Coalminers are to form their own safety inspection task force in a bid to tackle the appalling catalogue of pit deaths in recent months.

Under a new scheme, about 100,000 senior coalminers will be appointed as safety supervisors.

They will possess the power to order an immediate evacuation of the coalmine anytime they feel that their and their colleagues' lives are at risk.

They will also help to train China's one million miners.

This unprecedented safety measure will be jointly implemented by the end of the year by All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and the State Administration of Work Safety.

The first appointments are to be made later this month. The scheme is part of the central government's drive to improve the grim work place conditions in China's mines.

"The veteran workers will help protect younger or less experienced miners who don't have enough education in work safety," Zhang Chengfu, ACFTU's department director, told a news conference.

The first batch of 200 safety inspectors will be appointed later this month in Shanxi, the richest province in China in terms of coal reserves and production.

The supervisors will conduct daily safety checks, train new miners and help lead fellow miners to safety in the event of a mishap.

Zhang said that mining trade unions across the nation "will make every effort" to appoint supervisors at China's 28,000 coalmines.

"It's hard to achieve the goal within the year but we will try hard to set up a safety umbrella for them as soon as possible," said Zhang.

Huang Shengchu, president of the China Coal Information Institute, said the measures will help to improve working conditions.

"The most important thing is that farmers-turned-miners need training and guidance because they are less educated," said Huang.

Mining is dangerous and poorly paid work. Miners earn meager wages and only farmers from the poorest regions choose to work underground in the so-called "death traps". Statistics indicate that most of these underground miners are from northern Sichuan, southern Shaanxi, and the mountainous regions of Jiangxi, Fujian and Henan provinces.

Most of the mines in this country lack adequate safety equipment such as gas detectors to warn of explosive methane gas.

To exacerbate the situation, mines known to be dangerous and that were shut down previously have been reopened by unscrupulous owners to meet demands.

China Daily has reported that more than 1,100 miners lost their lives in the first three months of this year in scores of underground accidents, many of which might have been avoided had basic safety regulations been in place.

In the last few weeks, over 70 mine-related deaths were reported across the country. The central government has begun an offensive against poor safety standards in mines.

At the end of last year, it said state-owned coalmines, which account for 70 percent of national output, needed 50 billion yuan (US$6 billion) in funds to improve safety.

Meanwhile, the government has despatched inspection teams to key state-owned mines to oversee safety conditions.

It has also ordered mine owners to spend more on safety and increase compensation for families that lose their breadwinners.

Grim labor report

The ACFTU also expressed serious concerns about labor protection in small private companies.

The federation, citing a new report, said workers are well protected in private enterprises that were formerly state-owned or part of a larger enterprise.

"But in small private enterprises, the situation is really grim," the report cited.

After a 10-month survey conducted in Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces where the private sector economy has been booming, the federation found that most private enterprises are poorly managed.

Workers often work overtime without extra pay and are not given adequate training.

"We are calling on the government to take effective measures to stop this trend," said the report.

(China Daily June 1, 2005)