Leading officials of Chinese coalmines must now regularly go
down into dark and dangerous shafts by themselves, according to a
newly-issued document by China's General Administration of Work
Safety (GAWS).
All local governments should enact detailed regulations to
guarantee the smooth implementation of the compulsory task. Related
regulations should be reported to the GAWS, said an official of the
administration.
GAWS had appealed for tougher penalties for mine operators
responsible for deadly coal mine accidents, blaming them for
focusing on money instead of worker's lives.
The new move is aimed at uncovering safety risks in coal mines
and improving officials' and miners' awareness of safety.
The administration ordered its local branches to supervise the
new policy and record the operation to the GAWS.
It also delivered a detailed regulation of the country's leading
coal producer Shanxi Province to all provincial branches for
reference.
The regulation issued by the Shanxi Provincial Coal Industrial
Bureau stipulates that top officials of coal mines must make three
inspection tours of shafts each month, deputy officials who are in
charge of production, safety, use of mining equipment and
technologies must go down into the shaft at least four times and
deputy chief engineers must visit shafts at least five times a
month.
Repeated disasters have exposed many management flaws in Chinese
coal mines, including poor safety measures, old equipment and lax
safety procedures.
China's central government is determined to take tough measures
to punish those public servants charged with negligence and
corruption. After a deadly accident in northeastern China's
Liaoning Province, the State Council meeting chaired by Premier Wen
Jiabao on Feb. 23 suspended the post of Vice Governor Liu Guoqiang,
who is responsible for industry and work safety.
In order to intensify efforts in work safety supervision, the
State Council will devote three billion yuan (US$360 million) to
technological renovation related to work safety, gas management in
particular, at state-owned major coal mines.
The central government also sent safety supervision teams to 45
major coal mines with serious gas problems and invite colliery
safety experts to evaluate safety situations in coal mines with
potential danger and formulate specific prevention measures.
To protect miners' rights and interests, China has tripled the
compensation for miners who die in mine accidents, from former
average of 30,000 to 80,000 yuan (US$3,600 to 9,600) to 200,000
yuan (US$24,000).
In the first quarter of this year, there were 206,970 accidents
causing casualties in China, resulting in 30,597 deaths, according
to a news release by the GAWS.
The number of accidents and total deaths declined by 12.9
percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, compared with the same
quarter last year.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2005)