One of China's top work
safety officials warned the nation's enterprises on Friday they
will face closure if they fail to protect their
employees.
Wang Dexue,
vice-director of the State Administration for Safe Production
Supervision, made the warning hot on the heels of the release of
figures showing that a total of 60,292 people were killed in the
first six months of the year in 487,402 accidents across the
country.
The number of accidents
is 64,000 fewer than the same period last year, and the death toll
is 4,346 less.
Urging enterprises to
improve their work safety record, Wang warned: "Those who fail to
do so will be shut down."
The work safety
situation in the first half of the year remained stable as a whole,
but was serious in some regions and industries, Wang said in
Beijing.
Seven especially severe
accidents causing 30 or more fatalities each occurred in the first
half of the year, killing 349 people. The number of such accidents
is four more than in the same period last year.
Very severe accidents
that claim 10 or more lives each have not been effectively brought
under control in industries such as coal mining, road traffic and
waterborne traffic, Wang said.
For example, 23 very
severe accidents occurred in coal mines, accounting for 33.8
percent of the total number of such accidents. The accidents killed
534 people, 43.2 percent of the whole death toll.
During the first half of
the year the administration also made efforts to punish those
responsible for accidents, Wang said.
He said 23 people had
been punished for a coal mine blast in North China's Shanxi
Province on March 22, which killed 72 people and injured
four.
The punished include
Meng Zhaokang, the manager of the Mengnanzhuang Coal Mine in
Luliang Prefecture, who was held criminally responsible.
The coal mine was fined
more than 21.1 million yuan (US$2.5 million), which is the largest
fine in recent years for mining accidents.
Wang said the
administration and safe production supervision departments at all
levels will strengthen their work.
Wang said that if one
non-licensed mine is found in a township or two such mines are
found in a county, senior officials in the township or the county
will take responsibility, he said.
In another development,
12 people were killed by a traffic accident in Jingchuan County in
Northwest China's Gansu Province on Thursday afternoon.
According to Wang
Peilin, the county's transport police chief, the 38 injured by the
accident are all in hospital and in a stable condition.
He added that the
accident took place when a truck crashed into a bus from behind,
causing the bus to fall off the road.
(China Daily July 26,
2003)