Government and Policy

Death toll higher in major accidents

By Wang Huazhong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-28 08:09

BEIJING - The death toll from major industrial accidents jumped 50 percent in the first seven months of this year, the State Administration of Work Safety said on Friday.

From January to July, 53 major incidents in the country killed 904 people, respective year-on-year increases of 51 and 68 percent, the administration said during a national video conference.

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The situation was even more grave this hot and rain-plagued August with 13 major incidents and 210 people killed or gone missing so far, it said.

The accidents included the deadly explosion in a firecracker factory and a plane crash - ending Chinese civil aviation's 2,000-plus days of flight safety. Both occurred in Yichun city, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, this month.

Luo Lin, director of the administration, said the death toll from major incidents in the country this year so far has been "equal to or closing in on" the 1,128 people killed last year.

"The figures reflect the grim situation the nation's production safety is facing ... and show the grave challenge posed by the season of high temperature and rains," Luo said.

"They also reflect that coal mine safety must constantly be the focus of our monitoring."

He stressed that illegal production was driving up the rate of incidents, and that incidents tended to occur in big State-owned corporations and in mines that were undergoing consolidation.

Niu Senying, director of the work safety bureau of Central China's Henan province, said some local governments' monitoring efforts were absent or flawed.

"Some officials have opened one eye and closed the other in a bid to save themselves from trouble," he said.

Luo acknowledged that his administration and local work safety authorities did not live up to the expectations of the central government and public.

"Our work is neither efficient nor effective and our law enforcement is not strict enough," Luo said.

"Some of our monitoring authorities have failed to take a determined attitude and powerful measures when they come to implementing the central government's requirements."

The State Administration of Work Safety on Friday ordered local authorities to "vigorously and immediately implement" a system that requires mining officials to work in mines simultaneously with miners.

It also warned of the threat of continuous extreme weather and natural disasters such as floods and landslides during the current flood season.

The administration on Thursday ordered local authorities to establish systems for monitoring, human positioning, shelter, venting, self-rescue, water supply and communication for all mines within three years.