On the evening of March 21, 2025, at the Qidian Industrial Park in Yangzonghai, Kunming, a 33-year-old worker named Li Moumou tragically died while operating a die-cutting waste removal machine. During operation, his head was caught between the equipment and the tray, causing severe compression. He bled and lost consciousness on the spot and was pronounced dead despite rescue efforts.
At 18:40 on March 21, after work hours, all staff at Yunnan Moumou Packaging Products Co., Ltd. worked overtime to produce cartons. Li Moumou and Yu Moucai were responsible for operating a YH-1500P model fully automatic die-cutting waste removal machine in the factory. Yu Moucai handled feeding the raw cardboard material at the front end of the machine, while Li Moumou was responsible for discharging finished products at the back end, which involved manually using a forklift to move the filled cartons from the wooden pallet on the collection table and placing the pallet back on the waste collection table.
According to the accident investigation report, at the time of the incident, the company arranged for all employees to work overtime. Li Moumou was assigned to a hazardous position but did not wear a safety helmet or any protective gear. The workshop also lacked any protective facilities to prevent accidental entry into dangerous areas. There were no safety systems in place to protect workers.
Around 19:17, Yu Moucai had just tightened two screws on the blades when he heard Li Moumou shouting. At this moment, the company’s boss, He Mouzhong, also heard the shout. He immediately rushed to the machine and saw Li Moumou’s head caught between the collection table and the main body of the machine, facing parallel to the machine. He then pressed and held the switch to lower the tray. Colleagues Zhong Mouhong and Yu Moucai, hearing the noise, also rushed over and together helped lift Li Moumou from the machine, laying him on the ground. They saw that his head was injured and bleeding. He Mouzhong immediately called 120 and 110 for emergency services. Despite rescue efforts, the 33-year-old Li Moumou died.
Most infuriating is that the report falsely claimed that “the accident investigation report concluded that the direct cause of the accident was the deceased Li Moumou’s lack of safety awareness, and that he violated safety procedures by inserting his head into the operating machine during die-cutting waste removal, resulting in head compression and death. It also falsely stated that ‘he was wearing slippers and no safety helmet or other protective gear during the entire operation period.’” Capitalist enterprises, by their fundamental purpose of production, cannot be expected to install safety facilities that might reduce labor intensity and increase safety, as this would fundamentally lower profit margins.
“On February 20, 2025, Yunnan Moumou Logistics Co., Ltd. leased Project Warehouse #1 to Yunnan Huamou Industrial and Trade Co., Ltd.; on March 27 of the same year, Yunnan Huamou Industrial and Trade Co., Ltd. leased part of Warehouse #1 (2600㎡) to Yunnan Moumou Packaging Products Co., Ltd.”
“There was no signed safety management agreement between the tenant and the lessor, no unified coordination or management of the tenant’s safety production, and no regular safety inspections or record-keeping for the leased production site.”
Furthermore, through multiple layers of subcontracting, the lessor also failed to uniformly manage the safety production of the lessee, which clearly violates provisions such as Article 45 of the Safety Production Law.