Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Miner dies at St. Lawrence Zinc
Since I've been giving the chinese so much grief over their horrible mining safety record, it's only fair that I report on western mine accidents too.
Newswatch50.com
A mining accident Saturday claimed the life of a St. Lawrence County man.
Clewis was standing on a platform, drilling into a wall, when the ceiling collapsed, pinning him under a slab of rock. Aldridge, who had jumped clear, called for help.
Newswatch50.com
A mining accident Saturday claimed the life of a St. Lawrence County man.
Clewis was standing on a platform, drilling into a wall, when the ceiling collapsed, pinning him under a slab of rock. Aldridge, who had jumped clear, called for help.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Poole begins Senate filibuster over steel coil legislation
This issue of steel coils rolling off flatbeds and damaging roads and potentially injuring people seems like a pretty straightforward "clear and present danger", yet legislators are still playing political football with it. He didn't widen the road last year, so I'm not going to increase fines this year. Sheesh! Sounds like public school, not a state legislature.
GadsdenTimes.com
Sen. Phil Poole, D-Tuscaloosa, started another filibuster last week over a bill sought by Gov. Bob Riley that would up penalties to truckers and companies that allow those gigantic rolls of steel to bounce off their trucks, damaging roads and endangering motorists.
[...]
Waggoner said it costs $200,000 to fix each hole in pavement when a steel coil rolls off a truck.
GadsdenTimes.com
Sen. Phil Poole, D-Tuscaloosa, started another filibuster last week over a bill sought by Gov. Bob Riley that would up penalties to truckers and companies that allow those gigantic rolls of steel to bounce off their trucks, damaging roads and endangering motorists.
[...]
Waggoner said it costs $200,000 to fix each hole in pavement when a steel coil rolls off a truck.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Flooding In China Leaves 181 Miners Trapped
From time to time I comment on the high human cost of Chinese steel. Here we have it again. Chinese mines have the worst safety record in the world.
CityNews
Heavy flooding poured into two coal mines in eastern China on Friday, leaving 181 miners trapped and feared dead. Two high-speed pumps were being rushed in to drain the flooded shafts, but officials say there's no word on when rescuers might enter the mines.
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with thousands of fatalities a year.
CityNews
Heavy flooding poured into two coal mines in eastern China on Friday, leaving 181 miners trapped and feared dead. Two high-speed pumps were being rushed in to drain the flooded shafts, but officials say there's no word on when rescuers might enter the mines.
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, with thousands of fatalities a year.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Toronto gets its very own coil steel rollover
Over the last few months I've reported on runaway coils of steel in big steel areas.
I live in Toronto, and us Torontonians are very competitive. We hate being left out in any competition. So now we too can boast our own near disaster with coiled steel.
The accident happened at what has to be the busiest highway interchange in Toronto, and probably in all of Ontario.
Courtesy of CityNews.com
A tractor trailer rolled over at Highways 400 and 401, shutting down a ramp and making things that much worse on the drive to work.
The rig, carrying rolls of steel, flipped on its side on the ramp from the southbound 400 to the westbound 401 at about 4:30am. Fortunately the driver was okay, only suffering some cuts and scrapes. The mess could have been much worse had there been a fuel spill, but luckily the tanks didn't crack.
There was concern that the saddle tanks might burst when the truck, with its heavy load, was brought back into an upright position. That's why it took about four hours to get the vehicle back on its wheels. However, it's since been cleared from the scene and the roadway has apparently reopened. Traffic on the 401 was slow through the area during the rush hour because drivers were stopping to look, however things have since returned to normal.
Map of the area of the interchange
I live in Toronto, and us Torontonians are very competitive. We hate being left out in any competition. So now we too can boast our own near disaster with coiled steel.
The accident happened at what has to be the busiest highway interchange in Toronto, and probably in all of Ontario.
Courtesy of CityNews.com
A tractor trailer rolled over at Highways 400 and 401, shutting down a ramp and making things that much worse on the drive to work.
The rig, carrying rolls of steel, flipped on its side on the ramp from the southbound 400 to the westbound 401 at about 4:30am. Fortunately the driver was okay, only suffering some cuts and scrapes. The mess could have been much worse had there been a fuel spill, but luckily the tanks didn't crack.
There was concern that the saddle tanks might burst when the truck, with its heavy load, was brought back into an upright position. That's why it took about four hours to get the vehicle back on its wheels. However, it's since been cleared from the scene and the roadway has apparently reopened. Traffic on the 401 was slow through the area during the rush hour because drivers were stopping to look, however things have since returned to normal.
Map of the area of the interchange
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Gas leak kills four at China steel plant
Once again, chinese steel workers pay a heavy price.
