Thousands of avoidable deaths in the workplace
Over 50 workers dead in one day due to accidents caused by employers negligence and the controlling authorities disinterest. Many factories are built in residential areas, risking the health of the local population. Workers locked in and forced to work for over 15 hours.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – At least 54 workers died in factory accidents over the weekend, 12 minors died after a transport tunnel collapsed under their shelters . The Chinese economic boom continues to demand a high cost in human life, often in facilities which do not respect safety standards. According to official statistics from the first six months of 2007 3,599 took place in the industrial and commercial sectors with 3, 946 deaths. But this data is widely believed to be underestimated.
On the morning of October 21 an illegal fireworks factory blew up causing 16 deaths and leaving 15 people injured, destroying the entire building and surrounding homes in a remote rural area of Chongqing. That very night 37 workers trapped in a fire in the illegal shoe Feida in Putian (Fujian) died. A further 19 workers were hospitalised in grave conditions. The workers slept and ate in the floors above the factory.
On October 22nd in a mine in Yinying (Shanxi) a tunnel collapse brought down five homes from the minors quarters above, resulting in 12 deaths.
China Labour Bullettin, observes that “it is very common in China for small-scale factories to be set up in residential areas. In a suburb of Shijiazhuang, for example, clothing manufacturers typically rent two storey houses, using the ground floor as a workshop and the top floor as a dormitory for a few dozen predominately young women workers from the countryside”. Often in order to avoid inspections the “owners” lock their workers up in the factory for the entire working day which can last up to 15 hours. And when there are inspections and fines, little changes in general.
State agency Xinhua reports that the owner of the Feida Chen Zongfei, had been order in May last to improve the safety standards in his factory for the benefit of his workers. But he didn’t and neither was the factory closed.
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See also
Forced labour use drops dramatically
05/04/2019 16:19
05/04/2019 16:19
The everyday scandal of child workers
09/07/2007
09/07/2007
