Taiyuan apartments hit by deadly fire saw a fatal elevator accident in March; investigators faulted the elevator's owner

China

A fire at the Haosheng International Apartments in Taiyuan, the capital of northern China’s Shanxi province, killed 14 people, according to figures released on Nov. 9.

In March, a worker dismantling an elevator at the same complex fell more than 70 meters to his death. An investigation report by the Yingze district government found that the elevator’s owner had awarded the job in breach of safety rules and failed to coordinate and manage the contractor’s safety work.

The fire broke out at 4:59 p.m. Beijing time on Nov. 8, Xinhua reported on Nov. 9. By that afternoon, another 25 people were in hospital: nine in critical condition, four seriously injured and 12 with minor injuries. Authorities said they had taken “control measures” against managers at the property owner and the head of the property management company. Official statements on the fire have not named those companies. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Based on the report’s account, the March accident happened in an elevator shaft in the complex’s main tower. According to the report, the No. 4 passenger elevator at No. 28 Liuxiang South Road was owned by Taiyuan Anhuaxin Property and Hotel Management Co.. The tower has 41 floors above ground and one basement level and stands 146 meters tall.

The paperwork to scrap the elevator was completed on Jan. 5, according to the report. An Anhuaxin deputy manager reached a verbal agreement with the legal representative of a scrap-metal recycling company from Gaoyang county in Hebei province to sell it for 20,000 yuan, with the recycler responsible for dismantling and disposing of it.

The recycler then subcontracted the dismantling to an individual for 16,000 yuan per elevator. No written contract or safety-management agreement was signed. Before work began on March 4, Anhuaxin’s security manager gave six workers oral safety training. None of the three who worked inside the shaft held the certificate required for working at height.

At about 6 p.m. on March 5, the three men were working from a makeshift platform formed by the roof of the old elevator car. They had reached the 25th floor when the two steel cables holding the platform snapped one after the other. Two workers, whose harnesses were clipped to rail brackets that had not yet been removed, were left hanging in the shaft and were later pulled out by co-workers.

The worker who had taken on the dismantling job had clipped his harness to a crossbeam on top of the car. He fell with the platform to the bottom of the shaft. The report put the direct economic loss at about 1.01 million yuan and said the parties involved had reached a compensation agreement with his family and paid the agreed compensation.

Investigators classified the death as a workplace accident involving safety violations. The direct causes listed in the report include the lack of an independent safety line, an overcrowded and overloaded platform, an unsafe harness attachment point, and suspension cables that were worn and too thin.

Anhuaxin’s contracting and safety-management failures were listed among the indirect causes. The report found that the company had awarded the dismantling work to a firm that lacked the conditions for safe work and had not coordinated or managed the contractor’s safety work, and that the recycler had then passed the job to an individual. The report said these failures were related to the accident.

The report found that Anhuaxin had violated paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 49 of China’s Work Safety Law. It held the company’s legal representative, Ma Fengping, responsible in his leadership role and recommended administrative penalties against both Ma and the company.

Red Star News reported on Nov. 9 that when its reporter asked Anhuaxin’s Liuxiang South Road branch about property management at the building, a staff member said company leadership was already under investigation and the details were not yet clear.

The Taiyuan city government said on Nov. 9 that the findings of the fire investigation would be made public in accordance with the law. Rescuers evacuated or rescued 60 trapped people. The fire was put out at 7 p.m. on Nov. 8, and the search ended at 8:30 p.m.