> If you follow the link trail, you'll find that the workers were on a construction site for a municipal biogas facility.
Thanks for pointing out the link. Link?
Also, such a facility will be somewhere in the chain of production and it is a fairly good example of the way the typical workplace in China approaches safety: not.
There are a few efforts underway to counteract this, the best one is probably the one initiated by Nokia. But there is nothing in that video that you could not witness in the very large majority of places involved in industry in China, specifically:
- no oversight
- no safety gear
- no safety procedures
- inherently unsafe environment
- not even the basics in place to safely provide power
And a whole host of smaller and less important elements.
It's not just corners that are being cut and the western buyers are the ones who have the most power. They are definitely not 'working day and night to make sure that their contractors abide by the labour conditions set out in their contract', that's only a very select few of them.
Yes, outsourcing is a key driver in improving workplace safety in China, but it's a drop on a very hot plate so far, with the few companies that practice this doing it largely in response to some very bad PR.
It simply shouldn't be possible to gain an edge over a competitor by cutting corners (and a lot worse than that, structural abuse is the more correct term). As long as that is a possibility this stuff will continue.
So indeed, keep buying Chinese goods. But demand they're made using a supply chain that insists on a certain minimum level of workplace safety and environmental controls.
The fact that factories/facilities churning out stuff for the locals are even worse is not in any way an excuse to tolerate these conditions.
Accidents of this type happen regularly in the developed world, most of them in exactly these circumstances - moving scaffolding or ladders without noticing overhead lines. They're extremely difficult to prevent, because you're relying on the vigilance of the worker. It's completely unrealistic to expect constant supervision of every worker who moves a ladder or a scaffold pole.
I know you're outraged, but there's no magic wand for health and safety. China doesn't have a callous disregard for health and safety, they're developing much faster than we did. There's no magic wand and you can't fix things overnight. You can dole out all the hard hats and fluorescent vests you like, but there's no shortcut to developing a culture of safety. It took us many decades to develop that culture and we still have glaring failings in many industries.
I know people that outsource to china and over the years the conditions have gotten much better because of the skills and IP trade. From talking to people in the industry your ideas seems feasible in theory but not in practice. I talked to people that have had their coffe businesses harmed because they were running "free trade" coffee since the 70s but now they are asked to pay for a license to allow them to put that on the label. It's one thing to talk about the impacts over here but I think for a solution we need to work with people in-country.
Australia is losing one of its car manufacturers as we speak because our cost of producing a car here is 4 times the cost in Asia. One of the highest costs is in labour and OH&S. There is a cost to OH&S.
Because you say so?
> If you follow the link trail, you'll find that the workers were on a construction site for a municipal biogas facility.
Thanks for pointing out the link. Link?
Also, such a facility will be somewhere in the chain of production and it is a fairly good example of the way the typical workplace in China approaches safety: not.
There are a few efforts underway to counteract this, the best one is probably the one initiated by Nokia. But there is nothing in that video that you could not witness in the very large majority of places involved in industry in China, specifically:
And a whole host of smaller and less important elements.It's not just corners that are being cut and the western buyers are the ones who have the most power. They are definitely not 'working day and night to make sure that their contractors abide by the labour conditions set out in their contract', that's only a very select few of them.
Yes, outsourcing is a key driver in improving workplace safety in China, but it's a drop on a very hot plate so far, with the few companies that practice this doing it largely in response to some very bad PR.
It simply shouldn't be possible to gain an edge over a competitor by cutting corners (and a lot worse than that, structural abuse is the more correct term). As long as that is a possibility this stuff will continue.
So indeed, keep buying Chinese goods. But demand they're made using a supply chain that insists on a certain minimum level of workplace safety and environmental controls.
The fact that factories/facilities churning out stuff for the locals are even worse is not in any way an excuse to tolerate these conditions.