An Emergency Warning has been issued for parts of Nambeelup, Serpentine and the Shire of Murray in Western Australia. For the latest, search onChinese electrician Mr Ding says he saw co-workers die, a crane catch fire and worked for "175 days straight" during an 18-month stint at two nickel refining sites in Indonesia."There's an old Chinese saying that money makes the devil work," Mr Ding said.
The Indonesian Morowali Industrial Park in Central Sulawesi is owned by China's stainless steel giant Tsingshan Holding Group and Indonesia's Bintang Delapan Group. Research manager Zakki Amali said an analysis of news reports found 53 people died in workplace accidents between 2015 and 2022. Forty of those were local and 13 were Chinese.As Indonesia pushes ahead with a plan to be the world's largest nickel producer for electric vehicle batteries, workers at smelter sites allege they face unsafe conditions, which sometimes can be fatal.
"Company regulations of restricting workers movement, that's a very … clear indicator of forced labour." Mr Julio said both videos showed hazardous working conditions including people being exposed to dense smoke,IMIP did not respond to those allegations, but said the industrial park "always maintain the stability, security and welfare of foreign workers and Indonesian workers".
Mr Siola said decisions related to health and safety for Indonesian workers at nickel smelter sites were controlled by the Chinese companies that owned the sites, and the Indonesian government needed to reform the system to improve safety conditions for workers.
VDNI and another subsidiary of Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry employed nearly 20,000 local workers between 2018 and 2022, according to a local government authority.