The article below is taken from the Zhejiang Workers Daily on 6 June 2003
Take more care over employees working environment - Better preparation in preventing heat stroke
by reporter Wu Lingyan
and trainee Zhang Ge
Since the summer, everywhere in [Zhejiang] Province is hot and sunny with very few showers, and the temperature remains very high. Employees in the whole Province stand fast at their posts, regardless of the extreme temperatures, and work strenuously on the front line of production and construction, showing the strength of the working class as the main driving force to the fullest extent. Yesterday, the Provincial Trade Union issued a notice, expressing sincere condolences and paying the utmost respect to these employees fighting on the production frontline and demanded that trade unions at all levels go into action quickly to carry out the serious task of preventing heat stroke and show concern for the working and living conditions of employees.
The notice emphasized that all levels of trade unions should be genuinely concerned about the working and living conditions of employees, and perform the current important task of sunstroke prevention, in order to implement the important thinking of the Three Represents and the concrete demand of A Party for the Nation and A government for the People. All levels of Trade Unions should organize visits to support people in temperature extremes. They should go into the midst of the workers, observing peoples conditions, listening to their demands and understanding their difficulties. They should immediately report and earnestly solve problems of labour safety to guard the health of employees working in hot temperatures.
The notice also requested all levels of trade unions to assist enterprises in carrying out proper measures to prevent heat stroke, so that a good working environment can be created for the employee. For posts at workplaces hotter than the State Regulation standard, efficient measures should be taken to prevent heat stroke. Schedule reasonable working hours, and avoid employees working continuously under the sun in high temperatures; avoid overtime work, so as to prevent employees from overexerting; provide logistic support to safeguard labourers hygiene standard; let employees take regular rest, so that they can be physically fit for their duties in production.
Finally the notice pointed out that all entrepreneurial units have to carry out production safety effectively and properly. To reinforce administration in production safety, employees should be trained in recognizing production safety and be equipped with the ability to protect themselves. Regulations on enterprise production should be strictly implemented to provide labour safety equipment to the employee; the function of basic level trade union supervisory units in monitoring labour protection should be fully utilized; Efforts should also be made to reinforce the supervision of the conditions of production, working environment and safety facilities of enterprises, so that the industrial accidents can be reduced and prevented, and the health of employees can be protected.