When a Workers’ life is worth less than a salmon: Diver in chilean Patagonia agonized for 8 hours due tu lack of adherence to safety protocols

More than 60 workers have died in recent years in the vast, multibillion dollar salmon industry that operates farms located in the south of Chile. Just in the first two months of 2021, three divers have died in a context of little or no information provided by the companies and local authorities.

Aysén, Southern Chile, March 09, 2021 (Ecoceanos) – The death of diver Héctor Lagos Peñailillo that occurred on February 9 while working in a salmon farm belonging to the AquaChile company in Chilean Patagonia, highlights the accumulation of low safety standards, precarious labor conditions and irregularities faced by these underwater workers. Added to which are the frequent breaches of safety protocols by the large salmon companies and subcontractor firms, in addition to negligible governmental oversight and inspection in this remote region of Chile.

The 42-year-old diver, who was working more than a thousand kilometers away from his home in the Bio-Bio region further north, had been providing services to the sub-contractor company Sociedad de Proyectos Acuícolas y Servicios Submarinos Limitación (Passub). The farm concerned is owned by one of the world’s largest salmon producers, AquaChile, part of the AgroSuper conglomerate, which in addition to producing salmon under the Los Fiordos brand, breeds and exports pigs, chickens and turkeys to the US, European Union, Brazil, China, Russia and other international markets.

Divers underwater, reality on the surface

The diver concerned suffered from decompression syndrome, referred to locally as «pressure sickness» (i.e. the bends) by the local press. Regional newspaper El Divisadero reported that one hypothesis that has gained strength is the lack of an adequate protocol in the provision of first aid and subsequent transfer of the worker, as it took almost eight hours to get him to hospital, which could have been just a 50 minute journey by speedboat. And even after arriving in Puerto Chacabuco, he then had to wait almost another hour until he was transferred to the Puerto Aysén hospital about 15 minutes away by car.

Anonymous witness details the lack of assistance offered to the diver

A witness who did not want to reveal his identity, for fear of reprisals or the suspension of his contract as he provides services to the same industry, told El Divisadero that on board the motorboat there was a person vomiting into a bucket. He then recounted how he got talking to a passenger he knew on the boat, and asked him what had happened, and was told that the diver had said that five hours before he had suffered from the bends.

According to the same witness, the diver concerned had told his supervisor that he was feeling ill, but wasn’t believed, was told that he was exaggerating, and was then sent to work at another salmon farm. At the time there was a boat available to take him to hospital. Instead it was used to take him to the other farm to continue working. It wasn’t until five hours later that the sick diver was finally transferred to the nearest hospital to start decompression treatment. When he reached the nearest port to the hospital, the witness said there was no ambulance waiting, and he wasn’t even accompanied. He was alone with the crew and other workers returning from their shift. He had been picked up like any other passenger. He was then left to wait for 45 minutes before being transferred to the hospital.

Two State investigations for this new salmon worker fatality

Andrea Ponce, the regional labor authority, together with regretting the death of the salmon diver, said that two investigations were being carried out, one by the regional health authority (Seremi), as they were the first to become aware of “this unfortunate situation”, and the second through the Labor Inspectorate. The representative of Sebastián Piñera’s government in the Aysén region, also stated that lacking any technical report on what had happened, no information could be provided on the causes of the accident, and whether the relevant protocols had been followed.

The holding company AgroSúper also released a statement deeply regretting the death of Héctor Lagos Peñailillo, adding that AquaChile would accompany the family in their pain and were collaborating with the authorities in the investigation.

Ecoceanos: Chile continues to have the highest mortality of salmon workers in the world

Preliminary information released by the marine protection group Centro Ecoceanos, indicates that between 2019 and 2020, a total of 21 workers have died in the salmon farm export industry. The reasons for these work fatalities it states are precarious working conditions, permissive and antiquated labor laws passed during the military dictatorship, the lack of government control, and the much criticized option of the neoliberal government to focus more on export statistics produced by the Ministry of Economy, rather than legislating for better living and working conditions for salmon farm workers. Centro Ecoceanos also pointed out that such labor conditions in southern Chile are more typical of a banana republic or third-world country, than of a second-world producer and exporter of farmed salmonids.

Ecoceanos has also published figures showing that between 2013 and 2020, more than 60 deaths of workers were registered for processing plants, farms, along with sea and land transport activities of this huge export industry. According to the organization, the strange situation surrounding the death of diver Héctor Lagos Peñalillo, such as the lack of a first aid protocol, the lack of information provided to his family, the almost eight-hour delay in his transfer to a hospital, which was just 50 minutes away by speedboat, as well as not notifying the Emergency Medical Care Service (SAMU), all confirm the repeated complaints from workers’ organizations and Centro Ecoceanos about the low standards of occupational safety and human rights violations under which the salmon industry operates in Chile.

The ‘Wild West’ of the Chilean salmon industry, where a worker’s life is worth less than a salmon

Salmon workers organizations, international consumers and Centro Ecoceanos are monitoring this new workplace fatality that occurred during an ongoing pandemic, and have demanded a transparent investigation by the regional authorities in order to identify the causes and responsibilities of such a cruel death in the “Wild West” of the Chilean salmon industry, where the life of a diver is worth less than that of a salmon.