China Economic Net (ce.cn)
The accident occurred at around 0:00 a.m. at Haicheng Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., a private company that produces 500,000 tons of raw iron a year, said an official with the safety inspection bureau in Anshan.
Five workers were on duty and were taking a nap in their office. "Four of them had died when rescuers arrived," he said on condition of anonymity. "The fifth one was out of danger after timely treatment."
The leak occurred on a gas pipe connected to the company's primary blast furnace
China Economic Net (ce.cn)
The accident occurred at around 0:00 a.m. at Haicheng Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., a private company that produces 500,000 tons of raw iron a year, said an official with the safety inspection bureau in Anshan.
Five workers were on duty and were taking a nap in their office. "Four of them had died when rescuers arrived," he said on condition of anonymity. "The fifth one was out of danger after timely treatment."
The leak occurred on a gas pipe connected to the company's primary blast furnace
Friday, April 06, 2007
Manufacturing's Race for the Bottom
Today I got more semi-confirmations from others in the slide forming business that US Baird is likely gone. At least, everyone has heard the same rumour, but no one (so far) heard it directly from the horses mouth.
But I thought I'd dwell on this for a bit. What an odd bit of timing. US Baird, an innovative company with a 150 year history, goes out of business. George writes his article on how North America has lost it's manufacturing tradition. And Menu Foods poisons many hundreds, perhaps thousands of pets, by importing contaminated wheat gluten from China.
What is going on here? Why is manufacturing engaged in a giant race for the bottom?
To some extent, responding to the pressure to reduce cost is good. When you can make an equivalent product, that means, as good or better, by a simpler process, you are reducing cost in a good way. That is, you are reducing the total cost of the product.
For instance, if you find out that 5 microinches of plating is enough for the application, and you cut it down from 10, you reduce the cost. If you find a way to run the machine faster, so it produces more parts per unit time, you are reducing the cost. If you find a smarter method of assembly, so that fewer man hours are needed, you are reducing the cost. If you find a process that is less environmentally harmful, and therefore there is less environmental cleanup involved, you are reducing the cost.
But we've stopped doing that. Instead, we're merely shifting cost into someone else's back yard, into someone else's economy. Often, we are increasing the real cost of the item, measured in hours or lives or environmental damage.
Look, for instance, at chinese steel. Chinese steel costs less. There are many reasons, but most of the media attention has been focused on low wages. Low wages are a part of it, but macro economics says that, over time, that will even out. The workers will demand, and eventually get, better wages.
Large parts also have to do with unsafe working conditions, with extremely low cost-of-safety government regulations, inadequate or non-existant enforcement, inadequate compensation for maimed or dead workers, not just in the steel industry but in the other industries behind it, like coal mining.
Those factors won't ever even out. Those workers will still be dead, and their families will miss them for the rest of their natural lives.
So when the CEO of a company buys products from China, they transfer those costs, insurance, compensation for work accidents, etc, to places which attach little or not currency to those items. It's not like the number of workplace accidents go down, in fact, they generally go up. And the real human costs, measured by every moral measure, go up. Thousands of chinese mine workers die every year. China has the worst mining safety record in the world. In the world! So in fact, outsourcing to China increases the cost by every moral measure. But it decreases the dollar cost, because the chinese pay so little for a life.
The same arguments can be made for the environment. We shift environmentally substandard processes to other, under developed countries, where the dollar cost of transgression is low, even though the environmental processes are, at best, no different, and in many cases much worse. So it's not like we're harming the planet any less, it's just that we're doing it in an underdeveloped country where the cost of transgressing hasn't caught up with the first world.
In other words, we're creating human misery, suffering and environmental damage, but being asked to pay less for it, because it's happening somewhere else. Oh, and then there's the environmental damage of transporting all those products half way around the world.
In what conceivable scenario does this make sense?
Menu Foods is in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, Canada. Canada is a net exporter of wheat. Why is Menu Foods buying wheat gluten from China, paying shipping charges?
And now they will be paying for a class action lawsuit, for all the dead pets.
It's easy to blame Menu Foods. They bought an inferior product from far away, a place where, it seems, contaminating pet food isn't important because, I guess, pets aren't important. I've seen several reports. The gluten was contaminated with rat poison, in one report, with Melamine in another report. In any case, it's clear that someone didn't much care about this product.
But whatever happened to quality? Especially in a food. Whatever happened to being willing to pay for good ingredients, properly prepared? For your pets, or your children. Why are we buying inferior products? Why are the WalMarts of the world stocking inferior products? Why are they forcing suppliers to skimp and save and cheapen their products? Why do we as consumers buy from such stores?
