Enforce safety rules

We feel both sad and indignant over fatal accidents like the latest one in Shanxi, in which the death toll rose to 128 yesterday and is likely to further rise.

We feel sad for the victims, who were buried when the bank of a liquid iron-ore waste dump burst after being filled to more than capacity.

Our indignation is aimed at those whose violation of rules and dereliction of duty have caused the loss of so many innocent lives.

The accident, which took place on Tuesday, could have been averted if Tashan Mine in Xiangfen county had strictly observed production safety rules in dumping the iron ore waste and if production safety supervisors had evacuated villagers before it was too late.

Investigations indicate that the mine was operating illegally and in violation of production safety regulations as well. The dump that had been idle for years should have been examined before being reused, but both the mine operators and local government watchdogs failed to do that.

The production safety supervision department of Xiangfen county government and officials in charge were apparently guilty of dereliction of duty when they failed to make sure that Tashan Mine fixed its safety hazards.

Mining is, as everyone knows, a risky venture. But there are regulations about work safety in mines of different kinds. Also, there are strict requirements for the mines to install necessary facilities in order to prevent accidents.

Violations of safety rules have always been found to be the reasons behind fatal accidents in mines. And so has been dereliction of duty by government officials or departments in charge of work safety.

Whether a local government department in charge of work safety at the mines does its job well always makes a difference.

Most coal owners are likely to pursue profits at the expense of work safety. They would usually ignore the installation of safety facilities, which will increase their cost of production.

Clearly, in the case of this accident, fixing the safety hazards of the waste dump or evacuation of villagers in advance would have cost the mine owner much money. So the mine took chances.

This is not the first fatal accident of its kind in the province. There are more than 400 such mine waste dumps across the province. The provincial government must ensure that all local work safety watchdogs examine the safety conditions of these dumps so that similar disasters can be averted.

This immediate action will make a difference. But only when all work safety watchdogs do their job properly can mine accidents be reduced to the minimum.

(China Daily 09/12/2008 page8)