China Labour Bulletin
Workplace Safety
June 2005
--Work safety is an issue of major concern for millions of workers in China,
especially those working in naturally high-risk industries. Many factory owners and
managers in China routinely ignore their legal obligation to provide proper and effective
safety regimes and necessary protective equipment for their workers. Besides allowing the
employers virtual impunity in this regard, the government's inability or lack of will to
enforce the country's own laws and regulations on occupational health and safety places
the lives of countless Chinese workers under daily threat.
We also report on the notorious lack of safety
standards and protections in China's fireworks factories and the danger posed to the
under-aged workers who often end up in this high-risk industry.
Official Survey Finds Around Half of China's
Fireworks are Sub-Standard and Unsafe On 5 April 2005.
Widespread disregard of basic safety standards in
China's fireworks industry has led to numerous major accidents in fireworks factories
across the country over the past few years. Despite repeated government promises to
tighten and clamp down on safety standards, hundreds of people are killed each year in
these avoidable workplace disasters.
On 4 October 2004, an explosion at the Changliang
Firecrackers Factory in Pubei County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, killed no fewer
than 37 workers. The blast destroyed three workshops, tore down the roofs of nearby houses
and left the surrounding area strewn with bodies and rubble.
Nearly half of all the fireworks produced in China
fail to meet basic quality and safety standards, a recent inspection conducted on 120
fireworks manufacturing enterprises from seven provinces in China by the State
Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has found.
According to Zhang Guanghua, director of the
Chemical Safety Supervision and Management Department under the State Administration of
Work Safety, "The production and standards of many small and medium-sized fireworks
producers in townships and villages do not meet state requirements." Fireworks safety
standards are a major concern for the people in China, she added, as it is a traditional
Chinese practice to celebrate festive seasons with firework displays.
The official investigation found that only 56.7 per
cent of the fireworks checked had met the approved quality standards. And among 120 brands
of fireworks assessed, 36.7 per cent were found to have defective blasting fuses, creating
a high risk of premature explosion and injury. Another major problem identified in the
survey was the widespread use of banned inflammable or explosive chemicals in making the
fireworks.
One-fifth of the inspected products were found to
have safety defects that could make them explode or detonate too close to the ground. The
packaging of 19 of the brands was also found to have defects that could lead to accidents
during transportation or storage.
The fireworks industry employs tens of thousands of
people, many of them from the poorest parts of China. They do most of the work by hand,
often at home or in small village workshops. According to Zhang Guohua, "These
workshops are to be phased out or developed into more advanced factories." She added
that five new national standards on fireworks' production will come into effect in March,
in an effort to ensure better safety and quality standards in the industry.
On 1 February, three of the managers and contractors
responsible for the Guangxi fireworks factory disaster of last October were sentenced to
terms of up to seven years' imprisonment for employing prohibited materials. Ma Dezhong
and Huang Xiujuan were jailed for seven and three years respectively, while another
manager, Ma Jing, received a five-year term. The sentences came as factories around the
country rushed to fill orders for firecrackers to celebrate the Lunar New Year – the
peak period for reports of deaths in fires and explosions.
The explosion at the Changliang Firecrackers Factory
was the third accident to have occurred in fireworks factories in Pubei County between May
and October 2004. On 20 August 2004, an explosion occurred at a fireworks factory there in
which the factory manager was killed by falling rubble. In May 2004, another blast at an
illegal fireworks factory in the same town killed two workers and injured about ten
others. Two children who were playing in the rubble after the initial blast were also
injured when some of the remaining explosives ignited.
Although the death toll of firework accidents in
China is much lower than that of coalmine disasters, a total of 322 people died in
officially-reported firework explosions alone last year – 67 more fatalities compared
with 2003, according to government statistics. The real figure is undoubtedly much higher.
Other reported major accidents at fireworks factories in the past few years include the
following:
On 27 and 28 January 2005, three firework explosions
took place in Hengshui, Xingtai and Dingzhou cities in Hebei Province killing nine people
in total. All three explosions were caused by illegal firework production.
On 11 January 2005, an explosion occurred at Xianglu
Firecracker Factory in Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province, claiming the lives of 25 workers
and injuring nine others. Most of the victims were female temporary workers.
In mid-September 2004, 11 female workers were killed
at Hedong Fireworks Factory in Hekou Township, Hunan Province.
An explosion at the Safe Environment Friendly
Fireworks Company Ltd in Changtu County, Liaoning Province, on 30 December 2003 killed 36
workers and left 32 others injured. The company owner, Chen Jicheng, was sentenced to
death on 22 December 2004 for illegally producing explosives and causing the explosion,
while the factory's general manager, You Tao, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment
for illegally producing explosives.
In July and August 2003, four separate explosions
occurred in several fireworks factories in Hebei, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guizhou provinces
within a single week, killing at least 31 workers. The accidents raised concern about the
use of child labour in the production of fireworks, since it was found that the youngest
worker in one of the factories was a 15-year-old girl.
