Many coalminers, he says, are “really only concerned with getting enough wages to live on today. They don’t really think about the consequences once they leave a mine, and they’re not aware of the problems of work-related illness or accidents until they actually happen.”

Perhaps one of China’s most dangerous jobs publicly, ever year sees thousands of coal miners perish in accidents.  Unreported, there are many more who are sick and suffering from black lung.

Shaft of light for China’s coalminers offers some insight into the legal process of one of China’s first legal cases whereby a former miner is suing his former employee for compensation.

Between 1995 and 2002, Mr Xiao worked in several small mines not far from his home village. At the time, he says he didn’t consider the health impacts. Earning about 1000 yuan ($A190) per month, the job was a good way for the illiterate father of two to get ahead. Mr Xiao also says he was never asked by his employer to undergo a health check, a requirement by law, when he stopped work.

What is interesting to me when reading this is

(1) Were mines providing safety equipment, the 600,000 men reported in this article as in stage 3 would not be sick;

(2) Were there an agency who was tasked to oversee the working conditions of these men/ women, then perhaps employers would be forced to provide such equipment or face penalties

(3) There is clearly a gap in the new labor law in addressing the safety of workers

(4) at some point in the future, China’s industrial base will have to face this problem as China’s maturing populace has begun to show publicy that there are some prices they are no longer willing to pay.