A new law protecting workers from occupational health hazards was
passed last week and will take effect starting May 1, 2002.
Occupational diseases, usually caused by industrial dust,
radioactive matter and toxic chemicals in work sites, are harming
the health of more and more workers, according to recent statistics
from the Ministry of Health.
"The increase mainly comes from joint ventures and township
enterprises," said Zhou Anshou, an occupational disease expert.
Zhou said some overseas investors omit necessary preventive safety
measures when building workshops on the mainland to cut production
costs and do not inform their workers of the possible dangers to
their health.
He
said mainland laborers, who often are not equipped with proper
safety gear, are exposed to toxic chemicals.
A
ministry survey found that the amount of people suffering acute
poisoning in joint ventures in South China's Guangdong Province
last year increased by 43.8 per cent from 1999.
Small-scale township enterprises which usually operate at low
technical levels are putting their employees at risk too.
A
ministry survey conducted in the 1990s showed that 60 per cent of
township enterprises did not take any preventive measures, and
nearly 30 per cent of their workers were exposed to industrial dust
and toxic materials.
Workers in some shoe factories handle glue containing Benzene,
which can cause leukemia, without wearing gloves, and those in
cement factories only wear gauze masks to protect against dust that
may cause pneumoconiosis, the survey discovered.
Also, manuals and warning signs written in Chinese often do not
accompany the hazardous facilities and raw materials that many of
these enterprises import.
"If we do not take effective measures, large numbers of
occupational disease patients will appear in the next 10 years and
may cause social problems," said Zhou.
The new law states that factories must take necessary preventive
safety measures. Violators will be punished and even shut down
according to the law, said Zhao Tonggang, an official with the
ministry. "Preventive measures must be emphasized because many
occupational diseases are hard to cure but can be prevented," he
said.
(China
Daily November 3, 2001)