Sitting absent-mindedly in front of a small house in the middle of Mo Than village (Tam Quang commune, Tuong Duong district), Mr. Le Van Vy (57 years old) expressed regret that in his youth he was not careful to protect himself, leading to the lung disease that has tormented him for nearly 30 years.
Although he was discovered early and was fortunately sent abroad for lung lavage, this terrible disease still prevents Mr. Vy from doing heavy work. Every time the weather changes, he feels chest tightness, coughs, and has difficulty breathing.
Mr. Vy is one of dozens of people in the Coal Mine Village who are suffering from silicosis. “There are no official statistics, but roughly speaking, there must be more than 30 people in this village who are suffering from silicosis. All of them used to work at the Khe Bo coal mine,” Mr. Vy said. Mr. Vy is currently the Head of the Coal Mine Village. Just last year, the Nghe An Province Center for Disease Control organized an occupational disease assessment for workers at the Khe Bo Coal Joint Stock Company. The results showed that 6 workers with silicosis were entitled to occupational disease benefits. Of these, 5 were children of the Coal Mine Village.
Originally from Nam Dan district, at the age of 20, Mr. Vy went upstream of the Lam River to apply for a job as a worker at Khe Bo coal mine. Mr. Vy later got married and started his career right here. Mr. Vy said that during his years working underground in the coal mine, he worked in many departments. “Going underground, almost every department was exposed to a lot of dust, it was unavoidable. Workers were also given cloth masks to wear, but because of the heavy work and heavy breathing, wearing the masks was very difficult. That's why most of us had to accept living with the dust. We only wore masks under our chins, and every time the officers came to check, we pulled them up to deal with it. Partly because it was inconvenient to work, but also partly because we were subjective,” Mr. Vy said.
Working continuously in the mine for 8 years, in 1994, Mr. Vy was taken for an examination and discovered that he had silicosis. The examination results showed that he had a 31% occupational injury rate. However, he still had to work here for another 13 years. “When I discovered that I had silicosis, I had only worked for a few years, so if I quit, I would not have a pension. Therefore, I had to continue working as usual, to make a living. In 2003, I was lucky to be sent to China for lung washing. Looking at the 20 liters of black water after washing my lungs, I am still haunted to this day... It must be because of the lung washing that I have lived until now,” Mr. Vy said, adding that he retired in 2007, when he was only 41 years old. At that time, he had paid enough insurance and his health did not allow him to live any longer.
Also because of the hardship and danger, very few of the second generation in the Coal Mine village have followed in their parents’ footsteps. Understanding the hardships of miners, the residents of the Coal Mine try to invest in their children’s education and most of them become teachers. The village currently has 180 households, of which 108 are teachers (only counting those who currently have household registration in the village, not to mention many cases of children in the village who teach and then marry elsewhere or those who graduated and were assigned to teach far from home and have now moved their household registration). Therefore, in recent years, from the Coal Mine village, people have switched to calling this village “Teachers’ Village”.
As Mr. Vy said, when we were present at Khe Bo coal mine, we witnessed the scene of dust flying everywhere. Every time the workers stepped out of the mine, their clothes were soaked with sweat, and the wet dust stuck to their dirty faces. Every time they finished their shift, the workers had to immediately go into the hot shower room, spending nearly half an hour to clean the dust off their bodies. “No matter what the weather is like, we have to take a hot shower, because only hot water can get the dust out. Every time we come out of the mine, dust sticks to our bodies, especially our noses, ears, and eyelids. We are used to it,” said a worker who has pneumoconiosis but is still working in the mine.
Taking us on a tour of the coal mine, Mr. Ho Tien Binh - Director of Khe Bo Coal Joint Stock Company did not hesitate to share that he himself has been tormented by pneumoconiosis for nearly 20 years. "I will probably have to go to the doctor again in a few days, because recently I have been coughing all night. My lungs are getting worse," Mr. Binh said. Before becoming a manager, Mr. Binh also spent 15 consecutive years working directly underground in the coal mine.
Khe Bo Coal Joint Stock Company currently mines about 200,000 tons of coal each year. The company has 128 employees, of which 71 are directly working underground. However, 11 of them have pneumoconiosis, have been assessed and receive occupational disease benefits but still have to work. Notably, 4 patients continue to live with dust while still having to work in the mine - a place that is considered a heavy, toxic and dangerous working environment. As for the number of workers with pneumoconiosis who have retired, no one has been able to count them. "Since contracting pneumoconiosis, my health has seriously declined. Many times while working, I have chest tightness and difficulty breathing. When I get home, I cough all night long. But for the sake of money, I still have to try to stay a few more years, because I don't have enough years to pay insurance," said a worker working underground.
Mr. Ho Tien Binh said that coal mines are working environments with high potential risks of occupational accidents and pneumoconiosis. In particular, Khe Bo coal mine is still mainly manual mining, so there is a lot of dust. “That is inevitable. Almost every time we go for a health check, we find out that workers have pneumoconiosis. Like last year, 6 people were diagnosed with pneumoconiosis. The company had to spend nearly 600 million VND to compensate them. In addition, they also receive monthly occupational disease allowances. Because the company also organizes regular health check-ups according to regulations, it helps workers detect the disease earlier,” Mr. Binh said.
According to this director, recently, the company has installed a misting system in areas where a lot of dust is generated to limit the dust, but it still cannot completely suppress it. Therefore, the most important thing is to equip workers with protective gear, especially N95 masks and face shields. Before entering the mine to work, managers check if they are wearing protective gear, and if they are not, they have to go to the warehouse to get it. But masks cannot prevent everything. Not to mention, many workers also refuse to wear masks because of inconvenience. Therefore, company leaders have to regularly check and remind them.
Regarding the four workers who have pneumoconiosis but are still working underground, Mr. Ho Tien Binh said that the company has not been able to arrange suitable jobs for them. “We also want to let these four workers do other jobs, but for many reasons such as qualifications and the job structure at the company does not allow it. Normally, workers in the mine who have pneumoconiosis are arranged to do less dusty jobs such as laundry and cooking. But because many people have pneumoconiosis, there are not enough positions to arrange them,” Mr. Binh said and said that to support the workers, the company will soon send some people to the hospital for lung washing.
