A senior State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) official told a national work safety conference in Changsha, Hunan Province, on Thursday that corrupt officials responsible for coal mine accidents should be severely punished.

Wang Dexue, SAWS deputy minister, gave an example of graft resulting in accidents: "a dangerous coal mine in Chongqing Municipality that had previously been shut down had a gas explosion recently resulting in heavy casualties. Investigations found the colliery owner had bribed the county head with 5,000 yuan (US$600) to reopen the mine."

On June 17, during an inspection tour in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, SAWS Minister Li Yizhong said corruption among local officials and even in the safety regulator must be tackled if the country is to improve its grim coal mine safety record.

"Corruption is a major reason that accidents happen again and again," said Li. "Nepotism has allowed lax safety supervision."
   
Li demanded his administration take iron-handed measures to stop corruption and misconduct among safety inspectors and local officials. "It's high time we took a careful look at connections between coal mine owners, local officials and the safety watchdog; these links have set up barriers against strict safety supervision."
   
Cooperating with provincial and local safety regulators, the SAWS regularly performs coal mine safety inspections, after which a list of mines that should be shut down due to poor safety conditions is announced.
   
"But it's usual for them to start work again after the inspection team has left," said Li.
   
On May 27, the SAWS ordered Zijiang Coal Mine in Loudi City, Hunan to stop work but, with the backing of local officials, the mine refused to stop production. Ten days later, a sudden release of gas killed 22 miners. "If an explosion had taken place, the death toll would have been even higher," said Li.
   
A campaign against the protection offered to coal mine owners by corrupt officials was launched in Loudi last year, and in Lianyuan County ten local officials were found to have connections to mines and have been punished according to the law.

In Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang Province the owner of an illegal coal mine in which 18 miners died turned out to be the local official in charge of mine safety. Peng Guocai, deputy head of the district safety watchdog, allowed his mine to operate despite a lack of basic ventilation and necessary gas monitoring equipment.

Huang Shengchu, president of the China Coal Information Institute, said a nationwide blanket inspection is necessary to stamp out nepotism.
   
Many cities and counties rely on income from coal mines and it's easy for local governments and mines to reach a compromise on safety management, said Huang.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, June 23, 2005)