From balancing on telephone wires to working on skyscrapers from a rope, here are 10 of
the most dangerous jobs in China.
10.
Warehouse Workers
Warehouses are used to store virtually anything you can think of, so it’s hardly a surprise
that with lax safety laws the buildings can prove to be quite dangerous.
In 2015, for example, an accident at a warehouse owned by Rui Hai International Logistics had
tragic consequences.
A fire started to rage through one of the buildings where the company was storing illegal
quantities of sodium cyanide, which is an extremely toxic and volatile chemical, alongside
hundreds of tons of flammable fertilizers and other industrial toxins.
Firefighters responding to the blaze sprayed water on the flames, which contributed to
further explosions- 2 of which were powerful enough to register as earthquakes, and led
to fires raging for days that spewed out nasty, toxic fumes.
By the time things were under control, 145 people had lost their lives and more than
700 had been injured- not to mention the environmental catastrophe that followed.
Thousands of dead fish surfaced in the nearby river.
The lack of rules and regulations in regards to warehouse storage means that no one really
knows for sure what is kept within the containers.
Workers will often move around hazardous chemicals without the proper safety equipment or protection.
They might not even know they are at risk.
9.
Law Enforcement
Law enforcement can be a dangerous job no matter where you are.
They are responsible for keeping citizens safe and ensuring that everyone keeps to the
rules.
But those involved with law enforcement around the world are not always the most popular
of people- and in China it’s an incredibly dangerous job.
According to recent statistics, over the past 8 years, at least every day, one Chinese police
officer dies and 9 are injured.
This is about twice the number of those in the US.
The majority of these deaths are as a result of cardiac related issues, with a third of
them being from assaults, and the rest being related to traffic incidents.
There’s another type of worker in China’s law enforcement system, known as a Chengguan,
that is responsible for enforcing bylaws to do with things like the environment and sanitation.
They have a bad reputation for being corrupt, and are often thought of as no more than thugs-
so the general public react with a great deal of anger when they feel they are acting beyond
their power.
This has led to a number of confrontations, including one Chengguan who was stabbed repeatedly
while onlookers stood by without helping, and another who was struck in the head by
a gardening tool.
8.
Electrical Maintenance Workers
While rules of safety at work are improving in China, they still have a long way to go.
Electrical maintenance is one of the riskiest jobs in the world, period.
Even more so in China.
and you really need to have nerves of steel to work on maintaining power cables.
As infrastructure grows and development continues to expand, the authorities are building a
vast network of utility provision- including the 350 million dollar ultra high voltage
power transmission line in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the northwest of the
country.
Pictures emerged a couple of years ago of exactly what the workers were required to
do while installing the 700 transmission towers, some of which were 12,300 feet high.
It seems more like a role for a circus high-wire performer than a typical construction worker
and, with no more than a safety hat and a harness, they walk out along long stretches
of cable to attach the different pieces together.
If you have a fear of heights, or a fear of dying, you need not apply.
And now for number 7 but first be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell!
7.
Medical Staff
Medical staff are usually respected around the world although sometimes it can be frustrating
if they don’t have that personal touch.
Their whole purpose of being to to take care of people who are sick or injured, but medical
staff in China face challenges far more extreme than their peers around the rest of the world.
They are on the front line, and feel the brunt of people’s displeasure when things don’t
turn out how they expect.
Patients become frustrated when their consultations last a few minutes after having waited in
line for hours, and they lash out towards the medical professionals.
Well, I mean, we’ve all been there.
Although maybe not quite to the extent of what I’m about to tell you!
A report in 2015 said that 60% of staff in Chinese hospitals had experienced verbal abuse,
and 1 in 7 had been physically assaulted at some point.
In 2014, more than 1,400 people were arrested among more than 4,500 security incidents in
hospitals, and it’s becoming all the more common.
Between 2008 and 2012, the average number of annual assaults on staff for each hospital
rose from 20.6 to 27.3.
It has, understandably, had quite an impact on the profession.
Doctors are less likely to want their children to become medics, and with a rapidly increasing
population, the authorities have been forced to station far more security personnel at
each location to try and improve the safety of those that work there.
6.
Factory Worker
One of the reasons China has become such a powerful economic force in the world is because
of its ability to produce incredibly cheap products.
This doesn’t just mean that the factory workers are paid very little, but they also
work in dangerous conditions.
Pictures surfaced of workers breathing in toxic fumes, working dangerous machinery with
no shoes, and working themselves almost to death.
We've all seen the pictures.
Worldwide condemnation has resulted in factories in China improving the situation of the workers,
but there are still numerous stories of poor treatment.
In early December of 2017, for example, workers at the Eurotec Electronics factory in Zhongshan
went on strike because of fears for their safety.
Around 80% of the workforce on the site had complained of dizziness, headaches, coughing,
weakness, and blurry vision since operations were moved to a new site.
It is thought that the way the equipment was installed meant that they were directly inhaling
the fumes.
Tests by the workers found levels of formaldehyde to be up to 10 times the safety level, and
at least one is thought to have developed leukemia as a result.
