South China Morning Post - Thursday April 17 2003
Allen T. Cheng in Beijing
Although coalmine disasters grab the public's attention, car crashes are more lethal, killing hundreds of people per day
Going to work or taking to the roads in mainland China can be bad for your health.
Despite huge efforts to improve road and workplace safety, more than 100,000 people die each year on the job or in vehicles. In the first quarter of this year, 31,035 were killed in 258,597 industrial accidents, according to figures released yesterday by the State Administration of Work Safety. The mainland includes traffic accidents in its industrial accidents figures.
The vast majority of 'work-related' deaths came in the form of 173,223 road accidents, which killed 25,395 people in the first quarter, 3.8 per cent less than during the first quarter of last year. The number of road accidents fell 5.5 per cent over the same period.
Compared to the first quarter of 2002, the number of all accidents fell 6.5 per cent, while the number of fatalities dropped 2.7 per cent. Zhao Tieque, the new director of the bureau, vowed to cut the rate of accidents even further during his five-year term.
'Both the Chinese Communist Party and the central government have been very concerned about accidents and have ordered workplace safety be improved, putting an end to serious accidents,' Mr Zhao said.
Though just a small percentage of the total number of fatalities, coalmine accidents generally receive more media coverage than other kinds of accidents. There is something about the way miners die, trapped far beneath the Earth that captures the popular imagination.
In the first three months, there were 611 mine accidents, in which 1,090 workers died, down slightly from the same period in 2002. The most highest profile incident was the gas explosion on March 22 in Shanxi's Mengnanzhuang Coal Mine, which killed 72 workers. On January 11, another gas explosion in Heilongjiang's Baoxing Coal Mine killed 34 workers.
'There were 19 cases involving coalmines where our investigators already had ordered that work be halted so that measures could be taken to improve safety, but the mine owners didn't comply,' Mr Zhao said. 'It indicates our country needs to improve our enforcement capabilities.'
Mr Zhao announced a seven-point strategy to cut the rate of accidental deaths further. Chief among the measures is strengthening the enforcement of the new workplace safety law passed last year by the National People's Congress. The law gives Mr Zhao's agency more power to fine companies for non-compliance.
Mr Zhao also vowed to increase the co-ordination between his bureau and provincial workplace safety agencies. His chief challenge, he said, was getting local governments to tackle non-complying privately run coal-mining operations. These mines are often protected by local political interests.
Mr Zhao said the non-complying private mines were 'a very challenging sector' for his agency.
Until a few years ago, coal-mining was a stable source of revenue for state-owned enterprises. But in recent years, more and more mines have been privatised, and many have landed in the hands of unscrupulous small-time businessmen.
Hong Kong-based labour rights activist Han Dongfang said he believed the main obstacle to improving occupational safety in China, especially in the mines, was the inability of workers to form unions or independent work groups. If they were able to form unions, they could balance the power of private managers or business owners, he said.
Mr Han said China's officially sanctioned unions often serve the interests of management and do not really reflect workers' rights.
Asked yesterday about the possibility of allowing independent unions to form in China, Mr Zhao said there was no such need on the mainland. 'According to our occupation and safety laws, workers already have the right to give advice to management and if they don't like what management is telling them to do, they can always quit,' he said.
'I believe the key to improving workplace safety in China is through administrative means, and we already are taking measures to do that.' Last year, a record 139,400 people died in workplace accidents, up from an average of 100,000 a year for much of the past decade.
DEADLY TASKS
In the first three months, there were 611 mine accidents, killing 1,090 miners
Road accidents killed an average of more than 200 per day
The overall number of accidents fell 6.5 per cent, and fatalities were down 2.7 per cent
Allen T. Cheng in Beijing
Although coalmine disasters grab the public's attention, car crashes are more lethal, killing hundreds of people per day
Going to work or taking to the roads in mainland China can be bad for your health.
Despite huge efforts to improve road and workplace safety, more than 100,000 people die each year on the job or in vehicles. In the first quarter of this year, 31,035 were killed in 258,597 industrial accidents, according to figures released yesterday by the State Administration of Work Safety. The mainland includes traffic accidents in its industrial accidents figures.
The vast majority of 'work-related' deaths came in the form of 173,223 road accidents, which killed 25,395 people in the first quarter, 3.8 per cent less than during the first quarter of last year. The number of road accidents fell 5.5 per cent over the same period.
Compared to the first quarter of 2002, the number of all accidents fell 6.5 per cent, while the number of fatalities dropped 2.7 per cent. Zhao Tieque, the new director of the bureau, vowed to cut the rate of accidents even further during his five-year term.
'Both the Chinese Communist Party and the central government have been very concerned about accidents and have ordered workplace safety be improved, putting an end to serious accidents,' Mr Zhao said.
Though just a small percentage of the total number of fatalities, coalmine accidents generally receive more media coverage than other kinds of accidents. There is something about the way miners die, trapped far beneath the Earth that captures the popular imagination.
In the first three months, there were 611 mine accidents, in which 1,090 workers died, down slightly from the same period in 2002. The most highest profile incident was the gas explosion on March 22 in Shanxi's Mengnanzhuang Coal Mine, which killed 72 workers. On January 11, another gas explosion in Heilongjiang's Baoxing Coal Mine killed 34 workers.
'There were 19 cases involving coalmines where our investigators already had ordered that work be halted so that measures could be taken to improve safety, but the mine owners didn't comply,' Mr Zhao said. 'It indicates our country needs to improve our enforcement capabilities.'
Mr Zhao announced a seven-point strategy to cut the rate of accidental deaths further. Chief among the measures is strengthening the enforcement of the new workplace safety law passed last year by the National People's Congress. The law gives Mr Zhao's agency more power to fine companies for non-compliance.
Mr Zhao also vowed to increase the co-ordination between his bureau and provincial workplace safety agencies. His chief challenge, he said, was getting local governments to tackle non-complying privately run coal-mining operations. These mines are often protected by local political interests.
Mr Zhao said the non-complying private mines were 'a very challenging sector' for his agency.
Until a few years ago, coal-mining was a stable source of revenue for state-owned enterprises. But in recent years, more and more mines have been privatised, and many have landed in the hands of unscrupulous small-time businessmen.
Hong Kong-based labour rights activist Han Dongfang said he believed the main obstacle to improving occupational safety in China, especially in the mines, was the inability of workers to form unions or independent work groups. If they were able to form unions, they could balance the power of private managers or business owners, he said.
Mr Han said China's officially sanctioned unions often serve the interests of management and do not really reflect workers' rights.
Asked yesterday about the possibility of allowing independent unions to form in China, Mr Zhao said there was no such need on the mainland. 'According to our occupation and safety laws, workers already have the right to give advice to management and if they don't like what management is telling them to do, they can always quit,' he said.
'I believe the key to improving workplace safety in China is through administrative means, and we already are taking measures to do that.' Last year, a record 139,400 people died in workplace accidents, up from an average of 100,000 a year for much of the past decade.
DEADLY TASKS
In the first three months, there were 611 mine accidents, killing 1,090 miners
Road accidents killed an average of more than 200 per day
The overall number of accidents fell 6.5 per cent, and fatalities were down 2.7 per cent