Official lays blame for factory blast
Print Edition
A CAR parts plant in Kunshan where an explosion killed 75 workers committed multiple violations of regulations and the city government is partly to blame for slack supervision, China’s work safety chief said yesterday.
The blast exposed poor management by the factory and inadequate implementation of supervision regulations by local government departments, said Yang Dongliang, director of the State Administration of Work Safety and head of an accident investigation team.
He said local police had detained senior executives of Kunshan Zhongrong, including its Taiwanese chairman, Wu Chi-tao.
The death toll from Saturday’s blast rose to 75 yesterday, with 185 people still being treated for their injuries, Xinhua news agency said. Of the injured, 95 percent are in serious or critical conditions.
Taiwanese-invested Zhongrong Metal Products Co factory was missing equipment for dust removal, Yang told a press conference.
An excessive concentration of dust that caught fire has been confirmed as the cause of the blast at the company’s wheel hub-polishing workshop.
“The safety production system and measures were incomplete, unimplemented,” Yang told the meeting in Kunshan, a center for Taiwan-funded businesses with factories supplying the automotive industry.
Zhongrong manufactured for General Motors, among other carmakers.
Yang said Zhongrong’s deputy general manager, who is in charge of work safety didn’t know dust could explode under certain circumstances. Many workers didn’t receive any safety training, and they didn’t wear fire-retardant clothing.
“There was no cleaning ... of accumulated dust every shift at a set time, which caused dust to exceed limits,” he said, adding that the company failed to install dust removal equipment at every work station, in violation of regulations.
He did not specify what might have ignited the dust but said machinery at the plant lacked safety devices which might prevent explosions.
Yang said the source of the flame needed further investigation.
He said Zhongrong violated regulations to build a two-story workshop when wheel hub-polishing required to be done at ground level. Buildings at the plant were also not far enough apart.
The 2,000-square-meter workshop had a total of 29 assembly lines with more than 300 positions too close to each other.
The company also violated labor laws in organizing overtime work, he said.
Yang said the local government failed to meet its responsibilities and supervised the company poorly, as long-term hidden safety hazards were not solved in good time.
The local government and related departments will be investigated for accountability, he said.
Yang said the investigation report would be made public and there would be nationwide inspections of similar enterprises, adding that the laws and regulations related to dust treatment should be made clear.
US workers’ rights group China Labor Watch said proper safety measures could have prevented the accident and laid part of the responsibility on General Motors, the US auto giant.
GM issued a statement saying that it had no direct contact with the factory.
Workers and ex-workers of the factory told Xinhua that working conditions there were bad and the workshop was frequently filled with dust.
Eleven victims being treated in Shanghai were still said to be in danger though their vital signs were stable. The Shanghai Blood Administration Office has issued an appeal for more donors, especially those with Type-A blood.
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