Work safety a high priority for qualitative development

That China Earthquake Networks Center said a quake measuring 2.2 degree with its focal point at Tianjiayi Chemical Co plant shook the Xiangshui county of Yancheng, Jiangsu province, at 2:48 pm on March 21 means the tremor, most probably, was caused by the explosion in the chemical plant that has claimed 78 lives and left 41 seriously injured.

Although the investigation is still underway, evidence gathered until now suggest the explosion, which razed a 2-square-kilometer area in the Xiangshui chemical industrial park, was caused by potential hazards that the work safety supervisory departments had identified and warned against but the chemical plant ignored. For example, the plant's casual handling of solid chemical waste could have triggered the chain of blasts. Ironically, the work safety inspectors sent by the Yancheng city authorities to inspect the plant just before the explosion occurred were also injured.

The plant produces about 4,500 tons of solid waste a year, some of which are highly toxic and combustible. Worse, they are piled up near large chemical tanks and a natural gas station - where witnesses reportedly first spotted the flames leading to the explosion - before being transported away.