Only when you find an answer to why we, as consumers, have pushed for the lowest quality product at the lowest price, will you understand why North American manufacturing is languishing and dying. The race for the bottom starts with us.
But I thought I'd dwell on this for a bit. What an odd bit of timing. US Baird, an innovative company with a 150 year history, goes out of business. George writes his article on how North America has lost it's manufacturing tradition. And Menu Foods poisons many hundreds, perhaps thousands of pets, by importing contaminated wheat gluten from China.
What is going on here? Why is manufacturing engaged in a giant race for the bottom?
To some extent, responding to the pressure to reduce cost is good. When you can make an equivalent product, that means, as good or better, by a simpler process, you are reducing cost in a good way. That is, you are reducing the total cost of the product.
For instance, if you find out that 5 microinches of plating is enough for the application, and you cut it down from 10, you reduce the cost. If you find a way to run the machine faster, so it produces more parts per unit time, you are reducing the cost. If you find a smarter method of assembly, so that fewer man hours are needed, you are reducing the cost. If you find a process that is less environmentally harmful, and therefore there is less environmental cleanup involved, you are reducing the cost.
But we've stopped doing that. Instead, we're merely shifting cost into someone else's back yard, into someone else's economy. Often, we are increasing the real cost of the item, measured in hours or lives or environmental damage.
Look, for instance, at chinese steel. Chinese steel costs less. There are many reasons, but most of the media attention has been focused on low wages. Low wages are a part of it, but macro economics says that, over time, that will even out. The workers will demand, and eventually get, better wages.
Large parts also have to do with unsafe working conditions, with extremely low cost-of-safety government regulations, inadequate or non-existant enforcement, inadequate compensation for maimed or dead workers, not just in the steel industry but in the other industries behind it, like coal mining.
Those factors won't ever even out. Those workers will still be dead, and their families will miss them for the rest of their natural lives.
So when the CEO of a company buys products from China, they transfer those costs, insurance, compensation for work accidents, etc, to places which attach little or not currency to those items. It's not like the number of workplace accidents go down, in fact, they generally go up. And the real human costs, measured by every moral measure, go up. Thousands of chinese mine workers die every year. China has the worst mining safety record in the world. In the world! So in fact, outsourcing to China increases the cost by every moral measure. But it decreases the dollar cost, because the chinese pay so little for a life.
The same arguments can be made for the environment. We shift environmentally substandard processes to other, under developed countries, where the dollar cost of transgression is low, even though the environmental processes are, at best, no different, and in many cases much worse. So it's not like we're harming the planet any less, it's just that we're doing it in an underdeveloped country where the cost of transgressing hasn't caught up with the first world.
In other words, we're creating human misery, suffering and environmental damage, but being asked to pay less for it, because it's happening somewhere else. Oh, and then there's the environmental damage of transporting all those products half way around the world.
In what conceivable scenario does this make sense?
Menu Foods is in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, Canada. Canada is a net exporter of wheat. Why is Menu Foods buying wheat gluten from China, paying shipping charges?
And now they will be paying for a class action lawsuit, for all the dead pets.
It's easy to blame Menu Foods. They bought an inferior product from far away, a place where, it seems, contaminating pet food isn't important because, I guess, pets aren't important. I've seen several reports. The gluten was contaminated with rat poison, in one report, with Melamine in another report. In any case, it's clear that someone didn't much care about this product.
But whatever happened to quality? Especially in a food. Whatever happened to being willing to pay for good ingredients, properly prepared? For your pets, or your children. Why are we buying inferior products? Why are the WalMarts of the world stocking inferior products? Why are they forcing suppliers to skimp and save and cheapen their products? Why do we as consumers buy from such stores?
Only when you find an answer to why we, as consumers, have pushed for the lowest quality product at the lowest price, will you understand why North American manufacturing is languishing and dying. The race for the bottom starts with us.
Labels: china, manufacturing, safety
Monday, November 28, 2005
China coal mine blast kills 68
From time to time we comment on Chinese workplace safety issues. Here's another case ...
Reuters
An explosion ripped through a state-owned colliery in northeast China, killing 68 miners and trapping 79 underground, just days after Chinese leaders called for vigilance to prevent major accidents.
The blast late on Sunday was the latest disaster to strike Heilongjiang, whose capital city, Harbin, was held hostage for five days by a toxic spill coursing through the Songhua river that provides its water supply, forcing a shut-down of tap water.
Later, Reuters reported 36 still trapped.
A few minutes ago, a report from a Turkish source implied the trapped 34 were lost:
Mine Accident Death Toll Rises in China to 134 from Zaman.com in Turkey
According to the official Chinese news agency, Shinhua, there are still 15 mine workers missing.
