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Migrant workers get insurance benefits
By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-09-06 14:21
A compulsory insurance programme will be introduced in South China's
Guangdong Province covering millions of construction workers - most poor farmers
who have migrated to cities - for potential accidents on the job.
The new system in Guangdong hopes to further protect the legal interest of
the myriad number of workers in the province next year.
A new regulation to guide compensation doled out for accidents is now being
drafted and is expected to come into effect starting in 2005.
Farmers-turned workers make up the majority of employees at construction
sites and will be the largest beneficiaries of the new regulation.
"All contractors and construction companies will have to purchase insurance
for their builders beginning next year, or they will not be allowed to contract
and construct any project in the province," said Chen Yingsong, deputy director
of the Guangdong Provincial Commission of Construction.
And the insurance compensation will be worth at least 100,000 yuan
(US$12,000) for a person who is seriously injured or killed in a
construction-related accident, Chen said yesterday.
The cities of Qingyuan and Nanxiong in the northern part of the province will
become pilot areas where the new system will begin later this year.
And the extra expenses for insurance will have to be paid by contractors and
construction companies and cannot be apportioned to builders, Chen said.
The move to use a new system is aimed at reducing construction accidents and
protecting builders' legal interest, Chen added.
He estimated Guangdong now has more than 5 million construction workers who
have come from around the country. Of them, few have bought insurance to cover
accidents, Chen said.
The new system comes after 54 people were killed in construction accidents in
46 incidents in the first six months of this year in Guangdong. The figures have
grown by 42 per cent and 33 per cent from the corresponding months in the
previous year.
Another three persons were also seriously injured in the construction
accidents in the first half of this year.
None of the victims received enough compensation from their employers because
laws and regulations did not adequately support their lawsuits, Chen said.
Accidents in the construction industry have become a major killer of workers.
Guangdong, which is enjoying rapid economic growth, has plenty of
construction projects, attracting a large number of builders from around the
country, Chen said.
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