Why do industrial enterprises such as coalmines and steel plants always cover up workplace accidents? Why do they always try to dilute the seriousness of an accident by reporting a fewer number of deaths than a disaster has actually claimed?

In a gas leakage incident last week in a steel plant in North China's Hebei province, plant authorities initially tried to conceal the accident but then said only a dozen workers were poisoned when questioned by investigators from the local work safety and supervision department. Even on the second day when it was impossible for a cover-up, plant authorities said that only seven of the 16 poisoned workers had died. The death toll was, in fact, 21.

Now an investigation team has been organized by the local government to look into the accident. The local government is applauded for publicizing the names of the dead workers and providing a phone number for locals to report any information they may have about the accident or of dead workers the plant has failed to report.

Despite severe penalties inflicted on anyone held responsible for the cover-up of industrial accidents, some are still trying to keep from reporting accidents or actual death tolls. In the Criminal Law amended in 2006, the cover-up of accidents was added as a criminal act since it may hinder timely rescues and cause more death and injuries.

A severe accident may lead to the dismissal of local leaders. The reputation of leaders can also be tarnished when their performance is assessed, negatively impacting a possible promotion. Thus, local leaders are always the beneficiaries of a successful cover-up.

The same is true of leaders of enterprises. They will try their best to keep their posts by employing any measure to dilute the severity of an accident.

What should be noteworthy are the possible violations of law or corruption behind the cover-up. Some local leaders have dirty deals with enterprises under their leadership and are afraid a higher-level investigation will expose their abuse of power.

It is not rare for investigations into coalmine accidents to reveal a local official's shady interest in a private coalmine. More often than not, the officials are exposed as political shields for the coalmines' negligence of safety control.

In this accident, we don't know immediately if local authorities have anything to do with the cover-up and neither do we know if local government officials have any vested interest in the steel company. The dead workers are migrant workers, who were hired by the company. We are not yet clear whether there is any violation of relevant legal rules in how these workers are hired.

So it is important for the investigation to find out why it was necessary for the authorities of this private business to conceal the truth of this accident and the real death toll. Those who are held directly accountable should never be allowed to get away with just disciplinary penalties without exposing the real cause for the cover-up.