Some background: China's Deadliest Mining Disasters
And this, of course, is part of the problem:
Families compensated for lives lost in north China mine mishap
Families of the 33 miners killed in the plaster mine cave-in in north China's Hebei Province on Nov. 6 have been compensated 170,000 yuan (US$21,400) for each victim, the local source said.
Reuters
An explosion ripped through a state-owned colliery in northeast China, killing 68 miners and trapping 79 underground, just days after Chinese leaders called for vigilance to prevent major accidents.
The blast late on Sunday was the latest disaster to strike Heilongjiang, whose capital city, Harbin, was held hostage for five days by a toxic spill coursing through the Songhua river that provides its water supply, forcing a shut-down of tap water.
Later, Reuters reported 36 still trapped.
A few minutes ago, a report from a Turkish source implied the trapped 34 were lost:
Mine Accident Death Toll Rises in China to 134 from Zaman.com in Turkey
According to the official Chinese news agency, Shinhua, there are still 15 mine workers missing.
Some background: China's Deadliest Mining Disasters
And this, of course, is part of the problem:
Families compensated for lives lost in north China mine mishap
Families of the 33 miners killed in the plaster mine cave-in in north China's Hebei Province on Nov. 6 have been compensated 170,000 yuan (US$21,400) for each victim, the local source said.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Gas Explosion at illegal Chinese coal mine kills 19 workers
I've commented before on the worker safety conditions (or lack thereof) in China. So this relayed without further comment. The articles so far don't say whether this is metalurgical (coaking) coal or some other type.
Yahoo Asia
Thirty-four miners were underground when the accident occurred at the Jiajiapu Coal Mine in Shanxi province Saturday, the report said. Fifteen workers escaped unharmed.
The mine was operating without official permits, it said.
China's mines are the world's most dangerous with fires, floods and other mishaps killing workers almost every day. Lax safety rules and a lack of proper safety equipment are often to blame.
Yahoo Asia
Thirty-four miners were underground when the accident occurred at the Jiajiapu Coal Mine in Shanxi province Saturday, the report said. Fifteen workers escaped unharmed.
The mine was operating without official permits, it said.
China's mines are the world's most dangerous with fires, floods and other mishaps killing workers almost every day. Lax safety rules and a lack of proper safety equipment are often to blame.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
Coal mine owners have been ordered to use some of their profits to urgently improve safety conditions. The demand issued yesterday by a senior State Council official comes after China's appalling work safety record in mines plunged new depths.
The article goes on to say that this will raise coal prices, and that's not a bad thing, because so much is wasted because it's so cheap, it's also an ecological problem.
Another article in Newsday puts this into context:
China's Legislature Gears Up for Session
The annual meeting of China's legislature may be little more than tightly scripted political theater, but in a country where all decisions are made in secret, it offers a rare peek behind the curtain.
Later, the author writes:
So much else in China is changing day by day -- from business to technology and even village governance -- but the National People's Congress remains a relic of years gone by. Still, the annual spectacle offers a glimpse into the intentions of a government increasingly sure of China's rising global status and able to swiftly crack down on any opposition to one-party rule.
Topping this year's agenda is an anti-secession law aimed at curbing pro-independence sentiment in Taiwan[... .]
In closed-door sessions, delegates will discuss eliminating graft, improving workplace safety, lifting rural incomes and protecting China's ravaged environment, while avoiding any challenges to current policy or leaders.
They also plan to debate how to discourage the abortion of female fetuses in a country where 117 boys are born for every 100 girls.
The whole issue of workplace safety in China has been on my mind recently. Here are some other stories and references:
Death Penalty for China Fireworks Plant Boss
Thursday, December 23, 2004
AP via Fox News
A Chinese factory boss has been sentenced to death for illegally producing fireworks in a workshop where 36 people were killed in an explosion last year, the government said Thursday.
Chen Jicheng set up the unlicensed factory late last year in the northeastern city of Tieling in Liaoning province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The factory had only been open for three days when an explosion on Dec. 30, 2003, tore apart its two workshops, killing 36 people.
The factory's manager, You Tao, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for producing illegal fireworks, it said.
China's fireworks industry suffers hundreds of deaths every year in fires and explosions. The industry employs thousands of people, often in poor rural areas, who do much of the work by hand.
An interesting site is Asian Labour
Asian Labour An online database of news about workers in Southeast Asia and China and the issues that affect them , including a fairly new category of Labour Stats Such data is sparse and hard to find on the internet. There are also pointers on that web site to many other web resources.
The article goes on to say that this will raise coal prices, and that's not a bad thing, because so much is wasted because it's so cheap, it's also an ecological problem.
