Shanxi
Province, China's leading coal producer, has ordered officials
at local coal mines to inspect shafts to find hidden safety risks
and solve problems.
Regulations issued by the Shanxi Provincial Coal Industrial
Bureau in Taiyuan recently stipulate that top officials of coal
mines must make three inspection tours in shafts each month, deputy
officials who are in charge of production and safety must go down
to the shaft at least four times, and deputy engineers visit shafts
at least five times a month.
Lower ranking officials are required to inspect shafts five to
10 times each month according to their occupational posts.
Jin Shanzhong, vice governor of the northern province, said that
the move is aimed at uncovering safety risks in coal mines and
improving officials' and miners' awareness of safety, thus reducing
accidents.
To prevent coal mines from operating beyond their production
capacity and with the aim of reducing accidents and casualties, the
province has asked local coal mines to limit the number of miners
working underground at one time.
Shanxi is just one of the provinces that have intensified
measures to improve coal mine safety following an alarming number
of major accidents that have claimed hundreds of lives in China
over the past few months.
Last October, a coal mine blast killed 148 miners at the Daping
Colliery in central Henan
Province. Two months later, a similar accident claimed 166
lives in Tongchun, a city in northwestern Shaanxi
Province. Last month, a coal mine gas explosion at the
Sunjiawan coal mine in Fuxin in northeastern Liaoning
Province killed 214.
Investigation into the Daping explosion found 24 people
responsible for the tragedy, including Shi Jichuan, vice governor
of Henan, according to a State Council meeting chaired by Premier
Wen
Jiabao in January.
Although the cause of the Sunjiawan blast is still under
investigation, a State Council meeting chaired by Wen on February
23 suspended Liu Guoqiang, vice governor of Liaoning.
"Those responsible for the accident will be punished once the
cause of the disaster is found," according to a statement released
after the meeting, which was convened to work on measures to
improve work safety in coal mines.
China's rising demand for fuel has driven up coal prices as well
as some mine owners' lust for profits. Overload has become a major
conduit for output growth in the coal industry in China, the
world's biggest coal consumer and producer.
According to the State Administration of Work Safety, now
elevated to the General Administration of Work Safety, around
one-third of China's state-owned coal mines are overloaded and
accident-prone.
(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2005)