In my time as a consultant about 7-8 years ago I visited many factories along China’s East coast. Always an interesting experience, especially compared to the clean and efficient factories that I was used to while working for Mercedes-Benz (where I worked until 2002). One of the things you always notice in Chinese factories is that workers do not seem to care about safety: their attitude is often one of ‘why should I wear safety glasses or safety shoes, it’s just a nuisance and I’m not afraid’.

Tonight I came across a good article on the blog of Hong Kong photographer Alex Hofford (h/t Danwei). He took a series of pictures in an ‘investment casting’ factory near Ningbo (a 2 hour drive south of Shanghai). The blog post shows the whole factory process in detailed pictures, with short comments explaining the process while also pointing out the health and safety issues. If you’ve never seen a typical Chinese factory on the inside or just want to understand how many industrial parts are still being produced, you should check out his blog post.

Picture credit (Creative Commons): Mavericyard