Another article in Newsday puts this into context:
China's Legislature Gears Up for Session
The annual meeting of China's legislature may be little more than tightly scripted political theater, but in a country where all decisions are made in secret, it offers a rare peek behind the curtain.
Later, the author writes:
So much else in China is changing day by day -- from business to technology and even village governance -- but the National People's Congress remains a relic of years gone by. Still, the annual spectacle offers a glimpse into the intentions of a government increasingly sure of China's rising global status and able to swiftly crack down on any opposition to one-party rule.
Topping this year's agenda is an anti-secession law aimed at curbing pro-independence sentiment in Taiwan[... .]
In closed-door sessions, delegates will discuss eliminating graft, improving workplace safety, lifting rural incomes and protecting China's ravaged environment, while avoiding any challenges to current policy or leaders.
They also plan to debate how to discourage the abortion of female fetuses in a country where 117 boys are born for every 100 girls.
The whole issue of workplace safety in China has been on my mind recently. Here are some other stories and references:
Death Penalty for China Fireworks Plant Boss
Thursday, December 23, 2004
AP via Fox News
A Chinese factory boss has been sentenced to death for illegally producing fireworks in a workshop where 36 people were killed in an explosion last year, the government said Thursday.
Chen Jicheng set up the unlicensed factory late last year in the northeastern city of Tieling in Liaoning province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The factory had only been open for three days when an explosion on Dec. 30, 2003, tore apart its two workshops, killing 36 people.
The factory's manager, You Tao, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for producing illegal fireworks, it said.
China's fireworks industry suffers hundreds of deaths every year in fires and explosions. The industry employs thousands of people, often in poor rural areas, who do much of the work by hand.
An interesting site is Asian Labour
Asian Labour An online database of news about workers in Southeast Asia and China and the issues that affect them , including a fairly new category of Labour Stats Such data is sparse and hard to find on the internet. There are also pointers on that web site to many other web resources.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
China blast comes after 2002 safety law change
Kansas City Star
China's worst reported mining disaster since communist rule began in 1949 came three years after officials had promised to overhaul the nation's workplace safety system.
In October 2002, the government created China's first safety laws and launched a nationwide effort that included workplace inspectors. Despite those efforts, deadly accidents have continued to plague the country's coal mines and factories.
Last year more than 6,000 miners died in fires, floods and explosions — an average of about 16 workers per day. The country accounts for 80 percent of the world's coal mining fatalities.
Experts say the new laws have not been matched with adequate education or enforcement. Many blame China's demand for coal and its booming economy for tempting mine owners and workers to cut safety corners.
China is the world's top producer of coal, with 1.9 billion tons extracted last year, 10 percent more than in 2003.
Fuxin is in one of China's oldest coal mining regions, and many of its mines have been depleted, according to state media reports. Miners must tunnel far underground to reach coal seams, and the risk of explosion due to methane gas is high.
Monday's disaster was the deadliest reported by the government since the 1949 communist revolution. Until the late 1990s, when the government regularly began announcing statistics on mining deaths, many industrial accidents were never disclosed.
China's worst reported mining disaster since communist rule began in 1949 came three years after officials had promised to overhaul the nation's workplace safety system.
In October 2002, the government created China's first safety laws and launched a nationwide effort that included workplace inspectors. Despite those efforts, deadly accidents have continued to plague the country's coal mines and factories.
Last year more than 6,000 miners died in fires, floods and explosions — an average of about 16 workers per day. The country accounts for 80 percent of the world's coal mining fatalities.
Experts say the new laws have not been matched with adequate education or enforcement. Many blame China's demand for coal and its booming economy for tempting mine owners and workers to cut safety corners.
China is the world's top producer of coal, with 1.9 billion tons extracted last year, 10 percent more than in 2003.
Fuxin is in one of China's oldest coal mining regions, and many of its mines have been depleted, according to state media reports. Miners must tunnel far underground to reach coal seams, and the risk of explosion due to methane gas is high.
Monday's disaster was the deadliest reported by the government since the 1949 communist revolution. Until the late 1990s, when the government regularly began announcing statistics on mining deaths, many industrial accidents were never disclosed.
20 years' wages likely for families of killed Chinese mine workers
The Standard
China plans to set up a common workers' compensation standard, granting up to 20 years' salary in the event of death or injury caused by a workplace accident determined to be entirely the fault of an employer.
The move is designed to make it prohibitively expensive for employers, particularly in the fatality-plagued mining and construction industries, to leave dangerous working conditions unremedied.
It would also encourage them to take out accident insurance on their staff, said Jing Bao, an official publication, quoting Cao Zongli, an official with the regulation department of the State Administration of Work Safety.
Though new regulations designed to foster workplace safety were introduced a year ago, many industries that depend on low-paid migrant workers still refuse to buy employee accident coverage.
