“Harsh penalties for accidents do little to improve work safety in China”, 7 May 2020

On 24 April, the courts in Fengcheng, Jiangxi, sentenced 28 enterprise managers and officials to prison terms of up to 18 years for their role in one of China’s biggest construction site accidents in recent years.

At least 73 workers were killed and two injured when a platform at a cooling tower construction site collapsed on 24 November 2016…

The court found that the accident had been caused by the decision of the main contractor and its partners to speed up construction work without going through the necessary safety procedures. The official in charge of construction work, Deng Yongchao, was found guilty of corruption, bribery, and the abuse of power by a state-owned enterprise…

The trial made headline news in China and was portrayed by some observers as an indication of China’s determination to improve work safety and prevent future large-scale accidents…

… there were numerous other accidents, not just at construction sites but in a wide range of industries across the whole of China…

The safety record of tower cranes at construction sites in China is particularly worrying. Although each accident is different, one common trait seems to be the sub-contracting and leasing of tower cranes from private companies which often leads to cost-cutting and a lack of maintenance or obsolete cranes being used in poorer, less economically developed regions.

Working conditions for tower crane operators are so bad that they staged a series of protests over low pay and long working hours two years ago. However, there has been little improvement in conditions since then.

Apart from the construction industry, there were also major accidents last month in the transport and fisheries sectors… Like tower crane operators, truck drivers are under immense work and financial pressure. Drivers are often forced to overload their vehicles in order to make a profit and pay back the loans on their trucks…

Clearly, there is still a long way to go in improving work safety in China, and the official trade union should be playing a more active role in this regard…