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Lesson from accidents

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-23 07:42

Three separate accidents claimed around 100 lives, with a dozen people still missing, in Guangdong, Heilongjiang and Henan provinces at the weekend. Dereliction of duty by government officials, violations of work safety rules and illegal operations are once again the culprits.

The nightclub in Shenzhen, where a fire on Saturday killed 43 and injured 65, did not even have a business license and had failed a fire prevention examination. It was obviously an illegal business.

The coal mine in the city of Dengfeng, Henan province, where 37 miners lost their lives in a gas explosion, had already been ordered to suspend production. But it still sent miners down the pit on that fateful night.

The fire in the coal mine at Hegang, Heilongjiang province, which claimed 19 lives and left 12 missing, remains under investigation. It is believed to have all the necessary permits and licenses for production.

Accidents are inevitable in risky businesses such as coal mining. But when many lives are lost because of officials' dereliction of duty and the violation of safety rules by mine owners seeking maximum profits, we feel the necessity and urgency of an overhaul to make grassroots-level governments cleaner and more honest.

Why do our officials always promise to solve problems after an accident happens? This was the question asked by Zhao Tiechui, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, after the nightclub fire.

This gets exactly to the root cause of most accidents. It is something they have to do because of their failure to take preemptive measures against possible accidents.

President Hu Jintao said on Saturday that fatal accidents and food safety scandals showed that some officials had no sense of responsibility or anxiety. Hu also accused some of turning a blind eye and deaf ear to hazards threatening residents.

The dismissal and punishment of some officials for their role in the lethal iron ore dump disaster and the dairy product contamination scandal in recent weeks shows the resolve of the central government to rectify the work style of government officials.

But the message from the accidents at the weekend is that some officials have not learned a lesson from the series of actions that the central government has taken to punish those responsible for lethal accidents.

It is apparent that some officials harbor the mentality of taking chances especially when their interests will be harmed by the enforcement of work safety rules.

What is actually needed are down-to-earth investigations of all accidents in recent weeks and serious punishment of those responsible.

Only when government officials feel there is no room for taking chances and perform their duties conscientiously will the overall work safety situation see a change for the better.

(China Daily 09/23/2008 page8)