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Opinion>China | |
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New mindset will help stop tragedies
China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) prompt compensation is surely what victims of the recent gas blowout in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality deserve. Though money cannot assuage the sorrow of those bereft of their loved ones, the compensation " 33 million yuan (US$4 million) paid as of Friday " will help many residents of the impoverished community restart their lives. The explosion, which claimed 243 lives, was one of the worst industrial accidents in China's history and drew immediate attention from both the State oil giant and the central government. It underlined the country's poor record of workplace safety, particularly in the mining industry. The ensuing investigation revealed the gas blowout was due to human negligence. Those responsible must certainly be punished. Nevertheless, loopholes lie not merely in the management of a single local company, a subordinate of the CNPC. The State oil giant's recent order to carry out in-house security inspection is a better-later-than-never effort. But a more fundamental question the tragedy raised was about enterprises" commitment to workplace safety. The fact that the drilling crew chose to protect assets when an emergency occurred instead of igniting dangerous gas to prevent it from spreading exposed a shocking ignorance of the basic right of other stakeholders " the resident villagers. Such a practice has to do with an old development philosophy that has wrongfully elevated economic growth above everything else. Fortunately, the country's ongoing effort to build an overall prosperous society featuring substantial improvement in people's welfare calls for drastic concept changes in the business world as well. As one of the country's leading State firms that has contributed significantly to the rapid growth of the national economy, the mega oil company has a huge stake in timely adapting its business model to the country's pursuit of balanced social and economic development. Quick delivery of compensation to victims and their families will demonstrate the oil giant's capacity to manage crisis. It will also become a silver lining by initiating a much-needed rethinking of an enterprise's accountability to society. One bitter lesson the incident provided is that corporate social responsibility goes far beyond occupational health and safety. Enterprises" extensive growth at the cost of the environment and public welfare is no longer affordable or acceptable in this country. It is high time to promote high quality growth that requires enterprises to voluntarily address social and environmental concerns when pursuing profits. The cost of such changes might be dear, but Chinese enterprises should not consider social responsibility a luxury to think of later. It should be mainstreamed into their business model as soon as possible. Sustainable business success cannot be achieved through maximizing short-term profits, but through market-oriented yet responsible behaviour. The gas blast sounded the alarm for all domestic enterprises as well as the government, which has a watchdog role to play. Joint efforts are needed to install effective mechanisms to ensure enterprises" accountability for their social and environmental impact.
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