Aiming to make safety in the work place a matter of legal policy the Chinese Government is now drafting the national work safety law, according to Zhang Baoming, head of the newly-established State Administration of Work Safety Supervision.
Speaking at a ceremony held in Beijing on Monday to mark the birth of the administration, Zhang said the move is a response to increasing numbers of workplace accidents that have been taking place all over the country in recent years.
In addition to the drafting of the new law, the administration said it will also carry out inspection and improvement of safety conditions in the transport, coal mining and chemical industries, as well as in night clubs -- four trades which are mostly frequented by accidents over the past several years.
Also scheduled to come under scrutiny by safety inspectors are fireworks factories and commercial malls.
Operations which are not up to work safety standards or which do not have proper safety certification will be closed down, while units in which there is the potential for safety problems will be suspended until conditions are improved.
The establishment of the administration is part of the second major effort to reform work safety supervision organs to occur in the last just over two years, following the establishment of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety Supervision at the end of 1999.
According to Zhang, one of the newly-established administration's major goals in its first year is to see a significant drop in the number of serious workplace casualties countrywide.
Zhang admitted at the ceremony that over the past several years, a series of serious accidents occurred, attracting the alarmed attention of the State Council, but he claimed the situation is already improving.
(China Daily 02/28/2001)
