Fatal fire rings alarm for factory safety(3)

LAX SUPERVISION

Lax supervision is also being blamed for the heavy casualties.

The company was not recognized by local authorities as a company that requires high-level fire prevention. In addition, flammable construction materials contributed to the spread of the fire and insufficient fire prevention equipment made the casualties worse, according to a local government official.

The poor design of the plant's exits made escaping difficult, said Gao Guangbin, Communist Party of China (CPC) chief of the provincial capital of Changchun, at a meeting held on Tuesday.

"All construction materials used to build the workshop were flammable, creating an enormous fire hazard," he said.

A worker at the company earns about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan (326 to 489 U.S. dollars) a month, an income that is quite attractive to locals who are used to earning a meager living by farming.

The blaze, however, has changed the opinions of many who had hoped to earn more by working at a factory.

Wang Huihua, 43, was lucky enough to survive the accident. But he said he has a hard time sleeping. "Every time I try to close my eyes, I see huge flames," he said.

"I won't do this kind of work any more after leaving the hospital," he said. "I will stick to farming and I will treat my parents and kids better."