On Monday, a fatal gas explosion killed 210 coal miners in Fuxin, Liaoning province. Their employer was said to have forced miners to sign a contract specifying maximum compensation of 20,000 yuan (HK$18,860) in the event of a fatal accident at work.
China plans to set up a common workers' compensation standard, granting up to 20 years' salary in the event of death or injury caused by a workplace accident determined to be entirely the fault of an employer.
The move is designed to make it prohibitively expensive for employers, particularly in the fatality-plagued mining and construction industries, to leave dangerous working conditions unremedied.
It would also encourage them to take out accident insurance on their staff, said Jing Bao, an official publication, quoting Cao Zongli, an official with the regulation department of the State Administration of Work Safety.
Though new regulations designed to foster workplace safety were introduced a year ago, many industries that depend on low-paid migrant workers still refuse to buy employee accident coverage.
On Monday, a fatal gas explosion killed 210 coal miners in Fuxin, Liaoning province. Their employer was said to have forced miners to sign a contract specifying maximum compensation of 20,000 yuan (HK$18,860) in the event of a fatal accident at work.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Chinese coal mine blast kills 25 dead, many trapped underground
Radio Australia
At least 25 miners have been killed and 194 others are believed to be trapped underground, after a gas explosion at a coal mine in northeastern China.
Chinese state media reports another 19 miners have been injured in the blast in Fuxin city.
Mining accidents and fatalities are an almost daily occurrence in China.
China's coal industry is the most dangerous in the world, with more than 6,000 workers dying in mining accidents last year.
The Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, ordered better work safety conditions during a visit last month to a coal mine where 166 miners died in November.
At least 25 miners have been killed and 194 others are believed to be trapped underground, after a gas explosion at a coal mine in northeastern China.
Chinese state media reports another 19 miners have been injured in the blast in Fuxin city.
Mining accidents and fatalities are an almost daily occurrence in China.
China's coal industry is the most dangerous in the world, with more than 6,000 workers dying in mining accidents last year.
The Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, ordered better work safety conditions during a visit last month to a coal mine where 166 miners died in November.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Workplace accidents down, but more deaths
After reading the article about a workplace accident in a steel mill, I got curious about the Chinese workplace safety record. I couldn't find much that was current and on point. This article, from April of 2004, was interesting. Accidents were down, but more deaths resulted from the smaller number of accidents. The numbers are large, but you have to factor in the total population of China is also large.
China Daily.com (english edition)
Although total accidents were 4.1 per cent lower than the same period of last year, the death toll climbed 2.4 per cent.
He attributed the situation to the country's continuous safety inspections, specialized rectifications and the building of a legal system on workplace safety.
Major accidents and deaths were reported from road traffic accidents, coal mines or other industrial sector incidents, trade and commercial enterprise accidents, fires and waterways and railway traffic incidents, according to statistics.
Road traffic accidents remain the top killer, with 30,733 people killed in 167,463 reported cases. Such deaths and accidents accounted for 80.5 per cent and 58.2 per cent of the country's total, respectively, over the past four months.
Coal-related deaths dropped 25 per cent during January-April period with 1,267 deaths reported in 854 registered cases. The total output of coal was up 19 per cent up over the same period the previous year.
Fortunately, extremely serious accidents -- each with a death toll of more than 30 people --dropped.
However, following soaring prices and an increasing domestic demand for chemical products, more serious accidents took place over the past few weeks in that field due to outdated technology, ageing facilities and poor management.
Nine people were killed by a blowout involving chemical products in a factory in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality on April 16.
Three workers were poisoned to death in Maoming, in South China's Guangdong Province, on April 19 after chemicals leaked at a local refinery.
'Such accidents resulted in 23 deaths, the poisonings of 300 others and more than 150,000 people had to be evacuated during emergency operations from April 16 to 24, shocking all of society,' Wang [Xianzheng, an official of the State Administration of Work Safety] disclosed.
The same issue of China Daily had some other interesting safety related articles:
Road accidents kill 300 a day in China
Latest research shows that every day in China at least 300 people are killed in traffic accidents, ranking the country top in the world for both the death toll and the death rate. And the figure is accelerating by 10 per cent every year.
"It was a little ironic as the overall number of vehicles in China is far smaller than that in Western countries, while the death rate from road accidents is much higher," said an academic surnamed Wang who was quoted in the China Youth Daily.
"According to our research, the death toll and death rate per 10,000 automobiles here is eight times more than that in America," he said.
The most important factor was still the negligence of drivers. Statistics showed that last year some 78.5 per cent of the deaths, about 86,000 people, were caused by improper driving.
Punishment for negligent drivers is said to be too lenient due to a failure of the relevant laws to catch up with current conditions.
