Silicon workers contract incurable lung disease
THIRTY-EIGHT workers at a southwest China silicon factory have been confirmed as having silicosis, an incurable lung disease, and the number was likely to rise to more than 100, health and safety authorities in Guizhou Province said yesterday.
Conditions at the Hengsheng Metallurgy Ltd Liability Co were so bad that 38 workers had contracted the disease by April 5, said a statement issued by the Guizhou provincial work safety administrative committee.
The provincial health department was checking the health of other workers and those who used to work for the company, and the number of sick workers would probably exceed 100, a department spokesman said.
Thirty-five people are being treated in hospital.
The company would bear all hospital expenses and continue paying the salaries of the sick workers as well as a subsidy of 800 yuan (US$117) per month to their families taking care of them, said Li Fuzhong, vice president of the company.
The amount of any compensation was yet to be determined, Li said.
The company was ordered to suspend production from April 3.
An investigation organized by the State Council, China's Cabinet, earlier this month found that no monitoring of workers' health had been carried out.
Hengsheng, founded in 1999, is based in Shibing County of Guizhou's Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture.
The private company is owned by Liu Zhenrong and five other shareholders, all from south China's Hunan Province. It has more than 1,000 workers.
Conditions at the Hengsheng Metallurgy Ltd Liability Co were so bad that 38 workers had contracted the disease by April 5, said a statement issued by the Guizhou provincial work safety administrative committee.
The provincial health department was checking the health of other workers and those who used to work for the company, and the number of sick workers would probably exceed 100, a department spokesman said.
Thirty-five people are being treated in hospital.
The company would bear all hospital expenses and continue paying the salaries of the sick workers as well as a subsidy of 800 yuan (US$117) per month to their families taking care of them, said Li Fuzhong, vice president of the company.
The amount of any compensation was yet to be determined, Li said.
The company was ordered to suspend production from April 3.
An investigation organized by the State Council, China's Cabinet, earlier this month found that no monitoring of workers' health had been carried out.
Hengsheng, founded in 1999, is based in Shibing County of Guizhou's Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture.
The private company is owned by Liu Zhenrong and five other shareholders, all from south China's Hunan Province. It has more than 1,000 workers.
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