Maybe not an engineering disaster 3

[miningman]

but surely a prime example why we all might want to avoid chinese products. Their business ethics and attitude toward basic safety, workers rights etc etc leaves a lot to be desired

https://news.yahoo.com/overloaded-faulty-vehicle-led-deadly-054158869.html

 

[Sparweb]

Found this:
Overloaded faulty vehicle led to deadly China mine accident

No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
STF

 

[GeoEnvGuy]

This type of incident demonstrates how cost efficiency trumps safe working conditions and procedures.

The bus not being registered is not a big deal as it's offroad, not being serviced regularly shows cost cutting measures.

Transferring responsibility to subcontractors shows the corporate liability shift mentality as the owners don't want to provide a safe travel route by making ramps designed to use transport vehicles. I can also imply from subcontracting transport there is no pride in ownership. The goal is to contract all services with contract terms related to making profit and state the subcontractors are responsible for safety of there workers on the owners property with no pay terms for improving worker conditions.

 

[JohnRBaker]

If nothing else, it shows that Communist China has been getting it's monies worth from all those students that were sent to America to get MBA's since it appears that they've learned the lessons of capitalism; profit first.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[IRstuff]

The Chinese have always been about profit; Communism was an aberration. They're merely getting back to their historical roots.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[ornerynorsk]

Profit is not a bad thing. Without it there is no incentive whatever to be in business. The harsh whip of oppression certainly doesn't contribute to quality and efficiency in the long term, we've seen that played out time and time again. To wrap all Chinese companies into the broad sweep of "greedy junk producers" is to be very, very misinformed. I deal with numbers of Chinese firms for my employer who are very cost and pricing conscious, yes, but they also treat their employees very well, better than many US companies I've worked for, and ensure that their factories are clean and comfortable and well organized, provide the proper safety equipment, robust quality programs, etc.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[bones206]

You're right. Not an engineering failure/disaster.

Also seems like you are singling out China for corporate corruption when it exists and has always existed throughout the entire world.

 

[ATSE]

The sentiment that is common to Mr. John Baker's post is unfortunate, not just for society, but for the engineering profession.
Most of us will agree:
1. Greed exists in every corner of the world, regardless of government framework.
2. Industrial accidents occurs in every corner of the world.
3. Industrial accidents occur more frequently in non-Western countries.
4. Markets require incentive (monetary and non-monetary).
5. Bad people should be punished.
6. Worker protections are necessary in civil societies.

Every construction or industrial accident can be framed as, "if those ___ capitalists had just spend more money on safety, this would not have happened." That is a straw man argument.

Pulling this back to the interface of engineering, public policy, and the markets:
America has an advantage over China in that we have rule of law, strong private property rights, lower government corruption, and a relatively free press. All of these are good for engineering and society.

Engineers should champion the Western free market system over the Chinese / Cuban / Soviet system. Markets include profit (incentive), which are not just merely not a bad thing, but necessary. Just as strongly enforced, clear, transparent safety requirements are necessary.

 

[cranky108]

Sort of a side note, I have heard that in Russia, if you tip well you will get better service.

The same with contractors, if you don't hire/buy from the cheapest one, it is possible to get better service.