Richun Battery Co in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, has found itself in the media spotlight over the past week as it planned to relocate its plant to Vietnam by the end of this year. In June, an employee of the Taiwan-owned company who was two months pregnant collapsed at work and was sent to the local hospital. Doctors discovered a lead level in her blood of 220mg per litre, the normal level being below 100mg. More than 70 frontline workers subsequently took a blood test at the hospital at their own expense and discovered that all of them except one had a lead level of between 280mg and 480mg.

The company employs just over 200 workers, three-quarters of whom are women from Anhui, Sichuan and Henan provinces. Annual health checks are carried out, but the company’s senior managers admit that test results have never been disclosed to the employees.

The lead-acid battery producer has been operating in Changzhou for 10 years and is said to have decided to relocate due to changes in the tax rebate policy and the rise in environmental protection standards. Many of the employees will face redundancy.

In response to growing concern, the company has offered blood tests at the city’s epidemic control centre for all its staff between 5 and 8 July. However, only 40 or so have taken up the offer so far. Many prefer to use provincial hospitals in the capital city of Nanjing to ensure an independent result.