All construction companies in Beijing must now buy injury and medical insurance for their workers, or face fines.

Following the death of thousands of construction workers in recent years - many of them migrant workers - firms will need the compulsory insurance from June.

"Any employer who fails to buy the two insurances for their employees will be subject to a fine of at least 10,000 yuan," said Wang Dexiu, deputy director with the Beijing Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau.

Injury insurance will cost 14 yuan (US$1.7) per worker per month, while medical insurance will cost 28 yuan (US$3.4) per worker per month.

A recent survey of 71,000 migrant workers from 15 construction companies in Beijing's Haidian and Fengtai districts showed that less than two in every 100 have insurance.

Nearly 10,000 migrant workers have died of work-related accidents in Beijing in the past five years, accounting for 20 per cent of the working injury death toll in the city.

Nationwide, the construction industry in most of the big cities in China absorbs the majority of the country's migrant workers.

The implementation of the compulsory insurance policy is estimated to cover some 1.3 million construction workers in Beijing.

"Beijing is now witnessing its busiest construction period since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949," said Liu Zhaoyuan, chief engineer of the Beijing Municipal Construction Commission.

The sound economy and the push for the 2008 Olympic Games mean the city is carrying out a lot of construction work, including buildings and the urban transport system.

It has been reported that more than 120 million square metres are under construction in Beijing this year, involving 1.3 million workers.

Farmers-turned-workers are among the most vulnerable population in Chinese cities. Not only are their living standards far below the urban average, but also many engage in high-risk occupations, doing the work that their urban peers do not want to do.

According to Chen Zhi, a doctor with Beijing 120 First-Aid Centre, a large number of calls to the service are from construction migrant workers.

"Furthermore, their injuries are nearly always fatal," Chen said.

Most of the cases used in Chen's first-aid training classes are concerning the terribly wounded migrant workers.

(China Daily May 9, 2005)