Early on the morning of Aug 2nd, a dust explosion occurred in a wheel hub polishing workshop of Zhongrong Metal Products Co., Ltd. (ZR), located in Kunshan, Jiangsu, China. The catastrophe affected all of the 260 employees at the worksite.
ZR is a Taiwan-funded enterprise established in 1998, specializing in electroplating of aluminum alloy wheels. As shown on its company website, ZR was holder of ISO 14001 and ISO/TS 16949 certificates. It is also one of General Motor’s suppliers.
The explosion was believed to be directly caused by ignited metal polishing dust. According to a report by Director General Yang Dongliang of the Sate Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) on the Aug 4th meeting after the preliminary investigation, the accident was attributed to factors including illegal plant design, bad production-line layout, concentrated workstations, poor dust extraction, and enclosed working conditions without blasting protection facilities and relief measures, overtime work and inadequate staff training. A number of ZR’s employers or former employers said after the accident that they only knew that dusts could be pollutants and were not aware of the risk of explosion.
As a matter of fact, ZR’s dusty working condition was first exposed to the public in 2010, when the workers diagnosed with lung cancer picketed the factory.
The accident has seen changes take place in Suzhou in which 135 plants were found to have risks of metal dust explosion.
For more followups, please refer to China’s Dust Explosion: The Lessons Learned.
