A number of lawmakers from southwest China's Sichuan Province have submitted a motion to the National People's Congress, proposing the prompt enactment of the Law on Safety in Operations.
Liu Xiaofeng, a NPC deputy and deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Communications, said that a major reason for the frequent occurrence of accidents in operations is that China’s laws and regulations do not contain explicit provisions on how to severely penalize the people held responsible.
"To date, China has not had a special law regarding management of safety in operations," he said.
Consequently, management in this regard has to go by regulations and rules on various industries, as well as departmental documents, he said, adding that these are usually not severe enough to violators.
Liu said, "We badly need the prompt enactment of the Law on Safety in Operations that will meet the requirements of a socialist market economy, so as to prevent accidents by relying on laws."
He added: "Only by managing safety in operations according to law, standardizing the production order, ensuring the laborers' safety and health, and investigating and punishing those held responsible for accidents will we be able to effectively prevent serious accidents from occurring and guarantee the safety of people's lives and property."
(People’s Daily 03/12/2001)
