Officials and employees held responsible for safety violations
will be punishment after the country Wednesday promulgated its
first regulation detailing punishment to match their offences.
The regulation jointly issued by the Ministry of Supervision and
the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) specifies misdeeds
and corresponding disciplinary and administrative penalties.
Being particularly targeted are those whose corrupt deeds lead
to loss of life or limb in workplace accidents, said Li Yizhong,
head of SAWS. Corruption is seen as a major contributing factor to
the rising number of accidents.
In October, there was a 26.1 percent rise in coal mine accidents
and a 44.4 percent rise in related deaths from the previous
month.
A spate of serious colliery accidents has rattled the country
this month, notably a gas explosion in a Shanxi coal mine that
killed 47 miners.
Government officials and employees of state-owned enterprises
(SOEs) who are found culpable will be given a warning or a written
censure, demoted or dismissed while serious cases will be referred
to prosecutors.
The regulation, which comes into immediate effect, specifies 25
misdeeds by public servants and 18 by SOE employees that invite
punishment.
Among them are failing or refusing to implement national safety
policies or laws; granting approval to operators who have not taken
requisite safety measures; and concealing, lying about or delaying
accident reports.
The regulation will also serve as reference when meting out
punishment for non-government employees who violate safety
laws.
Li stressed that corruption is a "shocking" phenomenon behind
many accidents.
Chen Changzhi, vice-minister of the Ministry of Supervision,
said that five of the 11 serious workplace accidents investigated
last year involved corruption.
He cited two accidents as examples: one, a gas explosion in a
coal mine in Wayaobao, Yan'an, Shaanxi Province on April 29 last year, killed
32 miners; and the other, water flooding in a coal mine in Zuoyun,
Datong, Shanxi Province, drowning 56 workers.
"Some local government officials ignore people's lives," Chen
said.
Chen added that thorough inspections would be conducted along
with the regulation's implementation.
To curb rampant accidents, a campaign was launched last year to
shut down the numerous small coal mines that fail to meet safety
standards. Almost 70 percent of accidents occur in small mines, Li
said.
By the end of April this year, the government had closed 5,931
small coal mines, and another 2,651 were being shut down.
SAWS figures show that this year 625 people lost their lives in
33 coal mine accidents by November 19.
Crime and punishment
Government officials will face warnings, demotions, dismissal or
prosecution for transgressions in production safety. Major
punishable acts include:
approving projects that do not meet safety requirements;
failing to tackle unsafe production activities;
hindering the procurement of safety equipment and
facilities;
failing to deal with identified major hazards that later lead to
accidents;
covering up production accidents, failure to provide true
reports or delaying reports of production accidents;
obstructing investigations into production accidents;
holding stakes, personally or through family members, in coal
mines or running business related to production safety; and
allowing businesses to continue operation after their licenses
have been revoked or they have been ordered to stop production.
(China Daily November 23, 2006)