Building on more than a decade of cooperation and collaboration between the United States and China, OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels is in Beijing this week for a series of meetings with government officials, worker safety and health advocates, and industry representatives from both countries.

The death toll from Monday’s poultry plant fire in China has reached 119. Sources say the fire was caused by leakage in tanks of ammonia used as a coolant. In a scene reminiscent of New York’s fatal Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, there were reports that workers trying to escape the fire found exits locked – to prevent theft and to keep them from stepping outside for breaks.