China's occupational safety situation improved in the first half
of 2004 despite rapid economic growth, said Wang Dexue, deputy
director of the State Administration of Work Safety, at a press
conference on Tuesday.
Just over 426,000 incidents involving injury or death occurred
nationwide, 12.8 percent fewer than the same period last year.
The incidents resulted in 63,735 deaths, inching down 0.2
percent from the first half of 2003.
Wang attributed the improvement to measures taken by the central
government at the beginning of this year. Control indicators were
established to promote the implementation of a safety
responsibility system by various levels of government and work
safety campaigns were carried out, focusing on problems in
accident-plagued industries. Supervision and administration of
safety procedures were simultaneously intensified.
"However, work safety remains a serious concern since the number
of incidents and the death toll remain high, with about 350 people
killed daily on average," Wang noted. More than 600,000 people
suffer from occupational diseases because of poor protective
measures at workplaces and the number is increasing by 20,000 every
year.
While consolidating the role of enterprises as the major
entities responsible for work safety, in the second half of this
year the administration will better train personnel in work safety
supervision and administration as well as in coal mine safety
inspections.
Addressing the issue of the notorious underreporting of
accidents at some coal mines, Wang said severe penalties will be
meted out to those responsible for cover-ups.
Several cases underreported or deceptively reported were
discovered across the country when gas explosions occurred in some
coal mines in Henan,
Hebei
and Hunan
provinces earlier this year.
Due to the nation's strained coal supply and the rise in coal
prices, some mine managers hesitate to report accidents for fear of
hurting the bottom line, said Huang Yi, work safety administration
spokesman. Moreover, the existing laws tend to be lax with people
responsible for covering up mining accidents.
"Even worse, corrupt officials are often behind the
underreported cases, providing protective umbrellas," he said.
One day before the press conference, a gas explosion at the
Luzigou coal mine in Huairen County, north China's Shanxi
Province, killed 12 miners.
(China Daily July 21, 2004)