SAFETY AND PROTECTION OF LABOR IN CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180342-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2011
• Sequence Number: 342
• Publication Date: May 26, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180342-1
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180342-1
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180342-1
STAT
S,'.rnTY AIJD PROTECTION OF Lt1BOR IN CHINA
Lao-tang Pno-hu Kun,-
Lsbor Safety and Protection WorY.)
Shanghai, 1951
jConvnent: "'h.. 1'ollowin_? report showin,; the number of in,juriea
and deaths resu'-tin` from industrial accidents in Shanhri and Ilan_
king factories during LySG-l~?51 was to'en frog L'kupter III of the
boo;, Lao-tun:; Pao-hu I;un~-t6O1
The r?tent ion of tl:c inc!i?':'erent :attitude oC ti7e old society toward tre
excessive hazard; of i,:borers is very serious. Shortly after liberation,
sections of plants sndrinc., regarded lator rafety seriously; however, many
Flrtnts still continue to disregard this problem and serious conditions sti11
exist. ;,ccordin3 to incnr..plete statistics on I?tay_October 1950, industrial
casualties in China c*:used j`? deaths an,l Geg injured; in the Enst China Admin-
Sstrativc .1rea _'ro: June 15o torebruary 1j51, casualties numbered u,05'j.
From September 1;5:; to Ja1y 1,'~~~1, there wet,: 5,1+ industrial zccidents in jL'
i?ro~luctio., plants iu ;'rr:n,~::-i re~ultin;t i;,
in,';:re : :in ~ j!i dead .
According to data. from r,ilwa?
and scr_ident leave r' sources, there ware 491,902 days of sick
workers Burin- Jul (o. ~?'I'ercent o the total working days) granted to
v y, :luguct, :,nd September 1J ?C in the railway; wade:? the
con?rcl of the :our ra!lwny bureaus oC the Ilortheast area (excluding the Ch'an-
eh'un Railway), and in Tientsin, T'ai-yuan, and Shanghai.
These casualties are siroczing! par news_ralere regularly uncovered and
criticized industrial and :airing inJurics and fatalities, 'o arouse nubile
interest. V,-rieus cases are ci`ed oelow to illustrate safety conditions in
indu;;try. ?
On 21 April. 1951, :. nitration beilcr exploded in the Shanghai T::-chung
Dye Factory because cn:ns;c;:entrs~? disre,;arded ti;n. oafety or its employees.
Ten wor};ers, includin; Technician; l;ir," 'f'ur.-tren and Chang Tsai-t'ai, and
4Jorkers Tu-ch'ih ::nd FIin Cis';,n:._ci:'u::n .?r,,~,? F;111e;i; in addition five rasa
were injured. The nitstion plant, furnace ^onm:;, expet?imental plant, car-
nentry shop, and air cha;nbers c:?z-e ue:trced. Ti:e ex;,lo:;ion cost more than
700 million Yuan and de:troye-.1 ..:n rtre.t of t;~,J ~nu:ro ~et_rs.
technique:; aas one o` the eau:;r-:; r;;' Incorrect
picric acid, an incorrect r;aio of rrrrteril;~ ~~. ior.. in the r..anufacb;ring of
;;cage was inaccurate, ~ `=' used chile the temperature
~^ a result t,e picric acl~ cen~e?:1ed into bloc'rs and
could not be removed. '~hc :;nti~n tted h::z:;rduu;: met!,od;; ei' usin;; rod-irons io
remove the :ci.d rroduca;3 ..:.
tFe explosion, *h, ?-~~on tr;d r~:,ulted in a neweri'ul
mana;~ ,ant :nd the ..,en respunsil~'c `"Plosion. :'.Cter
puniahed. : for ti,e explosion :;ere
On '1 July 1y>L, in the Chin., :;'il.!; . il.aa:??.
l:l:int nt Hai-Hint, Cilei:ian;, a wo^an worite:' died r=::r,it1~'s econd filature
of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. HiVh wo:?kshon te;aperntuo`:rywonjithe mansgempntnt.u:?e
indifferences toward wor'rin~ conditions and the life and safety of the workera
were responsible for this, death. Trade-union cadres ?.rho were not concerned
with the suffering and ^eelin~s o1 the workers roust also be i,eld responsible.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180342-1
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180342-1
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700180342-1
Tsingtao, Yen-t'ai, Tientsin, Knlgan, and other places have had recurring
cases of poisoning among the?;Lwrkers tran^,porting poisonous products. Tsingtao
has the largest number of cases. Yen-t'a.i has the second largest number and
there have occurred eight consecutive cases of mass poisoning. A total of 870
workers were poisoned, and two died. What caused this type of accident? Pri-
marily, the fact that during the time the trading agencies were transporting
poisonous products they did not provide some means of protecting the workers.
Some did not even inform the ~or'rers that the products were poisonous. For
example, the cadres of the Ilan tin;; branch of the Chang-tien warehouse under
the Shantung Office of East China Industrial Department labeled only some of
the products poisonous. Because tl:e workers did nit have antidotes, some of
them were poisoned. Followin;; this incident, the _adres not only showed no
sympathy to the workers, but even ~+ent so far as to ridicule them.
Occupational diseases in many plants are also very serious. rr^or example,
during June 1)51 in the Plan'ring Hsin-nin.~ Brick and T31e Factory, 382 workers
or more than j0 percent of the emuloyees suffered from sto!nach aci:es, ;:olds,
anemia, and other illnesses.
The hygienic conditions of the workers' dormitories, dining, hulls, baths,
and lavatories need attention and improvement. The workers in the Shanghai
Tien-kung Chemical Plant breathe sulfuric acid fumes 24 hours a day because
their dormitories are adjacent tc the plant. The Shanghai Fiua-te steel Re-
finin;; Plant has seven men and 80 women usin3 a single lavatory. One plant
owner unreasonably refuses to improve the hyglenE conditions in the plant,
saying: "Bacteria do not have an agreement with men; who can guarantee anyone
against illness?"
Working long shifts and excessive overtime also damage the workers' health
and strength. The workers of Shanghai Ya-11 Metal Plant wort. 16 hours regularly,
and have no vacation. The Shanghai }funicipal Printing Plant regularly increased
the shifts and the overtime in order to ccunnlete its production quota; once
increasing the shifts throughout the night and workers stayed on their fobs
for ~0 hours.
Generally speaking, working conditions are more serious S^ the small-
priva:ely operated enterprises than in t!ie publicly oneratea enterprises.
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