Speech by Wang Wei, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Supervision

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good Morning.

Now I would like to announce how the relevant persons responsible for the 5 serious and extremely serious accidents the investigations of which have been concluded since the second half of 2007 are handled.

In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Administrative Supervision Law of the People's Republic of China, the Work Safety Law of the People's Republic of China and the Regulations on the Reporting, investigation and Handling of the Accidents Disrupting Production Safety, the Ministry of Supervision has, by earnestly fulfilling its administrative supervision functions and responsibilities, joined relevant departments in seriously closing the cases of the 5 major accidents which are: an extremely serious road traffic black powder explosion in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province on March 17, 2005, an extremely serious fire accident in Nanshan Coalmine in Lingshi County of Jinzhong City of Shanxi Province on November 12, 2006, an extremely serious steel ladle capsizal accident at Qinghe Special Steel Co. Ltd. in Tieling City of Liaoning Province on April 18, 2007, a major methane explosion accident at Pudeng Coalmine in Linfen City of Shanxi Province on May 5, and an extremely serious bridge collapsing accident over Dixituo River in Fenghuang County of Hunan Povince. In these five accidents, 183 persons were punished in total, among which 78 were transferred to judicial organs for handling, and 105 persons were given Party and administrative disciplinary sanctions (including 31 persons who were given the sanction of removal from administrative and Party positions). Those who were given Party and administrative sanctions include 7 officials at the prefecture (department) level, 32 at the county (division) level, and 66 at the sub-county level or below or in other categories. Those punished can be classified as the followings:

First, 78 people were transferred to the judicial organs for handling because they bore direct or major responsibility for the accidents and were suspected of crimes. For example, in the case of the extremely serious methane explosion accident at Pudeng Coalmine in Linfen City of Shanxi province on May 5, 2007, 28 persons were transferred to judicial organs for handling on suspicion of the crimes of major liability accident, illegally purchasing and selling explosives, dereliction of duties etc. Among those, 14 were the suspects of the crimes of major liability accident and illegal mining, 2 were the suspects of the crime of illegal purchasing and selling of explosives, 3 suspects of the crime on tax dodging, and 9 suspects of the crimes of dereliction of duties, abuse of power and accepting bribes.

Second, 25 State-owned enterprise/institution managers were given disciplinary sanctions because they bore major leadership responsibility for the accidents. For example, in the case of the extremely serious bridge collapse accident over Dixituo River in Fenghuang County of Hunan Province on August 13, 2007, Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group Corporation, the construction company for the bridge, severely violated the basic procedures and quality standards of construction, blindly speeded up the process of the project and arbitrarily modified the construction plan. The site management was in a mess, and the construction was of low quality, which gave rise to serious safety hazards for the project. To act on the strength of the disciplines, the chairman and general manager of the Group were given the sanction of removal from office.

Third, 64 staff members of the governmental departments were given disciplinary sanctions because they bore considerable leadership responsibility for the accidents. For example, in the case of the steel ladle capsizal accident at Qinghe Special Steel Co., Ltd. in Tieling City of Liaoning Province on April 18, 2007, the work safety and quality departments of the local government respectively responsible for work safety and quality safety supervision and administration failed to fulfill their duties and responsibilities, hence 14 staff members of the government's functional departments concerned were given Party and administrative disciplinary sanctions.

Fourth, 16 local Party committee and government heads were given disciplinary sanctions because they bore leadership responsibility for the accidents. These 5 extremely serious accidents inflicted huge losses on the lives and property of the State and the people, exerted awful impact on the local economic development and social harmony, and severely damaged the rights and interests of the people. The relevant leaders of the local Party committees and governments failed to give effect to scientific outlook on development and to foster a correct understanding of the credits in their political careers; they failed to handle effectively the relationship between work safety and economic development; they failed to stick to the work safety responsibility system, which led to the malfunction of poor work safety implementation; and thus they were accountable for the accidents as leaders. A total of 16 local Party committee and government officials were given the Party and administrative disciplinary sanctions in this respect.

In the process of the accident investigation, besides earnestly carrying out the investigation and handling of the responsible persons for the accidents, we also strengthened prosecution against corruption behind the accidents. For example, in the case of the “August 13” Dixituo River Bridge collapse accident in Fenghuang County of Hunan Province, it has been ascertained on a preliminary basis that the related staff of the communications bureau and highways bureau of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture of Hunan Province committed serious legal and disciplinary violations such as accepting bribes, during the process of the project. The responsible persons have all been transferred to the judicial organs for handling. At present, the case is under further investigation.

In order to further regulate the liability ascertaining process and enhance case handling efficiency, in September 2007, as approved by the State Council, a joint meeting at the ministerial level was established to coordinate liability ascertaining of major work-related accidents. The joint meeting consists of 6 participating organizations including the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, the State Administration of Work Safety, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, with the Ministry of Supervision acting as the leading body for the joint meeting. In October 2007, the first session of the joint meeting was convened, which discussed the challenges of liability ascertaining over major production safety accidents, and made work arrangements and deployment over the next phase from now. The joint meeting will focus on the followings for the next phase: first, to strengthen the coordination and cooperation between administrative and judicial organs during the process of liability ascertaining of major production accidents, and further specify the transfer rules of criminal cases and the briefing rules of the investigation process; second, to strengthen the investigation and handling of the crimes and other illegal acts involved in work-related accidents, including accident cover-ups, escaping and hiding etc, and earnestly handle the responsible persons for accidents in accordance with laws and disciplines; third, all participating organizations should strengthen the communication and coordination among each other, enhance case handling efficiency, and make judicial handling and disciplinary sanctions better connected with each other, avoiding any vacuum or blind spot in between; fourth, to strengthen the tailor-made inspection of the enforcement of accountability over major accidents, so as to spot and correct the problems in a timely manner, and ensure the enforcement of the Party and administrative disciplinary sanctions, administrative punishments and criminal prosecution, and achieve the harmonization of legal and social effects.

This year is the first year for implementing the strategic planning made by the 17th CPC National Congress; we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the launch of reform and opening up, and Beijing will host the Olympic Games. It is a task of great significance and heavy duty to ensure work safety this year. The supervision organs at all levels should earnestly implement the deployment and requirements by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, always bear in mind the great trust placed on them, work in a down-to-earth manner, strictly enforce the Provisional Rules on Administrative Disciplinary Sanctions over Violations of Laws and Disciplines in the Area of Work Safety and the Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of the CPC Disciplinary Sanctions Regulations to the Violations of Laws and Disciplines in the Area of Work Safety, join the relevant departments to earnestly conduct the investigation and handling of work-related accidents, toughen the Party and administrative disciplinary liability ascertaining over the violations of laws and disciplines in the area of work safety, so as to promote the continued and steady improvement of the work safety situation, and spare no efforts in ensuring safety of people's lives and property and maintaining social harmony and stability.