China plagued by workplace mishaps despite safety drive

The number of people killed in accidents in China's factories and mines jumped 16 percent last year despite a nationwide safety campaign, the government said yesterday.

Explosions, fires, construction accidents and other workplace mishaps killed 17,315 people last year, said a report by the State Administration of Work Safety. Of those, 6,702 were killed in coal mine accidents -- a decline of 4.2 percent from the previous year.

"Workplace safety still remains grim," said Zhao Tiechui, the agency's deputy director. "We need to develop a culture of safety at work and increase people's awareness of work safety."

The new figures were released the same day that rescuers rushed to find 13 miners who were missing after an explosion killed 24 others in the northeastern city of Jixi in Heilongjiang Province.

A "high concentration" of poisonous gas and piles of rubble made rescue operations difficult at the Baixing mine, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Officials described the chances of their survival as very slim.

The coal mine had defied an order by provincial officials to stop production earlier this month after "hidden dangers for work safety" had been found, Xinhua said.

The mine failed an inspection by local authorities after the Lunar New Year holiday and was ordered not to resume mining, "but the coal mine owner restored operation without authorization, leading to the occurrence of such an accident," Zhao said.

Jixi has been the site of some of China's worst recent mine accidents. Last month 16 miners were killed in an explosion. Last June, 115 workers died in another blast in what state media said was the fourth deadliest coal mine accident in China's history.

Beijing has launched several official campaigns aimed at reducing the carnage in its factories, mines and public places and on its roads and highways.

The latest crackdown -- targeting shopping malls and other public facilities -- was launched after a pair of deadly fires on Feb. 15 at a mall and a temple killed a total of 94 people.

Until recently, China paid little attention to public safety in its rush toward economic development. But from now on, safety should go hand-in-hand with development, Zhao said. He said all regions "should incorporate work safety into their master plans for economic progress."

Zhao said worldwide trends show that safety measures increase when a country's annual economic output per person reaches US$1,000 to US$3,000.

"This is where our country is now," he said.

Fatal accidents in China are often blamed on a lack of required ventilation and fire-control equipment in factories and mines, inadequate fire escapes in malls and hotels and indifference to safety rules. The government promised in 2002 to create the country's first nationwide network of industrial safety inspectors following a string of unusually deadly workplace accidents.