities this should be taken into consideration when communicating with them. Minera San Esteban Primera would want to have several people involved in communication plan that involved constant communication with families as well as their employees. Some of the people involved with communications should be the same nationality and speak the same language to get the message across as well as make the families feel somewhat at ease. This will help the families feel as though someone understands them and their culture because they are from the same backgrounds. Communication should be organized and planned. The families from other places, not local, should be put up in a hotel with a meeting place provided where the families can come for regular updates. This will relieve some stress from the families having to wait by the phone for updates, and for the company getting calls unexpectedly or at the wrong time. This place could serve a dual function as a place where families can go and seek empathy with other families, Minera San Esteban Primera should communicate in-person with the families as much as possible. They should provide updates via phone calls with set times to call. Electronic communication would be for faster if the families have access to this type of information. Other considerations are the employees who may have family members who are trapped. It is common in a work environment like this to have several members of one family working for the same company. Other employees may be minors who called in sick that day or were assigned to different projects. Minera San Esteban Primera will need to consider how they talk to employees to be sure sensitive information is not out before it should be. Some employees who have to work around the clock to make sure everything is taken care of. The families and employees need to know that their employer will do everything they can to help the miners as fast as they can. They should hold small to the point staff meetings to provide updates to the employees (Aniisu, n. d. ). They could even have a room where employees can come and watch for updates as they become available. The country came together suggesting ideas on how to get to the miners. It was important to ascertain if the miners were alive, to see if rescue was possible. Chilean government reached out to NASA for the assistance in communicating with the miners and could get lines of communication going. Once the Chilean authorities could confirm that they were all alive, the vital information had to get to the families and to the employees (Condon, 2010). Once communication lines were set up, family members were allowed to talk briefly to their trapped miners (Tabor, n. d. ). Even though it was only one minute, it was essential for the family to see that the minors were fine and no one was lied to. This also helped the miners’ mental state and encouraged them to stay strong until rescued. The employees were able to see live feed of the miners that helped them to feel as though Minera San Esteban Primera, NASA, and the Chilean government were, in fact, doing everything they could do to save the miners. As further mining operations were bound to happen employees would feel confident that their company would do what was necessary to ensure their wellbeing in the event of another collapse. References Aniisu, . (n. d. ). Internal Communications Pointers from the Chile Miners Rescue Mission. Retrieved from http://intraskope. wordpress. com/2010/10/15/internal-communications-pointers-from-the-chile-miners-rescue-mission/ Condon, K. (2010). Communication With Chilean Miners. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles. com/? Communication-With-Chilean-Minersid=5391484 Tabor, J. M. (n. d. ). Jonathan Franklin’s â€Å"33 Men,† on the Chilean mine collapse. Retrieved from http://articles. washingtonpost. com/2011-03-18/entertainment/35259801_1_claudio-yanez-laurence-golborne-miners Weik, J. (n. d. ). Over 30 workers trapped