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WATCH: Australian Miners Fired for ‘Harlem Shake’ Performance

By March 04, 20130
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What started out as a bit of fun, has cost up to 15 miners in Australia their jobs.  Their misdemeanor: the ‘Harlem Shake.’

The video, which was posted on YouTube, showed eight workers performing the Harlem Shake underground in the Agnew Gold Mine, located in Western Australia, according to the Associated Press.

(WATCH: Egyptian Students Arrested over ‘Harlem Shake’ Video)

Barminco Ltd., the owner of the  mine, said in a dismissal letter that it considered the stunt a safety violation, which breached its “core values of safety, integrity and excellence.” The letter also noted that the mining contractor wouldn’t allow the dancing workers to be subcontracted at any of its sites, in Australia or elsewhere.

It’s not clear from the video what safety violations took place, the Associated Press noted.  According to West Australian, the dancing miners wore helmets, lamps and glasses, and had oxygen on hand.  They were, however, shirtless.

A Facebook page has been set up to help the miners get reinstated.

(WATCH: The Week in ‘Harlem Shake’: Seven Videos from Tunisia, Estonia and the Skies)

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Mogs
Mogs

Thank you MattyHoofa T,  Many who do not work in the mining industry really do not understand the working environments that exist underground.  While many may see this as a harmless activity, it is as you say just plain stupid to break the mine regulations and or the mine owners safety rules.  Many forget that this is a contracting company who's name has probably been blemished world wide and as a result may have lost many potential contracts.  Show me a General Manager or a company who would potentially want to hire individuals like this.  Remembering that most rules and regulations have been paid for in blood!  What is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular.  Hope they never work with my loved ones who are in the WA mining industry.

MattyHoofaT
MattyHoofaT like.author.displayName 1 Like

We have very strict rules and regulations and as such these guys get paid a hell of a lot of money to have to live by these regulations.  The dance it itself may not have been an issue, but once they took their shirts off they would have broken any number of different mine rules and regulations. 

You can spend up to two days being inducted into a site and then many more days doing different safety course and the likes, these guys know what the consequences of their actions would be and are just plain stupid.  As for the Facebook page set up to have them reinstated, I really do hope that they are never reinstated and Barminco don't give in to the public pressure, this will just jeopadise safety in the future.

They got  exactly what they deserved and knew if they got found out that this would happen.  If they didn't then it just shows how stupid they really are.

ridor9th
ridor9th

@MattyHoofaT   Please enlighten me on this - Why is that taking t-shirts off, even for a short time, a serious violation that can result in their loss of jobs? 

R-