Benxihu Colliery Explosion Case Study

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Benxihu Colliery Explosion in China
(1) Background Benxihu colliery explosion is a mining disaster that occurred when a gas combined with a coal-dust exploded in a mining site. Ultimately, the aftermath was flames of fire that engulfed the mining shaft (Yang 2). The mining site is located in the Chinese Lioning area in China that was under the control of the Japanese at the time of the accident. The Benxihu colliery explosion occurred on the 26th of April, 1942 where more than 1300 lives were lost.
(2) The Person at Fault After the accident, the Japanese Mining Corporation was held responsible for the explosion due to the deplorable conditions at the mining site.
The poor safety structures slowed down the accident’s response time. As a result, the Japanese administration could not come up with the most optimal solution to curtail the incident immediately. Perhaps, lack of stringent laws governing worker’s right to life and access to better healthcare slowed down the company’s response to the accident. If laws governing working conditions and design requirements of mining facilities were in place, then the rate at which the explosion spread within the enclosed mining site could have been
Instead, the administrators were simply concerned about the raging fire. Furthermore, the miner’s relatives were prohibited from accessing the site; this was unethical since more victims would have been rescued. The workers were undeniably subjected to hash working conditions and they were sometimes beaten and denied food which was unethical. It was also unethical to deny the workers their freedom of movement by making them slaves and enclosing the mining perimeters with an electric