Checkups for construction workers
5/1/2005 7:34
Shanghai Daily news
Starting next month, the city
government will for the first time arrange health exams for the city's
construction workers on a regular basis to protect their health while working,
an official said yesterday.
The city is home to more than 600,000
construction workers, mostly migrants from neighboring provinces. According to a
preliminary plan, the city will arrange for them to undergo physical checkups in
batches at appointed hospitals.
"Hopefully, the plan will be conducted right
after the Spring Festival holiday (February 9-15)," Zhang Huaping, an official
with the Shanghai Construction and Management Commission, said yesterday.
He
explained that the physical check is to assure workers' health so that there
will be less construction accidents, particularly on the tall
buildings.
According to commission officials, about 50 percent of
construction-related accidents last year involved people working high above the
ground. Many of those who caused the accidents were found to have severe
diseases while working, such as cardiopathy, hypertension and eye
diseases.
But the officials didn't announce the number of accidents and
related death toll for last year.
Officials said that the fee for the
workers' physical exams will come from their personal "insurance fee" accounts
that the government pays into every month for medical treatment, training and
other miscellaneous purposes.
They said those construction workers who are
found with certain "crucial diseases" will not be allowed to work any more. For
instance, if any worker is diagnosed with nephritis or gastric ulcer, they will
not be allowed to take up work that needs high strength.
"I wish the
government will offer some extra subsidy to those workers who are found with
certain diseases," said Huang Guofu, who works on Sichuan Road.
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