Workplace safety improves in 2017

China saw fewer work-related accidents and fatalities last year as government regulators strengthened inspections and penalties. Still, there are more potential safety hazards as the economy develops and urbanization continues, the work safety authority said.

About 53,000 work-related accidents occurred in the country last year, a decline of 16.2 percent from 2016. Those accidents killed 38,000 people, down 12.1 percent, Wang Yupu, minister of the State Administration of Work Safety, said on Monday.

The number of "extremely severe accidents" declined from 32 in 2016 to 25 last year, and fatalities in these accidents decreased since 2016 by 228 to 342, Wang said at a national work safety conference.