But they do seem to be cracking down on enforcement officials who are slacking off at their posts ... In April they published this article
Official sacked for accidents
A deputy commissioner in Shanxi Province was sacked after coal mining accidents that killed 141 and caused millions of yuan in damages in 2002 and 2003.
According to a report in Sunday's Shanxi Daily, he showed poor leadership in allowing illegal coal mines operations. He was in charge of safety at coal mines and was also the former director of the area's Work Safety Committee.
Several months earlier, they had set a goal, still awfully weak sounding to me, but I'm no mining expert.
China aims to cut coal mine death toll by 30 percent by 2007
China has set the target of lowering the death toll in coal mine accidents from 7,000 a year at present to 5,000 by 2007.
But it doesn't seem to be working. Check out this article in December 2004:
China's mining sector sounds the alarm
An explosion at Chenjiashan Coal Mine in the northwestern province of Shaanxi on November 28 and a gas explosion in a Guizhou mine in Southwest China on December 1 once again added to China's dismal safety record in the mining industry.
The death toll in Sunday's gas blast has reached 166, making it the worst since a September 2000 explosion at Muchonggou Coal Mine in Guizhou Province claimed 162 lives.
China's coal mines have been haunted by death. On October 20 a deadly gas blast in Daping of central Henan Province killed 148.
In the first nine months of this year, 4,153 coal miners were killed in fires, explosions, floods or other disasters, statistics from the State Administration of Work Safety show.
The administration said China reported 80 per cent of the world's total coal mining-related deaths, although it produced only 35 per cent of the world's coal.
In fact, the staggering number of coal mining accidents and deaths represent only part of the serious work safety problems in the world's most populous nation.
China has seen an annual average of about 1 million industrial accidents since 2001, according to the State Administration of Work Safety, with nearly 140,000 deaths each year.
Economic losses incurred in the accidents are estimated to top US$180 billion annually, according to Luo Yun, a researcher at the Chinese University of Geology.
The professor, director of the university's Work Safety Research Centre, long warned against a sharp rise in workplace accidents amid China's fast economic growth.
"That's because the contradiction between China's booming economy and its weak production safety foundation is going to the extreme," he said.
And, of course, mining is where steel begins, both for iron ore and for coal. So this is very much tied up in the steel business.
I especially found this part, later in the same article, to be of interest.
What is to blame?
Media commentator Li Wangang said the industrial development history of Western countries should not be used to justify China's high frequency of workplace accidents at present.
"As a developing country, China should have learned lessons from developed nations and thus does not need to relive their painful experiences," he said.
Luo went further to stress that in theory all workplace accidents are technical risks and can be prevented through adequate precautionary measures.
But unfortunately, there has been rampant negligence of work safety around the country, says Zhang Baoming, former director of the State Administration of Work Safety.
He said almost all industrial accidents in China were caused by human errors, except a few that resulted from natural factors.
Zhang points to widespread practices of being preoccupied with economic growth while disregarding the life and health of labourers, the government's lax supervision on safety as well as poor enforcement of related laws and regulations.
"If unchecked, the upward spiral in workplace accidents will not only cause great damage to our society but also pose a grave test to social justice and government credibility," says Zhang, now a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The recent series of accidents have drawn particular attention as market demand for coal continues to soar in China.
As the Chinese economy grows at full steam, there has been a dire need for coal, which supplies two-thirds of the country's total energy and generates 80 per cent of its electricity.
Work safety experts say increased production has forced coal mines to their maximum capacity, triggering more potential risks.
China Daily.com (english edition)
Although total accidents were 4.1 per cent lower than the same period of last year, the death toll climbed 2.4 per cent.
He attributed the situation to the country's continuous safety inspections, specialized rectifications and the building of a legal system on workplace safety.
Major accidents and deaths were reported from road traffic accidents, coal mines or other industrial sector incidents, trade and commercial enterprise accidents, fires and waterways and railway traffic incidents, according to statistics.
Road traffic accidents remain the top killer, with 30,733 people killed in 167,463 reported cases. Such deaths and accidents accounted for 80.5 per cent and 58.2 per cent of the country's total, respectively, over the past four months.
Coal-related deaths dropped 25 per cent during January-April period with 1,267 deaths reported in 854 registered cases. The total output of coal was up 19 per cent up over the same period the previous year.
Fortunately, extremely serious accidents -- each with a death toll of more than 30 people --dropped.
However, following soaring prices and an increasing domestic demand for chemical products, more serious accidents took place over the past few weeks in that field due to outdated technology, ageing facilities and poor management.
Nine people were killed by a blowout involving chemical products in a factory in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality on April 16.
