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China to Enforce Labor-safety Standards in enterprises
China's Ministry of Health (MOH) plans to carry out an inspection nationwide this year focusing on small and medium-sized businesses that are occupational hazards and have poor work environment facilities.
According to Zhu Baoduo, deputy director of the MOH's department of health law and supervision, at a press conference here today, workplaces are increasingly becoming occupational hazards in China.
Statistics released by the MOH showed that 218 poisoning cases were reported last year, in which 759 people died or fell in ill because of work-related poisoning, a rise of 15 percent and a rise of 47 percent respectively over the figures in 1998.
Death tolls from industrial poisoning in May nearly doubled the number of the same month last year.
Carbon monoxide poisoning in a coal mine in northeast China's Jilin Province claimed six lives on March 6, this year. Six miners died and three were poisoned due to sulfureted hydrogen leakage in a strontium mine in Sichuan Province on May 18.
He added that many workers are unaware of the dangers caused by long-term exposure of dangerous chemicals such as chemical glue used in shoe-making industry.
Zhu said there are inadequate laws and regulations which have seen occupational hazards growing rampant in enterprises.
"Without laws, it is neither possible to enforce labor-safety standards in enterprises, or to force factory owners to take responsibility in protecting the health of workers," said Zhu.
To improve the situation, Zhu said, "some will have their licenses suspended or even be forced to close down if they fail to meet labor-safety standards."
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