Workplace Safety in China

1
Workplace Safety in China
2
Workplace Safety in China

• Township and village enterprises (TVEs)
• Have experienced dramatic growth since the
  concept was developed when China started economic
  reforms in 1978
• Originally TVEs were conceived as enterprises to
  be run by townships or villages to absorb the
  surplus rural labour force

3
TVEs

• They are a major source of employment, creating
  more than 120 million jobs.
• TVEs cover manufacturing, construction, mining,
  transport and communications, commerce, services
  and other businesses.
• Their adverse impact on the environment has
  become a major concern both for the Government
  and the public.

4
Worker Safety and Health

• The protection of workers' safety and health lags
  far behind the economic performance of TVEs.
• Causes include general lack of awareness, low
  level of education of managers and workers,
  outdated technology, non-availability of
  technical and financial support.

5
Occupational accidents

• According to officially available national
  statistics on occupational accidents in China the
  total number of fatalities in TVEs is almost
  10,000 every year.

6
China Versus the United States

• According to an MOL study, the annual rate of
  fatal accidents in TVEs is around 1 per thousand
  workers.
• The fatal accident rate in the United States is
  around 4 per 100,000 workers
• To equate this to Chinas rate, the US rate is
  around .04 per 1,000 workers placing Chinas TVEs
  rate at 25 times greater than the US rate.

7
Reporting Problems

• The actual number of fatal accidents in TVEs
  could be much higher as many construction
  accidents might not be properly reflected in the
  figures due to the complicated reporting system.
• Furthermore, the construction industry employs a
  large number of migrant workers whose deaths
  might not be properly reported.

8
Occupational diseases

• Medical surveillance of workers exposed to health
  hazards is carried out through the nationwide
  network of disease-prevention stations.
• In 1995, out of the 25,133,577 workers exposed to
  health hazards only 3,835,225 underwent medical
  examination.
• The examination rate was 15.3 per cent, the
  lowest in recent years.

9
Migrant Workers

• In occupational disease prevention, one important
  concern is the large number of migrant workers in
  TVEs.
• Male migrant workers are commonly found in the
  most hazardous industries, particularly
  construction and mining.

10
Discrimination Against Migrant Workers

• Migrant workers are usually not covered by social
  insurance like old age insurance, even if such
  schemes exist at the location of TVEs.
• Their migrant status results in a lower level of
  attention to their protection, as well as
  practical difficulties in promoting OSH through
  training and awareness raising.

11
Working-environment monitoring and medical
surveillance

• A MOH report revealed that only 36.89 per cent of
  sampled points in 2,593 TVEs cleared the national
  exposure limits of occupational health hazards
  such as benzene, asbestos, chromium, lead, dust
  and noise.

12
Linking the working and general environment

• The adverse environmental impact of many TVEs on
  the community has been a matter of serious
  concern.

13
Work and the Environment

• In July 1996 the National Environmental
  Protection Agency closed down about 1,000 small
  paper mills in Huaihe River Valley, following the
  closure of nearly 400 pollution-causing small
  factories in the past two years.

14
The working environment is an integral aspect of
the general environment

• The adverse environmental impact and many
  occupational hazards are due, in part, to the low
  level of technology used, exacerbated by the
  transfer of harmful or toxic-waste-generating
  urban enterprises to rural areas, sometimes
  without installing appropriate safety-production
  facilities.

15
Essential work-related welfare facilities

• China has been paying considerable attention to
  ensuring that essential work-related welfare
  facilities are provided to workers in SOEs.
• Access to adequate and clean toilets, safe
  drinking water, lockers and showers, for example,
  may still be regarded by some TVEs, particularly
  the small ones, as a luxury rather than a
  necessity.

16
Cyanide Spill in Chinese River