Workplace Environment

Safety

Protecting workplace safety and health by laws and labor standards that seek to prevent accidents, deaths, and occupational diseases is an increasing priority as the number of workplace-related deaths and accidents continues to remain unacceptably high. The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) reported that there were 88,923 work-related fatalities and 457,000 accidents in the first eleven months of 2007. More than 60 percent of fatal and severe accidents in the chemical industries are reported to be associated with unsafe work practices and the lack of safety awareness.

The government, in further implementing the 1994 Labor Law, passed the Law on Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Disease in 2001, which requires certain preventive medical procedures and replacement of dangerous technology and materials. In 2002 the Work Safety Law was added, which requires worker education and training before beginning a job for which proper protective equipment is provided. Special legislative mandates deal with safety in the mining and construction industries and with the safety and health of female workers who are pregnant, nursing, or menstruating. Employees and the union have a role in their enforcement. In 2008, State Council's Decree No. 516 repealed several administrative laws, a number of which had governed labor and work safety, in order to further clairfy and streamline legal obligations.

China has been called the “world's factory floor,” as its continually expanding economy sends its products throughout the world, securing huge percentages of the world markets and, often, trade surpluses.