Thursday, February 17, 2005
20 years' wages likely for families of killed Chinese mine workers
The Standard
China plans to set up a common workers' compensation standard, granting up to 20 years' salary in the event of death or injury caused by a workplace accident determined to be entirely the fault of an employer.
The move is designed to make it prohibitively expensive for employers, particularly in the fatality-plagued mining and construction industries, to leave dangerous working conditions unremedied.
It would also encourage them to take out accident insurance on their staff, said Jing Bao, an official publication, quoting Cao Zongli, an official with the regulation department of the State Administration of Work Safety.
Though new regulations designed to foster workplace safety were introduced a year ago, many industries that depend on low-paid migrant workers still refuse to buy employee accident coverage.
On Monday, a fatal gas explosion killed 210 coal miners in Fuxin, Liaoning province. Their employer was said to have forced miners to sign a contract specifying maximum compensation of 20,000 yuan (HK$18,860) in the event of a fatal accident at work.
China plans to set up a common workers' compensation standard, granting up to 20 years' salary in the event of death or injury caused by a workplace accident determined to be entirely the fault of an employer.
The move is designed to make it prohibitively expensive for employers, particularly in the fatality-plagued mining and construction industries, to leave dangerous working conditions unremedied.
It would also encourage them to take out accident insurance on their staff, said Jing Bao, an official publication, quoting Cao Zongli, an official with the regulation department of the State Administration of Work Safety.
Though new regulations designed to foster workplace safety were introduced a year ago, many industries that depend on low-paid migrant workers still refuse to buy employee accident coverage.
On Monday, a fatal gas explosion killed 210 coal miners in Fuxin, Liaoning province. Their employer was said to have forced miners to sign a contract specifying maximum compensation of 20,000 yuan (HK$18,860) in the event of a fatal accident at work.
