Work-related fatalities in the People's Republic of China

Over the past several decades, work-related fatal incident reporting in China has become faster, more publicly accessible and, hence, a potentially more valuable process in support of the decision-making and enforcement actions of the government and safety professionals. A study was conducted to examine the characteristics of work-related fatalities in the People's Republic of China (PRC) available from the State Work Accident Briefing (SWAB) system. Injury incident records related to industries other than coal mining were downloaded from the SWAB system (April 2001 to March 2003). The findings were compared with a previously published regional work fatality study in China, data from the U.S. Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, and estimates from the International Labor Organization (ILO). During the 2-year period, 1538 work-related events (7046 worker fatalities) were recorded. Collisions (25.6%), drownings (14.6%), and structural collapses (12.5%) were the most frequently reported fatal events. Collisions (24.5%) and falls (14.5%) were the most frequent causes of cited fatal events. Transportation (105.87 per 100 000); mining industries other than coal mining and quarrying (73.28); and electricity, gas, and water supply (14.88) were the industries with the highest estimated fatality rates. Generally, regions with lower economic activity reported more fatalities. The fatal injury rate estimated from the SWAB system was 4.80 per 100,000 (U.S. rate 4.00). ILO estimates for 1994 and 2002 were substantially higher than the estimates derived from the SWAB system. SWAB system differences with other data sources analyzed herein indicate that there remains room for system refinement.