Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Int J Health Serv. 2010;40(1):43-60. doi: 10.2190/HS.40.1.c.
The widely held image, inside and outside China, of the total absence of an occupational health and safety (OHS) system in that country is not an accurate picture. This article argues that the unsafe working conditions and prevalent occupational diseases and injuries widely reported in the Chinese and foreign media occur mostly in private mines and in the Asian foreign-funded and domestic private manufacturing sectors. In contrast, the capital-intensive, larger state-owned enterprises and enterprises that have been transformed from state enterprises generally have better OHS systems. An in-depth study of two such enterprises reveals viable OHS systems, worker-management OHS committees, regular health and safety inspections, and trade unions' and workers congresses' oversight and supervision. Above all, there is an enterprise culture that regards accidents as avoidable, and both workers and management feel distressed and guilty when accidents happen. The authors believe it is important to acknowledge and champion these positive examples of "best practices" that can be emulated in workplaces throughout China, which is under great pressure from competitive domestic and global forces to relax its OHS standards.
在中国国内外，人们普遍认为中国完全没有职业健康与安全（Occupational Health and Safety，OHS）体系，但这种看法并不准确。本文认为，中外媒体广泛报道的不安全工作条件和普遍存在的职业病和工伤，主要发生在私营矿山和亚洲外资及国内私营制造业部门。相比之下，资本密集型、规模较大的国有企业和从国有企业改制而来的企业，通常具有更好的职业健康与安全体系。对两家这样的企业进行深入研究，揭示了可行的职业健康与安全体系、劳资双方的职业健康与安全委员会、定期的健康与安全检查，以及工会和职工代表大会的监督。最重要的是，有一种企业文化认为事故是可以避免的，当事故发生时，工人和管理层都会感到痛苦和内疚。作者认为，重要的是要承认并倡导这些“最佳实践”的积极范例，这些范例可以在中国各地的工作场所中得到效仿，因为中国在国内外竞争压力下，正在放宽职业健康与安全标准。
