It seems that every decade a new pandemic emerges on the world scene, and complacency continues to exist in the workers’ compensation arena to meet the emerging challenges of infectious disease.
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Friday, January 22, 2021
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Fire at Chinese shoe factory kills 16: Xinhua
BEIJING (Reuters) - A fire at a shoe factory in eastern China killed 16 people and injured five, state media reported, the latest disaster to highlight China's poor workplace safety record.
The fire broke out at the factory in Wenling in the wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang on Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.
More than 20 people were rescued and the injured were all in stable condition in hospital, it said. The cause of the fire was being investigated.
China, the world's second-largest economy, has a bad record on workplace safety. Fire exits in factories, office buildings and shops are often locked to prevent workers taking time off or stealing, or even blocked completely.
A fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in the northeastern province of Jilin in June 2013 killed 120 people. That blaze was blamed on poor management, lack of government oversight and locked or blocked exits.
Many industrial accidents happen in the huge coal mining industry, in which hundreds die every year from explosions, mine collapses and floods.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)
A fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in the northeastern province of Jilin in June 2013 killed 120 people. That blaze was blamed on poor management, lack of government oversight and locked or blocked exits.
Many industrial accidents happen in the huge coal mining industry, in which hundreds die every year from explosions, mine collapses and floods.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)
Fire Kills 16 at Factory Making Shoes for Export
A fire tore through a shoe factory in eastern China, killing at least 16 people, and the state media said that the police on Wednesday took into custody the owners of the plant, which makes shoes for export around the world.
The blaze at the plant in Wenling was the latest in a series of deadly industrial accidents in China, casting attention on the poor occupational safety situation in the country. Last summer, 120 people were killed in a fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in northeastern China, in which blocked exits were cited as a cause of the high number of deaths.
Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said that the police took into custody Lin Jianfeng, the legal representative of the plant, and Lin Zhenjian, a shareholder of Taizhou Dadong Shoes Company. Taizhou Dadong exports shoes to five continents and employs 4,580 workers, who produce 50,000 pairs of shoes a day, according to a profile of the company.
Leading Western clothing retailers have come under increased scrutiny for workplace conditions at Asian plants that supply their products, particularly after the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh last year killed 1,100 workers. It could not be determined which...
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Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Bangladeshi Factory Owners Charged in Fire That Killed 112
NEW DELHI — The police in Bangladesh charged the owners of a garment factory and 11 of their employees with culpable homicide in the deaths of 112 workers in a fire last year that came to symbolize the appalling working conditions in the country’s dominant textile industry.
The case is the first time the authorities have sought to prosecute factory owners in Bangladesh’s garment industry, so powerful that the state has long sought to protect owners from unionization efforts by workers and from international scrutiny of working conditions.
The fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory on Nov. 24, 2012, was later eclipsed by a building collapse in April that cost the lives of 1,100 workers and brought global attention to the unsafe working conditions and low wages at many garment factories in Bangladesh, the No. 2 exporter of apparel after China. The fire also revealed the poor controls that top retailers had throughout their supply chain, since retailers like Walmart said they were unaware that their apparel was being made in such factories.
Among those charged on Sunday were the factory’s owners, Delowar Hossain and his wife, Mahmuda Akther, as well as M. Mahbubul Morshed, an engineer, and Abdur Razzaq, the factory manager, according to local news reports.
Bangladeshi officials have been under intense domestic and international pressure to file charges against those deemed responsible for last year’s deaths. Fires have been a persistent problem in...
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Friday, December 13, 2013
Death of Apple factory workers highlight safety, underage issues
The recent deaths of a 15-year-old and three other workers at an iPhone plant in Shanghai highlight the challenges that Apple Inc. and its suppliers face to maintain worker safety and keep underage people out of factories.
