Accidents at building sites surge in May

THERE were a total of 122 construction accidents in Shanghai, leading to 131 fatalities, in the first five months of the year, according to recent report from the city’s emergency bureau.

While this represents a substantial overall decrease from the same period last year, accidents surged more than 50 percent year on year in May alone, leading to 24 deaths.

The accidents mainly occurred at construction sites for buildings, railways and water conservancy projects.

When asked about the sudden spike, emergency bureau director Ma Jianghong said that it was mainly due to the long break caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic and lack of safety management.

“Many companies didn’t make adequate preparations before resuming work, such as the inspection of facilities and safety education for staff. They might have also tightened their schedule to finish work, which could have led to violations of operation rules,” Ma said.

Shanghai recently released a three-year plan to improve work safety, which aims to raise safety awareness and implement a responsibility and management system.

Nine high-risk fields are listed in the plan for further improvements, including hazardous chemicals, explosives, fire protection and urban construction.

“More needs to be done apart from these nine fields. We will continue to enhance our capabilities to control accidents and improve overall safety levels,” Ma said.