On November 10, 2025, according to a report from Epoch Times, a state-owned enterprise supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, China Grain Reserve, had a warehouse collapse in Shandong at the end of last year, resulting in 7 deaths and 1 seriously injured. The official investigation report released on November 9 revealed that a series of violations led to the accident. Twelve individuals, including the project manager and chief engineer of the warehouse project department of the second company of China Construction Seventh Bureau, have been taken into custody.
The investigation report indicated that on December 3, 2024, at around 13:53, a collapse accident occurred on the umbrella truss platform of the grain storage project at the Jining Jinxiang County branch of China Grain Reserve in Jinxiang County, Shandong.
At the time of the incident, eight employees of Huasheng Company were conducting the dismantling of the umbrella truss (used as temporary support for pouring concrete on the roof of the warehouse). Suddenly, steel wire rope at hoisting point No. 1 of the truss broke, causing the rapid successive breakage of other hoisting points (except for No. 4), resulting in the truss tilting and falling. The eight workers fell with the truss, leading to 7 deaths, 1 serious injury, and direct economic losses of 13.465 million yuan.
Analysis suggests that the accident was caused by a series of violations during the dismantling of the umbrella truss: improper equipment selection and use, including incorrect specifications of steel wire ropes, pre-existing damage, and unreasonable binding methods; violations in operation procedures, improper installation of electric hoist hoisting points, and unauthorized single-point lifting; chaotic on-site management, improper stacking of materials on the umbrella truss being worked on.
These factors combined to create unequal force distribution, exceeding the carrying limit of the steel wire rope, resulting in successive ruptures of the steel wire rope, leading to the collapse of the umbrella truss and personnel.
The construction unit for the project was China Grain Reserve Jining Company, with the general contracting unit being Zhengzhou Grain Design Institute and China Construction Seventh Bureau Second Company. Huasheng Company was subcontracted, and Tongcheng Company was responsible for supervision.
The report also pointed out that among these units responsible for the project, Huasheng Company obtained qualifications and undertook business unlawfully. The company managed to acquire the professional scaffolding contracting qualification without having the necessary construction industry professionals, on-site management personnel, or technical workers.
Tongcheng Company had inadequate staffing in the project supervision department. The promised 11 supervision staff as per the bidding document did not all take up their positions, and two individuals (one of whom lacked supervision qualifications) were included to replace the promised supervision staff in the bid document.
Meanwhile, China Construction Seventh Bureau Second Company did not fulfill its safety management responsibilities towards subcontracting units, lacked strict scrutiny of the qualification of management personnel in Huasheng Company. China Grain Reserve Jining Company also did not effectively carry out safety management responsibilities as the construction unit, failing to take effective measures to rectify issues such as the lack of supervision personnel from Tongcheng Company.
According to the report, 12 individuals, including Wang Tao, the legal representative of Huasheng Company, and Shang Qingqing, the chief engineer of Tongcheng Company, have been taken into custody by judicial authorities.
The report also recommended that 27 individuals receive disciplinary and organizational action, including Xia Chuantao, former deputy general manager of the Shandong branch and chief engineer of China Construction Seventh Bureau Second Company, and Liu Jianming, head of the warehouse management section at China Grain Reserve Jining Company. Additionally, fines ranging from over 1.5 million yuan to below 2 million yuan were imposed on Huasheng Company, Tongcheng Company, China Construction Seventh Bureau Second Company, and China Grain Reserve Jining Company.
The accident sparked discussions online. Netizens expressed various opinions, with some saying, “Locals have never heard of this, amazing!” “It’s very much in line with the practices in Shandong, not giving any local IP promotion at all.” “There must be some higher-ups involved.” “Serious measures should be taken to investigate all warehouses owned by China Grain Reserve.”