Fang Chaogui
Director of Guangdong Provincial Labour and Social Security Bureau,
88 Jiaoyu Road,
Guangzhou
Email: gdlss_mis@gd.gov.cn
ldt_xinxi@gd.gov.cn
Guangdong Hospital for Treatment and Prevention of Occupational Diseases
68 Haikang Street,
165 Xingangxi Road,
Guangzhou 510300,
People's Republic of China
Emails: gdpcc@gdpcc.com
ybgs@gdpcc.com
President: Johnson Sin
Hong Kong Gemstone Manufacturers Association
1/F, Chasegold Tower,
100 Ma Tau Wai Road,
Hung Hom, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Email: info@hkgma.org
President: Charles Chan
Chairman: Li King Hi
Hong Kong Jewellery & Jade Manufacturers Association
Flat A, 12/Fl., Kaiser Estate 1,
41 Man Yue Street,
Hunghom, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Email: hkjja@hkstar.com
Chairman: Aaron Shum
Hong Kong Jewelry Manufacturers' Association
Unit G, 2/F Kaiser Estate Phase 2,
51 Man Yue Street,
Hunghom, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Email: hkjma@jewelry.org.hk
cc Chairman: Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri
The World Jewellery Confederation,
Piazzale Giulio Cesare,
Palazzo Africa,
20145 Milano
Italy
Email: cibjo@cibjo.org
cc Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
27 Nan Wei Road,
Beijing 100050
People's Republic of China
Email: ChinaCDC@public3.bta.net.cn
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to express my deep concern about the unhealthy and unsafe working conditions in many jewellery factories in Guangdong Province. Due to the poorly ventilated workplace and the lack of other occupational health and safety measures, at least 100 workers in eight factories alone are found to have contracted silicosis – an incurable occupational disease. The available evidence also indicates that many more jewellery workers in the province are also currently suffering from the disease.
These workers come from poor villages in China and they are trying to make a better life by working in the factories, but instead what they have been encountering is, first, the risk of contracting workplace-related silicosis, and second, their employers' denial of responsibility for compensating them after they have contracted the disease.
According to Article 52 of the PRC Labour Law, "An employer shall establish and perfect the labour safety and health care system, strictly implement the labour safety and health care regulations and standards of the State, carry out labour safety and health care education among the workers and prevent accidents during work and reduce occupational hazards." The jewellery factories concerned evidently have not conformed to the law's requirement to provide enough safety facilities to the workers; otherwise these workers would almost certainly not have contracted the disease.
Even worse, many workers who have been clearly diagnosed by hospitals in their hometowns as having occupational diseases are later diagnosed by the Guangdong hospital for Treatment and Prevention of Occupational Diseases as having contracted some other, non-workplace-related illness, thus making it difficult for them to pursue their compensation claims.
In order to ensure a safe working environment for the jewellery workers, I urge the relevant government departments and agencies in Guangdong to thoroughly investigate, and take firm measures to halt, the fast-growing epidemic of workplace-related silicosis among the province's jewellery processing workforce.
In the interests of promoting ethical business practices, I also urge the jewellery manufacturers associations to pressure the jewellery factory owners responsible for this silicosis epidemic to take immediate steps to ensure that their workers' basic right to occupational health and safety is respected, and to offer full and reasonable compensation to any of them who contract this incurable occupational disease.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Yours sincerely,