Unlocking the Power of Precision: How El Teniente Taught Me the Game-Changing Details of Security

As a “multitasking” worker. This is how José Arancibia Pizarro defines himself, who formally works as an operator at the Haulage level, in the Esmeralda mine, in the Codelco El Teniente Department. “I can be a driver on the locomotive and also on the truck, we pull two ways down there: in trains and trucks,” he said.

What is your work about?

Conveyors transport the ore produced at the level to the main shafts, which go directly to the Teniente 8 Railway, which takes the rock to the surface. But I also provide assistance in various tasks, such as cleaning the roads and unblocking the shafts when necessary, and we will do that with explosives. I also operate machines.

We are instructed to do different tasks, sometimes in the same day I change tasks. I can be working with explosives in the morning, for example, and when it’s time for the “shock” (lunch) I’m going to relieve the machinist. There is a lot of work to do, it is very dynamic.

What do you like most about your job?

It’s not monotonous and it’s very entertaining. We can walk in the field and during the shift we can do various tasks.

When did you arrive at El Teniente?

I joined in 2001. I come from San Fernando, I studied at the Liceo Industrial and I came to work in the factory, with the Züblin company. At that time the contracts were shorter, but that changed soon after I arrived and that gave us stability. Until after going through other contracts and after working in the north, I joined Codelco in 2011.

And then everything happened. I like to do everything, I put effort into it if I have to shovel, operate equipment or even when I have to change the shift leader. For me the feeling and the motivation are the same: do well, take care of myself and take care of my teammates.

I will never forget that when I got here, there were some old men in sites that no longer exist, who taught me a lot and told me “when the hill starts to drop (falling stones), you have to get out , because something is going to happen.

When I was in Tal Tal, in the small mining industry and while I was welding a structure, some small stones fell on my helmet. There I told everyone “we have to get out of here” and we ran. Seconds later the trench fell.

I learned those little safety details that make a difference here. I like that, that we don’t stay silent, that we talk about things, that we explain what’s happening at the levels and help each other.

What safety message would you like to convey to the employees of the Division?

That we must always be attentive, listen to what is happening, because every day the pool changes. Let’s listen to the conversations they give us every day about the events that happen, to become aware because they can also affect us and it helps us take lessons.

What do you feel El Teniente has given to your life?

Growth. I was able to tap into skills and knowledge I didn’t know I had, such as operating equipment, locomotives. I never thought I would be transporting all these tons or dealing with explosives. Here I realized that, in the end, I can achieve anything.

But that is also thanks to my parents, especially thanks to my mother. I’m excited to say it because I have a 10-year-old son, named Vicente, and I want him to be a good person. My mother taught me, to be a good person, to always help and I think I manage to pass that on to my son. The parents of their classmates, the teachers, have told me this and that makes me proud, that I am achieving the same thing as my mother did.

What does it mean for you to work at Codelco, a company that provides its surpluses to all Chiles?

I feel proud because I am making a contribution to the country. I hope that El Teniente will never end, because what is done here is for the whole society and so that all our compatriots have more hospitals, children get a better education, that is the purpose of our production.