3,909 accused of endangering workers arrested

Procuratorial organs nationwide approved the arrests of 3,909 people accused of worker endangerment over the past four years, a senior official with the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Wednesday.

They also instituted public prosecutions against 13,205 people in nearly 8,000 such cases from January 2017 to December 2020, according to the SPP.

The number of crimes related to negligently causing serious accidents accounted for over 80 percent of such cases annually, said Yuan Ming, an SPP official.

People accused of such crimes have allegedly violated the provisions on safety administration in production or operation, resulting in accidents with heavy casualties or other serious consequences.

Yuan said worker endangerment is mainly caused by the failure to report accidents, or falsely reporting them; company management or personnel lacking safety awareness; unqualified operations; and violations of safety rules.

Wu Yanyun, deputy director of the policy and regulations department of the Ministry of Emergency Management, said that the number of work safety accidents nationwide dropped from a peak of more than 1.07 million in 2002 to about 38,000 last year, and related fatalities declined from 2,556 people to 262 during the same period.

The number of major accidents — those that caused the deaths over 30 people or more than 100 serious injuries — dropped from 140 in 2001 to 16 last year.

Wu said that although overall work safety has markedly improved over recent years, authorities stressed that there is no room for sloppiness.