The Ministry of Health sounded a clarion call yesterday aiming
to bolster awareness among the country's 200 million migrant
workers' as to laws governing occupational diseases as the
prevention record of such illnesses grows more woeful.
"Migrant workers account for up to 90 percent of occupational
disease sufferers, despite being protected by the Law on
Occupational Disease Prevention," Vice-Minister of Health Chen
Xiaohong stated at a law promotion program at Beijing Railway
Station. Many migrant workers recently returned to Beijing after Spring Festival were on attendance at the
event.
Chen tackled the problem head on, acknowledging that China has a
dire record in terms of workplace safety for migrant workers,
hampering both the sustainable development of labor resources.
A small minority of migrant workers are aware of the
occupational disease prevention law, revealed Su Zhi, deputy
director of the ministry's workplace disease supervision
bureau.
"This initiative will aim to educate migrant workers about the
law, enabling them to safeguard both their rights and health," he
said.
Meng Guofang, 43, a worker from central China's Henan Province, has been working on
construction sites in Beijing for years but had never heard of the
law until yesterday's program at which he commented: "Now I know I
have a law to protect myself."
Occupational diseases, the principal causes of which lie in
industrial dust, radioactive matter and toxic chemicals on work
sites, are harming an increasing number of workers according to
recent statistics from the Ministry of Health. These statistics
label pneumoconiosis as China's most widespread occupational
disease, with 600,000 workers suffering from it, 140,000 of whom
have died since tracking of such diseases began in the 1950s.
(China Daily March 6, 2007)