Companies face tougher penalties for work hazards
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Companies that fail to disclose occupational hazards or decline to reveal that their workers are suffering from a work-related disease could face huge fines and other punitive measures.
Under a proposed amendment to an existing law, employers could be forced to go out of business if they are found guilty of a serious coverup.
However, workers say despite that, they still would have to deal with their medical problems. They said criminal punishment could be a solution to force more employers to stop abusing workers.
The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council said Wednesday that they will amend the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases Law that took effect.
The office said the amendment could help workers to get diagnoses of work-related diseases when employers decline to do so or provide false information about the level of danger faced by workers.
Some workers had to take grave risk to protect their rights because employers did not give information that could prove they endangered the lives of their employees.
Zhang Haichao, a worker who contracted pneumoconiosis at a factory, had an open chest surgery to prove he had the disease so he could get compensation after his factory declined to hand over documents.
"The lack of documents could leave sick workers stuck in the middle," Zhang told the Global Times Thusday. "Many workers have died while waiting for compensation."
The draft said workers in such situations could turn to their local labor dispute arbitration committee.
The committee should make a ruling on whether the employer should provide the information or whether the information they provided was accurate, within 30 days.
The draft also said that employers that cover up problems, destroy evidence or refuse to offer relevant information, such as occupational health files, will be fined up to 200,000 yuan ($30,019). The related work unit will be suspended or shut down in serious cases.
"Most blue-collar workers are poorly educated. They should be given more favorable legal protections," said Hao Fengtong, an occupational disease expert at Beijing's Chaoyang Hospital.
However, Zhang said fines alone would not solve the crux of the problem. "For a company that has millions of yuan in revenue, 200,000 yuan is a small piece of cake," he said.