In September, 15-year-old Shi Zhaokun began work at Pegatron's Shanghai assembly plant using an identification card that said he was 20. A month later, he died of pneumonia. Labor groups said long working hours and crowded living conditions contributed to Shi's death. Taiwan-based Pegatron on Wednesday confirmed that four workers died of illnesses recently at the Shanghai factory, which employs about 100,000 people. Pegatron and Apple said their investigations indicated that the deaths weren't linked to work conditions. In response to Shi's death, Apple last month sent independent medical experts from the U.S. and China to the Pegatron factory to conduct an investigation, Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said. "While they have found no evidence of any link to working conditions there, we realize that is of little comfort to the families who have lost their loved ones," she said. Apple declined to comment about employment of underage workers, although the company has long said it is diligent about enforcing age rules at its suppliers. It was unclear how Shi — who, his family said, was pronounced healthy at a Pegatron checkup in September — ended up dying of acute pneumonia a month later. |
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Calling America: Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello?
SINGAPORE — HAVING lived and worked abroad for many years, I’m sensitive to the changing ways that foreigners look at America. Over the years, I’ve seen an America that was respected, hated, feared and loved. But traveling around China and Singapore last week, I was confronted repeatedly with an attitude toward America that I’ve never heard before: “What’s up with you guys?”
Whether we were feared or loved, America was always the outsized standard by which all others were compared. What we built and what we dreamt were, to many, the definition of the future. Well, today, to many people, we look like the definition of a drunken driver — like a lifelong mentor who has gone on a binge and is no longer predictable. And, as for defining the future, the country that showed the world how to pull together to put a man on the moon and defeat Nazism and Communism, today broadcasts a politics dominated by three phrases: “You can’t do that,” “It’s off the table” and “The president didn’t know.” A Singaporean official who has been going to America for decades expressed shock to me at being in Washington during the government shutdown and how old and emotionally depressed the city felt.
“Few Americans are aware of how much America has lost in this recent episode of bringing the American economy to the edge of a cliff,” said Kishore Mahbubani, the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew...
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Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Retailer sandblasting bans have changed little in the garment industry
But even as Target and Gap joined Levi Strauss in proclaiming bans, sandblasting persists in factories that make those retailers' clothes in China, India, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, countries responsible for the bulk of the five billion pairs of jeans made each year, research by nonprofits, medical groups and labor organizations shows.  "There clearly is sandblasting going on. I don't know how anyone could really deny it," said Katie Quan, associate chair of the Labor Center at UC Berkeley.Counterfeit jean production, outsourcing in the supply chain and vast factories that make jeans for dozens of brands under one roof make it difficult to track jeans from production to the shopping mall. But the groups say their research establishes that workers in many of these overseas factories are sandblasting -- spraying sand on denim to make it appear bleached or distressed -- without the necessary protective gear. Levi Strauss says its suppliers have removed sandblasting equipment from their factories and that it regularly conducts on-site inspections at factories. "No Levi Strauss & Co. products utilize sandblasting in product development, design, finishing or in any other aspect of garment... |
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
The Robotic Workforce
Robots are quickly replacing the human workforce in dangerous, risky and hazardous jobs. New jobs are being transferred quickly to a new robotic workplace in all phases of work. In the US Amazon's national warehouse sorting venture has employed them effectively. Even China, with an aging human workforce is moving quickly to replace humans with machines. One thing is for sure, robots have no need for workers' compensation. Today's post is shared from nytimes.com.
On a recent morning Natanel Dukan walked into the Paris offices of the French robot maker Aldebaran and noticed one of the company’s humanoid NAO robots sitting on a chair. Mr. Dukan, an electrical engineer, could not resist. Bending over, he kissed the robot on the cheek. In response the NAO tilted its head, touched his cheek and let out an audible smack.  Until recently, most robots were carefully separated from humans. They have largely been used in factories to perform repetitive tasks that required speed, precision and force. That generation of robots is dangerous, and they have been caged and fenced for the protection of workers. But the industrial era of robotics is over. And robots are beginning to move around in the world. More and more, they are also beginning to imitate — and... |
Friday, October 18, 2013
China Reports a Modest Acceleration in Growth
China’s economy steadied in the third quarter, expanding by 7.8 percent compared with a year earlier, the government said Friday, indicating that the economy has pulled out of a jittery period of slowed growth thanks to revived investment, consumer spending and factory production.