Luckily for them, Chinese law protects workers who go on strike for safety reasons, so the
company, which is responsible for making products for brands like Behringer and Midas, have
been forced to work out a fair resolution.
This is, of course, little consolation to those who have become very ill from the practices
already.
5.
Sweatshops
Chinese Sweatshops are where a large proportion of the world’s clothing is made.
The conditions can be absolutely horrendous.
It’s not the case with all of them, and some are run well, but for the poor workers
in the worse managed ones, they live a life of misery.
They live in cramped conditions, with as many as 20 people to a room, in environments worse
than you’d get in prison.
Some facilities don’t even let their workers leave when their shift has ended, are very
strict about bathroom breaks, demand sexual favours, and don’t give them access to basic
hygiene facilities.
Korean employers are often accused of the worst treatment.
While this is unverified, there are countless stories of beatings and humiliations taking
place in sweatshops, and one instance where a woman was locked in a cage with a vicious
dog for all to see.
A lot of the worst employers have recently been leaving China, in the face of rising
wages and taxes, so thankfully this problem is on the decline there it seems.
Although the rumour is that they are moving to other places like Vietnam and Cambodia.
4.
Pipeline Workers
With such rapidly growing energy requirements in the country, China’s infrastructure hasn’t
always been built in the safest way, which leads to high risk for those that work on
maintenance or construction of major things like oil pipelines.
This, combined with a major poverty problem that leads to people trying to take advantage
of the system like stealing electricity or oil for themselves, is a recipe for disaster.
The danger became very apparent in 2013, when a pipeline in Shandong province exploded.
The 20-year-old pipe was corroded, and there wasn’t an adequate safety inspection measure
in place to ensure it was safe.
The frailty of the pipe was further compromised by more than 100 breaches in the previous
year by people looking to siphon some of the oil for their own use.
Great idea…
The explosion in November of that year caused more than 124 million dollars worth of damage,
killed 62 people and injured 136- a large number of whom were pipeline employees.
The following year, the company that operated the pipeline was publicly reprimanded for
the accident.
A program was immediately put into place to monitor the entire network of oil pipelines
in China, but with more than 120,000 km of pipelines and 29,000 known potential safety
hazards, like crossings and lack of safety perimeters, it’s a treacherous industry
to be working in.
3.
Construction
Construction work is easily found in China.
Cities are expanding to take in the influx of people who are migrating from the country
to the city looking for work.
If even minor mistakes are made, things can become very dangerous.
Of course, the sheer number of construction projects means that there are bound to be
some accidents, but in the past few years there have been a number of incidents that
shows quite how deadly the work can be.
Towards the end of 2016, for example, the scaffolding around a power plant cooling tower
that was being built, collapsed.
This sent hundreds of unsecured iron pipes, bars and wooden planks, hurtling into the
unsuspecting workers, and instantly killed the 74 people that were there.
It was the worst construction accident for a few years, but there are numerous smaller
scale incidents- like in 2012 when 19 decorators died when their elevator cable snapped and
dropped them 30 floors.
Building sites are dangerous at the best of times, but it seems in China you have to pay
particular attention to your surroundings if you want to come out unscathed.
2.
Office Work
You might not have expected this one.
An office may not sound like the most dangerous place to work, but the culture of working
extra hours to the point of exhaustion is thought to be one of the biggest work related
killers in Asia, and China in particular.
Look at your own schedule and ask yourself, could this be me?
Those most at risk are IT workers and other roles in so-called ‘mental labor’ positions,
where the pressures of the job can have a negative impact on their health.
The long hours and increasingly stressful situations lead to insomnia, listlessness,
weight gain and long recovery times from even the most basic of illnesses.
This leads to depression, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure- and can eventually
cause heart disease and stroke, which kills a huge number of people.
In China alone, more than 600,000 people are thought to die every year because of this-
that’s about 1,600 every day.
Taking steps to prevent these fatalities is more difficult than deaths caused in more
obvious ways.
Because this is happening due to long-term work practices and workplace culture, working
hours and responsibilities being put upon employees needs to be reassessed if they want
happy, healthy workers!
1.
Coal Miner
This has to be the most notoriously dangerous job in China- working in the coal mines.
It’s also the most dangerous country in the world to do this job, mainly because of
the lax safety regulations.
The problem has improved a great deal in the past few years because of some high profile
incidents, but it’s still a risky career- and one that the whole country relies on people
to do, day in and day out.
In 2002, 7,000 coal miners died while on the job, and now the yearly figure has fallen
to under 1,000.
This is proof of new rules working, especially as production has increased significantly
at the same time, but there are still numerous accidents each year that wouldn’t happen
in most other countries.
Normally companies strive for ZERO accidents.
Incidents usually involve poorly constructed mines collapsing, or gas explosions, and can
claim a number of lives at a time- one recent explosion in the southwest of China instantly
killed 33 workers.
Still, it’s an incredibly important job that needs to be done to support 66% of the
country’s power generation, so workers will be taking their lives into their own hands
for the foreseeable future….
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