A string of recent mine disasters, in which hundreds of miners
died, led the country's work safety authorities to organize a
nationwide televised meeting yesterday.
The meeting followed the State Council's conference on work safety
on Friday, and urged governments at all levels to adopt stricter
measures to protect the lives of miners.
"Enterprises turning a deaf ear to safety regulations and
management processes are the main reason for the recent disasters,"
said Zhao Tiechui, deputy director of the State Administration of
Work Safety Supervision.
A
massive and continuous inspection campaign is soon expected to
determine whether the central government's ordered shutdown of
unqualified coal mines is being implemented, according to Zhao.
"The evil supporting organizations behind those unqualified mines
should be dismantled in line with the law," Zhao said yesterday,
urging on thousands of China's safety officials attending the
conference in the branch-meeting rooms of provincial and county
safety authorities.
Zhao also asked governments at different levels as well as
enterprises to study the Law of Production Safety which was
recently passed by the National People's Congress and is scheduled
to take effect on November 1, 2002.
For the spate of disasters since May, Zhao said nothing has been
spared in the rescue efforts, and the injured have been well taken
care of.
At
Friday's conference, Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo called on
officials at various levels to take tough measures to tackle
problems affecting workshop safety in order to prevent fatal
accidents.
After listening to a report on the results of safety inspections of
workshops across the country, Wu said more efforts are needed to
rectify problems, close down small and accident-prone coal mines,
and remove any hidden dangers in state-owned large and medium-sized
coal mines.
(China
Daily July 8, 2002)