In Beijing, masks now business dress

A couple wearing protective masks poses for a self portrait in thick haze on Tiananmen Square in Beijing Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Extremely high pollution levels shrouded eastern China for the second time in about two weeks Tuesday, forcing airlines in Beijing and elsewhere to cancel flights because of poor visibility and prompting government warnings for residents to stay indoors. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A couple wearing protective masks poses for a self portrait in thick haze on Tiananmen Square in Beijing Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Extremely high pollution levels shrouded eastern China for the second time in about two weeks Tuesday, forcing airlines in Beijing and elsewhere to cancel flights because of poor visibility and prompting government warnings for residents to stay indoors. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Thursday, January 31, 2013

— Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Toyota and Honda gave employees face masks, offered health tips and added office plants as pollution in Beijing hit hazardous levels for a 19th day this month.

Beijing’s city government recommended that its 20 million residents stay indoors for a second day as the local environmental monitoring center gave Wednesday’s air quality the worst rating on its sixlevel scale. A U.S. Embassy pollution monitor showed air quality in the Chinese capital reached hazardous levels for a fifth-consecutive day.

Companies across Beijing have sought to protect the health of their employees while facing the prospect of increasing difficulties in attracting others to a city grappling with pollution levels that Li Keqiang, set to become China’s next premier, has said will take time to reduce.

“Over the next few years the quality of life in Beijing will be something that has an impact on salaries,” said Simon Lance, Shanghai-based regional director at Hays PLC. The company has previously helped JPMorgan, Barclays PLC, and other companies with hiring, according to its website.

Toyota has put more green plants in its Beijing offices to help with air quality, spokesman Liu Peng said by phone. The carmaker’s offices, which it began using in October and where it has about 400 workers, is equipped with one air purifier for every two workstations, Liu said.

JPMorgan has provided health tips and distributed emergency kits that include masks to its employees in Beijing, spokesman Lisa Liang said by e-mail. The bank’s management is closely monitoring the situation and “exploring other options,” she said.

Honda has provided face masks to about 100 employees at its China headquarters in Beijing, Zhu Linjie, its Beijing-based spokesman said by phone.

At Apple’s retail store on Beijing’s Xidan Avenue, just four of the outlet’s more than four dozen salesmen were wearing face masks Wednesday. Spokesman Carolyn Wu said the maker of iPhones and iPads had distributed masks to its workers in the city, where the company has three stores.

Beijing this month proposed rules that would increase fines for vehicle emissions and force more factory shutdowns when smog reaches dangerous levels, as officials stepped up efforts to fight pollution.

Beijing’s pollution has the potential to “discourage” senior executives from moving to the Chinese capital and to prompt those already there to leave, Lance said.

“Beijing as an international city will be compared with other international cities,” he said Jan. 22.

Business, Pages 32 on 01/31/2013