Economists disagree over how robust that economic uptick is, with some arguing that a boost provided by a rise in bank credit could soon fade. But the third-quarter data are likely to give policy makers in Beijing more confidence that, for now, they can maintain adequate growth without resorting to major stimulus initiatives, several economists said.
“We’re seeing this recovery in consumer confidence,” said Stephen Green, head of Greater China research for Standard Chartered, and based in Hong Kong. “We’re seeing continued grinding out of the housing market recovery. So we’re relatively happy that we’ve got at least another couple of quarters of fairly plain sailing. Credit growth has decelerated a little bit, but not enough, we think, to slow us down now.”
The Chinese government has set an economic growth target of 7.5 percent for 2013. China’s leaders have said that the double-digit growth of the past must be abandoned so that resources and revenues can be directed toward urgently needed adjustments to the economy. A Communist Party leadership conference next month is likely to unveil broad plans for economic change....
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Monday, October 14, 2013
Foxconn admits labour violation at China factory
Foxconn, the world's biggest contract electronics maker, has admitted student interns worked shifts at a factory in China that were in violation of its company policies.
It had admitted to hiring underage interns at the same unit last year. Foxconn said actions had been taken to bring the factory "into full compliance with our code and policies". "There have been a few instances where our policies pertaining to overtime and night shift work were not enforced," the company said in a statement. The manufacturing giant is owned by Taiwanese group Hon Hai Precision and employs about 800,000 workers around the globe. Foxconn, while not a household name in itself for many consumers, is used by most of the big technology giants around the world, including Apple, Sony, Microsoft, HP, and Nokia. It first came under scrutiny for its labour practices when 13 employees committed suicide at its Chinese plants in 2010. The incidents raised concerns over working conditions at its units in China and drew attention to growing labour strikes. For its part, Foxconn responded by raising wages, shortening working hours and employing counsellors on site. It also installed suicide nets to factory living-quarters at its Shenzhen factory. Also in 2010, Foxconn temporarily shut down a unit in India after 250 workers fell sick. And in May 2011, two people were killed after... |
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Votive Candle Holders Sold at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Recalled Due to Fire Hazard; Made by Mercuries Asia
Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. Recall DetailsUnitsAbout 7,900DescriptionThis recall involves candle holders designed to resemble a large ant. The black metal candle holders are 6 ½-inches tall and were sold as either a male or female. The male ant has a polka dot bow tie and the female has a white pearl necklace. Both ants hold up a clear glass votive cup. The words “Backyard BBQ” and “Glass Votive Holder” are printed on the front of the packaging. SKU number 426154 can be found on the underside of the packaging.RemedyConsumers should immediately stop using the recalled votive candle holders and return them to any Cracker Barrel Old Country Store location or mail to Mercuries Asia USA, Ltd., 1501 Gary Street, Bethlehem, PA 18018 for a full refund, including shipping.Sold exclusively atCracker Barrel Old Country Store locations nationwide from May 2013 through June 2013 for about $6ImporterCracker Barrel Old Country Store® of Lebanon, Tenn.ManufacturerMercuries Asia Ltd., of Taipei, TaiwanManufactured inChinaThe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience with the product on SaferProducts.gov... |
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Frigidaire Recalls Professional Blenders Due to Laceration Hazard
Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.  Incidents/InjuriesFrigidaire has received eight reports of the blender’s blade shaft assembly breaking. No injuries have been reported.RemedyConsumers should stop using the recalled blenders immediately and contact Frigidaire for instructions on returning the blenders for a free replacement blender.Sold atBest Buy, Target and other stores nationwide and online at amazon.com, bedbath.com and other online retailers from March 2012 through July 2013 for about $130.DistributorElectrolux Home Care Products Inc., of Charlotte, N.C.Manufactured inChinaThe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience... |
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