Three workers were poisoned to death in Maoming, in South China's Guangdong Province, on April 19 after chemicals leaked at a local refinery.
'Such accidents resulted in 23 deaths, the poisonings of 300 others and more than 150,000 people had to be evacuated during emergency operations from April 16 to 24, shocking all of society,' Wang [Xianzheng, an official of the State Administration of Work Safety] disclosed.
The same issue of China Daily had some other interesting safety related articles:
Road accidents kill 300 a day in China
Latest research shows that every day in China at least 300 people are killed in traffic accidents, ranking the country top in the world for both the death toll and the death rate. And the figure is accelerating by 10 per cent every year.
"It was a little ironic as the overall number of vehicles in China is far smaller than that in Western countries, while the death rate from road accidents is much higher," said an academic surnamed Wang who was quoted in the China Youth Daily.
"According to our research, the death toll and death rate per 10,000 automobiles here is eight times more than that in America," he said.
The most important factor was still the negligence of drivers. Statistics showed that last year some 78.5 per cent of the deaths, about 86,000 people, were caused by improper driving.
Punishment for negligent drivers is said to be too lenient due to a failure of the relevant laws to catch up with current conditions.
But they do seem to be cracking down on enforcement officials who are slacking off at their posts ... In April they published this article
Official sacked for accidents
A deputy commissioner in Shanxi Province was sacked after coal mining accidents that killed 141 and caused millions of yuan in damages in 2002 and 2003.
According to a report in Sunday's Shanxi Daily, he showed poor leadership in allowing illegal coal mines operations. He was in charge of safety at coal mines and was also the former director of the area's Work Safety Committee.
Several months earlier, they had set a goal, still awfully weak sounding to me, but I'm no mining expert.
China aims to cut coal mine death toll by 30 percent by 2007
China has set the target of lowering the death toll in coal mine accidents from 7,000 a year at present to 5,000 by 2007.
But it doesn't seem to be working. Check out this article in December 2004:
China's mining sector sounds the alarm
An explosion at Chenjiashan Coal Mine in the northwestern province of Shaanxi on November 28 and a gas explosion in a Guizhou mine in Southwest China on December 1 once again added to China's dismal safety record in the mining industry.
The death toll in Sunday's gas blast has reached 166, making it the worst since a September 2000 explosion at Muchonggou Coal Mine in Guizhou Province claimed 162 lives.
China's coal mines have been haunted by death. On October 20 a deadly gas blast in Daping of central Henan Province killed 148.
In the first nine months of this year, 4,153 coal miners were killed in fires, explosions, floods or other disasters, statistics from the State Administration of Work Safety show.
The administration said China reported 80 per cent of the world's total coal mining-related deaths, although it produced only 35 per cent of the world's coal.
In fact, the staggering number of coal mining accidents and deaths represent only part of the serious work safety problems in the world's most populous nation.
China has seen an annual average of about 1 million industrial accidents since 2001, according to the State Administration of Work Safety, with nearly 140,000 deaths each year.
Economic losses incurred in the accidents are estimated to top US$180 billion annually, according to Luo Yun, a researcher at the Chinese University of Geology.
The professor, director of the university's Work Safety Research Centre, long warned against a sharp rise in workplace accidents amid China's fast economic growth.
"That's because the contradiction between China's booming economy and its weak production safety foundation is going to the extreme," he said.
And, of course, mining is where steel begins, both for iron ore and for coal. So this is very much tied up in the steel business.
I especially found this part, later in the same article, to be of interest.
What is to blame?
Media commentator Li Wangang said the industrial development history of Western countries should not be used to justify China's high frequency of workplace accidents at present.
"As a developing country, China should have learned lessons from developed nations and thus does not need to relive their painful experiences," he said.
Luo went further to stress that in theory all workplace accidents are technical risks and can be prevented through adequate precautionary measures.
But unfortunately, there has been rampant negligence of work safety around the country, says Zhang Baoming, former director of the State Administration of Work Safety.
He said almost all industrial accidents in China were caused by human errors, except a few that resulted from natural factors.
Zhang points to widespread practices of being preoccupied with economic growth while disregarding the life and health of labourers, the government's lax supervision on safety as well as poor enforcement of related laws and regulations.
"If unchecked, the upward spiral in workplace accidents will not only cause great damage to our society but also pose a grave test to social justice and government credibility," says Zhang, now a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The recent series of accidents have drawn particular attention as market demand for coal continues to soar in China.
As the Chinese economy grows at full steam, there has been a dire need for coal, which supplies two-thirds of the country's total energy and generates 80 per cent of its electricity.
Work safety experts say increased production has forced coal mines to their maximum capacity, triggering more potential risks.
