China's occupational safety situation improved in the first half of 2004 despite rapid economic growth, said Wang Dexue, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, at a press conference on Tuesday.

Just over 426,000 incidents involving injury or death occurred nationwide, 12.8 percent fewer than the same period last year.

The incidents resulted in 63,735 deaths, inching down 0.2 percent from the first half of 2003.

Wang attributed the improvement to measures taken by the central government at the beginning of this year. Control indicators were established to promote the implementation of a safety responsibility system by various levels of government and work safety campaigns were carried out, focusing on problems in accident-plagued industries. Supervision and administration of safety procedures were simultaneously intensified.

"However, work safety remains a serious concern since the number of incidents and the death toll remain high, with about 350 people killed daily on average," Wang noted. More than 600,000 people suffer from occupational diseases because of poor protective measures at workplaces and the number is increasing by 20,000 every year.

While consolidating the role of enterprises as the major entities responsible for work safety, in the second half of this year the administration will better train personnel in work safety supervision and administration as well as in coal mine safety inspections.

Addressing the issue of the notorious underreporting of accidents at some coal mines, Wang said severe penalties will be meted out to those responsible for cover-ups.

Several cases underreported or deceptively reported were discovered across the country when gas explosions occurred in some coal mines in Henan, Hebei and Hunan provinces earlier this year.

Due to the nation's strained coal supply and the rise in coal prices, some mine managers hesitate to report accidents for fear of hurting the bottom line, said Huang Yi, work safety administration spokesman. Moreover, the existing laws tend to be lax with people responsible for covering up mining accidents.

"Even worse, corrupt officials are often behind the underreported cases, providing protective umbrellas," he said.

One day before the press conference, a gas explosion at the Luzigou coal mine in Huairen County, north China's Shanxi Province, killed 12 miners.

(China Daily July 21, 2004)