Top safety officials Wednesday in Beijing called for tough
prevention measures to curb workplace accidents which claimed the
lives of 124,581 people between January and November last year in
980,689 separate accidents.
Wang Xianzheng, head of the State Administration on Work Safety
(SAWS), said management priority should be given to rail, air, road
and water transportation, especially in the run-up to the Chinese
lunar New Year holidays, by the end of this month, when millions of
people will be on the move heading home for family reunions.
Wang issued the directive at the national televised conference on
work safety hold on Wednesday.
Lack of work safety awareness, backward infrastructure and
loopholes in management and supervision have resulted in continuing
cycle of accidents, which has caused great losses in terms of both
lives and assets, said Wang.
To
cut the toll of serious accidents, urgent preventative steps need
to be taken and work safety supervision and administration
strengthened, said Wang.
On
July 1 last year, a law on work safety was promulgated and
subsequently brought into effect by China's top legislative body,
giving SAWS, which is under the State Council, the right to
implement comprehensive supervision and administrative measures in
respect of workplace safety.
One of the major tasks for the administration in 2003 is to promote
awareness of the law, ensure it is implemented and revise and
perfect corresponding regulations concerning work safety, said
Wang.
Under the guidance of the State Council, the administration will
launch special supervision programmes in many sectors, particularly
coal mines and production plants using or manufacturing dangerous
chemicals.
Once again it was coal mine accidents that topped last year's list
of tragedies.
Currently there are a total of 2,800 coal mine safety supervisors
across the nation, and each of them is responsible for the safety
of at least 10 pits, according to administration statistics.
(China Daily January 10, 2003)