26 November, 2010After six deaths at the Chilean mining company Soquimich, IMF regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean send letter to the company asking for action.
CHILE: There have been increasing numbers of reports of deaths in work accidents in Chile, and one of the companies where this has been repeated is Soquimich (SQM), which has not complied with the health and safety of its employees. The latest accident happened on November 6, killing six workers.
Concerned about the situation, the International Metalworkers' Federation sent a letter to Mr. Patricio Solminihac, one of the SQM's managers, asking for better working conditions, given the accidents are the direct consequence of a lack of control on mining sites.
In the letter, which can be seen here, the IMF also asks that ILO Convention 176, which sets international standards for health and safety in mines, be ratified by the Chilean government.
The Canadian company Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS) controls 32 per cent of the total shares of SQM.
Currently, 90 per cent of SQM's production is sold in international markets and has plants in countries such as Mexico, Belgium, Holland, USA, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, and United Arab Emirates, among others.