BEIJING // An accident at a chemical plant in eastern China that killed more than a dozen workers was nothing out of the ordinary in a country infamous for its lack of workplace safety.
Four died immediately in the blast at a melamine factory in Shandong province last month, while 10 more were pronounced dead at hospital.
Dozens died after an explosion at a mine in south-western China a few weeks ago, while a search through the news archives revealed countless other deadly accidents over the past month or so.
China's workplace death rate is many times higher than those of other developed countries.
In the United Kingdom, for example, there were 171 worker fatalities between April 2010 and March 2011.
When population size is taken into account, China's workplace death rate is more than 21 times higher than the UK's.
Last year, 79,552 people died in work-related accidents in China, an average of 218 people a day, official figures show.
Many believe the real death rate to be much higher. Omana George, the programme coordinator with the Hong Kong pressure group Asia Monitor Resource Centre, described it as "the tip of the iceberg".
"The figures reflected officially are not the real figures," she said.
China has grown dramatically during the past three decades, but hundreds of thousands of people have died in the process.
Nationally, the authorities have indicated that they want improvements, saying that between now and 2015 death rates should drop 10 per cent a year.
Li Yizhong, previously the head of the State Administration of Workplace Safety, once criticised owners of coal mines for exchanging "life and blood for coal and high profits" and described one mine as "licensed by devils from hell".
Yet among local authorities tasked with enforcing rules there is "almost complete disregard of safety standards", according to Geoffrey Crothall from China Labour Bulletin, another Hong Kong campaign organisation.
"They have no interest or no desire to enforce the relevant rules and regulations," he said.
Part of the reason for this apparent apathy is local officials do not want to push industry into other parts of China.
They simply do not want to scare them off, said Mr Crothall. Also, he said authorities lacked the staff to carry out inspections.
Officially sanctioned unions are seen as toothless, while independent unions have been banned by a Communist Party suspicious of other sources of power.
Among those who have seen the consequences of poor workplace safety is Chris Chan, an assistant professor at the City University of Hong Kong, whose research has taken him to Shenzhen, the city where China's economic boom began and which remains a manufacturing hub.
There, he said, many town or district-level hospitals were full of industrial-injury patients, mostly young male migrant workers from the poorer parts of China.
"Many injured workers work for small or unregistered workshops, which are called 'black factories' by the workers. The machines and facilities are old ... the accident rate is therefore very high, but is not well reflected in the official figures," he said.
"Some of the factory owners will disappear after an accident."
Long hours and fatigue are blamed for many accidents.
Yet China's official figures have been improving. Last year's death rate was more than a third less than that of five years earlier, while in the first nine months of 2011, deaths dropped 11.8 per cent.
Ms George is sceptical there have been genuine improvements, mirroring the doubts campaigners have expressed about China's falling road accident death rates.
There have been reports that after some coal mine accidents, even other miners may be kept in the dark about deaths, while local officials are put under pressure to report improvements in fatality rates.
But there are signs for optimism. Mr Crothall said awareness had improved in the past decade, and it was more common now for coal mine bosses to talk to workers about safety.
Also, Mr Chan cited campaigns by non-governmental organisations as having helped improve safety standards at some factories, especially those producing for western markets.
Some factories have, he said, set up occupational health and safety committees, with worker representatives.
However, there has also been a trend towards self-regulation that "is actually quite dangerous", said Ms George. All agree more must be done to reduce further China's devastating workplace accident toll.
"It's still got a very long way to go before the Chinese workplace is safe," said Mr Crothall.
dbardsley@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
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UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
