China Labour Bulletin released its latest research report "Coal Mine Safety Management in China" on 15 March 2006. The report is currently available only in Chinese but a summary of the report was posted on our website in English on 16 March 2006.
That summary contained several statistical errors, which have since been corrected in the version that currently appears on the CLB website. The statistical errors appeared in paragraph 2 of the original summary, as well as in a graph which appeared in the original Chinese version of the report. The original, incorrect version of the paragraph in question read as follows: "Despite these efforts, accidents in China's coal mines were again the focus of the media throughout 2005. The number of coal mine accidents in which 10 people or more died rose by 70.6 percent in China in 2005, compared with the previous year, and the total number of those who died in these accidents jumped by 253 percent. Accidents in which 30 people or more died rose by 57.1 percent and the total number of those who died leaped by 97.3 percent. The facts clearly show that government measures have been woefully inadequate. What are the reasons for this?
We subsequently corrected that paragraph to read: "Despite these efforts, the number of major coal mine accidents – defined as those in which more than ten people died – reached a new peak during 2005. There were 58 such accidents, as compared with 41 in 2004; and the number of miners killed in those accidents totaled 1,739, as compared with 979 in 2004. These are increases of 41.5 percent and 77.6 percent respectively. The facts clearly show that government measures to address the coalmine safety problem have been woefully inadequate. What are the reasons for this?"
We apologise for these mistakes and hope that they have not caused any problems for our readers.
21 March 2006