CHINA> National
Cabinet orders tighter scrutiny of workplace explosion risks
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-16 20:50

BEIJING - The Safe Production Commission under China's State Council, or Cabinet, issued an order Monday to work safety departments, telling them to carry out strict scrutiny of work sites that are prone to explosions.

The order was issued in response to a March 11 blast at a dormitory on the Nanjing-Shanghai railway, which killed 11 people and injured 20 others.

All occupants of the building in Huiji Village, Danyang City, Jiangsu, were workers with the China Railways No. 24 Bureau. The building had been used previously as a factory to process aluminum powder.

The cabinet asked government offices to draw lessons from the accident and root out hidden risks.

According to the Jiangsu government, an initial investigation showed that an undetermined quantity of leftover aluminum powder caused the fire and the building to collapse.