Special equipment accidents kill 317 in '08

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-13 08:38

BEIJING -- Accidents involving special equipment, such as elevators, boilers and pressure vessels, claimed 317 lives and injured 296 people in 2008, said China's top quality supervisor on Monday.

Of the total 191 accidents, three major accidents killed 10 to 29 people, 16 serious accidents left 3 to 9 dead and 172 accidents killed 1 or 2 people, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The death toll was down 2 percent from the 2007 total while the injuries jumped by 62 percent, the quality supervisor said.

"Considering the influence of the May 12 earthquake and the growth in the use of special equipment in China, the accident numbers are not as bad as they look," said AQSIQ information office director Li Yingfeng.

"The AQSIQ organized a task force of 2,882 technicians and inspectors to conduct safety checks and maintenance on 20,918 items of special equipment in the quake zone," he said. "They finished the job in seven days, and successfully averted any consequent death and injury."

The AQSIQ also waged a seven-month security campaign to check the safety of special equipment at public entertainment venues, properties leased to the migrants and hotels that were listed as key areas in the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games, Li said.

About 16,000 such devices received safety checks in Beijing alone while during the Games, quality officers ensured the proper functioning of each device and submitted daily reports to the AQSIQ about the operation of special devices.