Citation

Zhang M, Kim R. J. Glob. Health 2020; 10(1): e010315.

Affiliation

World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific, Manila, Philippines.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Edinburgh University Global Health Society)

DOI

10.7189/jogh.10.010315

PMID

32257141

PMCID

PMC7100868

Abstract

On 21 March 2019 an explosion in a chemical plant rocked China’s Jiangsu Province and shocked the rest of the world. By 25 March 2019 the death toll reached 78 with 566 more hospitalized, many with severe injuries [1].

Unfortunately, industrial accidents happen everywhere, from the most technologically advanced countries to small developing nations. The United Nations International Labour Organization says 2.78 million people die every year from occupational illnesses and accidents. The cost of these illnesses and accidents is an estimated US$ 2.9 trillion worldwide.

For China, the challenges are in the accidents of chemical industry. The leading five major chemical accidents over the past 10 years (including the March explosion in Jiangsu) have killed more than 476 people and injured some 1660 more [1,3].

While there is no public data specific to chemical accidents, the annual number of deaths from occupa- tional diseases and injuries in the factory mine and trade are 8460, 8058, 7199, 5982 and 9691 from 2012 to 2016, respectively. Please note that deaths from unregistered business, informal sector, and mi- grant workers are not counted [4]...

Language: en