subaqua
What’s the point
- Location
- Leytonstone
Our Guy in China.
- Thread starter gavroche
- Start date
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nickyboy
Norven Mankey
- Location
- You want hills? We got hills
I've visited hundreds of factories in China over the years. I'd make the following observations
As I mentioned upthread, there is a cultural issue. The country has developed so quickly a lot of the factory owners are first generation business people who grew up in pre-industrial China. They have had very limited exposure to western business practices
Particularly in the smaller cities the regulation of industry is weak and the relationship between business and government far from arms length
Looking at the stats in your link some industries have a much higher incident rate than others. Manufacturing, mining, agriculture are all "dangerous". These sectors are important in China, much more so than in UK
What is interesting is I have visited some world class facilities in China. These are almost without exception businesses with very close ties to the west be they JVs or companies with major western customers (such as car components). It's exposure to western H&S practice that makes the difference
I'm not seeking to be an apologist for China. But it is probably helpful to understand why it has the safety record it does
martint235
Dog on a bike
- Location
- Welling
That just says we're not good compared to Europe. Couldn't see anything about China. It may very well be that they are significantly worse than us but it would be good to see their per 100,000 figures as whenever China and India are mentioned their populations really need to be taken properly into account.
subaqua
What’s the point
- Location
- Leytonstone
comparing our figures to the ones quoted for 6 months upthread it reads as bad.
thats doing the maths myself based on recent guesstimates of populations. never just look at totals, look at per whatever to make proper comparisons otherwise any study is worthless.
as Nickyboy says they are miles behind us but for a real reason. the UK was utter rubbish and improved dramatically post 1974. maybe with proper regulation in place the cheap prices offered would be more in line with the westernised world. until then expect cheap products that cost lives
jefmcg
Guru
Both were built under British rule, so I'm not sure what the lesson is.
raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
Wasn't that after we joined the EEC and adopted some of their regulations.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
threebikesmcginty
Corn Fed Hick...
- Location
- ...on the slake
Am I reading those stats wrong, to me they show that the UK has one of the lowest accident rates per 100,000 My experience of European factories in my industry or industries connected with mine is that they are much less Health and Safety aware, running chainsaw on walkway, workers smoking on the shopfloor, workers drinking beer on the shopfloor, that kind of stuff.
None of it's a competition but should be an inspiration to do better, to say we'll never get to zero (accidents) is wrong too, we have factories in the U.K. that have had years of zero accidents, not all and not all the time but it shows it can be done, you just have to work hard at it all the time. As nickyboy said it's a culture thing, country and workplace, but it's all doable. Innit.
None of it's a competition but should be an inspiration to do better, to say we'll never get to zero (accidents) is wrong too, we have factories in the U.K. that have had years of zero accidents, not all and not all the time but it shows it can be done, you just have to work hard at it all the time. As nickyboy said it's a culture thing, country and workplace, but it's all doable. Innit.
threebikesmcginty
Corn Fed Hick...
- Location
- ...on the slake
[QUOTE 4577201, member: 259"]One of the most positive things I found about joining a company in the Netherlands was you got free beer after 5pm.
True, it was Oranjeboom or Palm, but it was definitely free!
[/QUOTE]
A factory I went to in Sweden had beer in the canteen for lunch, it was <3% but it was still beer.
True, it was Oranjeboom or Palm, but it was definitely free!
[/QUOTE]A factory I went to in Sweden had beer in the canteen for lunch, it was <3% but it was still beer.
subaqua
What’s the point
- Location
- Leytonstone
they are much much more aware, that is why they have less regulation. Because they don't need it.
ask yourself why the UK needs so much regulation .
We have a german sub contractor working on a project. they have the correct PPE to protect hearing and eyes and lungs, they don't need to be badgered to wear it. they also have the elimination bit done with proper dust collection/extraction whereas in the UK despite being aware of the dangers of silicosis trying to get contractors to use dust extraction or PPE is a fecking battle.
