Workplace Accident Rate Also High in Industries Other Than Coal Mining

February 28, 2006

A February 9 explosion in a perfume factory in Guangdong province that killed 5 workers and injured 12 illustrates that Chinese workers in industries outside the coal mining sector also face dangerous conditions. The perfume factory explosion was reported in a February 10 article in the Epoch Times.

A February 9 explosion in a perfume factory in Guangdong province that killed 5 workers and injured 12 illustrates that Chinese workers in industries outside the coal mining sector also face dangerous conditions. The perfume factory explosion was reported in a February 10 article in the Epoch Times.

In a related development, Shi Yubo, the vice chairman of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC), expressed concern about the safety of electrical industry workers as new power generation equipment is introduced that the workers have no training to operate, according to a February 13 Xinhua report. Vice Chairman Shi said that the government would pay more attention in 2006 to basic safety management, as well as other work safety issues. China’s power generation sector had 74 grid accidents in 2005, a decrease of 127 cases from 2004, and 427 equipment accidents, 132 cases fewer than in 2004. No equipment accidents killed more than 10 people, according to the report.

Increased industrial production has fueled an increasing accident rate for Chinese workers, according to a private sector economist quoted in a November 25, 2005, Agence France-Presse (AFP) article reproduced on the China Labor Watch Web site. According to the article, official Chinese government statistics report that 136,755 people died during 2004 in work-related accidents, but independent experts think the true figure is higher because industries do not report accidents resulting in relatively few deaths.

In a November 2005 opinion article, a writer for the government-controlled China Daily criticized government officials for a preoccupation with growth in gross domestic product over work safety, pollution, and education. The writer cited several major accidents in 2005, including a chemical plant explosion, a chemical spill into a major river system in the Northeast, and a truck accident that killed 20 students and a teacher, saying such disasters could have been prevented.

The China Labour Bulletin, summarizing an October 31, 2005, article in the Shanghai Daily, also cited the absence of safety measures and the lack of government regulation of industries as the cause of an increasing rate of occupational diseases among migrant workers, particularly in extractive industries outside the coal sector, such as gold mining.