25 June 2003
CLB notes the following article by Xinhua [3 June2003] which shows clearly the many problems facing the improvement of coal mine safety. However, Chinese miners struggling to ensure a safe working environment have seen little concrete progress in recent years. Despite the good intentions expressed in the report, CLB which has been monitoring and researching coal mine safety for many years now, has seen little improvement despite continued official proclamations promoting mine safety. The report itself shows that in many cases, illegal and unsafe working conditions continue despite government efforts to eradicate them. Until official corruption and their collusion with mine owners is ended and there impunity for those directly or indirectly responsible for accidents is ended there can be no real progress.
China Labour Bulletin is calling for the establishment of worker led health and safety committees to monitor and improve working conditions in mines we believe that the involvement of workers themselves in initiatives to improve health and safety is essential for any lasting change in working conditions for Chinese workers.
In April 2003, a total of 97 mine workers died and in the first two weeks of May 2003, another 93 died. Although there has been a reported drop in industrial accidents in 2002 over 2001, the number of serious coal mine accidents has actually increased. In fact, despite the 20.4% decline in the coal mine fatality rate to 4.86 deaths per million ton reported by the State Administration of Work Safety in 2002, the number of miners killed has actually increased in the last year; falling from 5,798 in 2000 to 5,395 in 2001 but up again to 5,791 in 2002. Coal mines remain the major killer in serious industrial accidents.
See our 2002 report for more details.
The Xinhua report follows;
In the recent past, our country achieved results in closing down and consolidating coal mines in townships and villages, a group of small coal mines that did not meet production safety requirements were forced to close down, and a group of village and township small coal mines enhanced their safety measures. Yet, coal mine accidents have occurred one after another in some regions recently and again sounded an alarm. This shows that under market economic conditions, the consolidation of small coal mines cannot be "concluded after one successful battle", but should rather be a "protracted struggle".
In consolidating small coal mines, we must first close down those small coal mines that rose from the ashes. Motivated by profits, some evil coal mine owners often begin "recruiting men and gathering materials" as soon as publicity begins to fade and carry on production despite the publicity. They often "lower the banners and muffle the drums" and hide during the day and carry on production as soon as the night falls; such inferior production safety conditions have severely endangered the miners' lives. For this reason, we must "cut off from the roots" these small coal mines which have long been publicly outlawed, not leave any source of future trouble, completely destroy the mine pit, and severely punish the evil owners of the coal mines.
In consolidating small coal mines, we must continuously carry out production safety inspections of licensed coal mines and never perform the inspections perfunctorily. Although some small coal mines with mining permits have purchased safety equipment, they did not use the equipment in an attempt to lower production costs; some coal mines even set aside the equipment and only installed the equipment before safety inspections. Some small coal mines purchased cheap support products that do not meet the standards and created a serious potential hazard in production safety in coal mines. Authorities must strictly investigate and punish such behaviour and revoke the production rights of serious offenders in accordance with the law.
In consolidating small coal mines, we should also enhance the education and management of workers in the small coals mines. Reporters have discovered that the vast majority of these workers come from other localities. They are taking risks and gambling with their lives due to the pressure of finding a means of livelihood. They have not received professional production safety training and are largely lacking in awareness and knowledge regarding safety. As for these workers, local governments should intensify efforts to publicize the major significance of the government's policy of consolidating small coal mines and the importance of production safety and organize these workers for participation in production safety training. In this way, not only will their safety consciousness be enhanced, but they will also feel the government's care and concern.
In summary, consolidating small coal mines is a difficult and protracted task, and governments at all levels must always grasp tightly and never let their guard down.
[Sources include: Xinhua news agency domestic service, Beijing, 3 June 2003]