Work safety key in assessing development By Jiang Zhuqing (China Daily) Updated: 2006-01-06 06:05
Starting from this year, China is to take the fatality rate per 100 million
yuan (US$12.3 million) of GDP and per 100,000 industrial workers as its standard
for assessing social and economic development.
Work safety will become an important factor in assessing the achievements of
relevant governments, departments and enterprises, said Li Yizhong, director of
the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).
"Punishments will be meted out to those flouting and violating work safety
laws and rules, abusing power for private gain or being neglectful of duties or
obligations," Li told a televised conference on Wednesday.
Huang Yi, spokesman of the work safety watchdog, told China Daily yesterday
that this suggestion has been written into the proposal for the 11th Five-Year
Plan (2006-10) for social and economic development.
The proposal is yet to be approved by the National People's Congress, China's
top legislature, in its annual session, said the spokesman.
At present, the death rate per 1 million tons of coal production as well per
10,000 vehicles is used in statistical analysis of local development in many
places, said Huang.
SAWS will take a series of measures in the first quarter of 2006 to prevent
big and serious production accidents, said SAWS officials.
"This decision shows that the Chinese Government is paying more attention to
work safety," said Zhu Changyou, a programme officer with the International
Labour Office Beijing Office, yesterday.
Different from China, many countries in the world use the fatality rate per
million working hours to demonstrate work safety levels, said Zhu.
SAWS statistics indicated that a total of 3,341 coal mine accidents were
reported in 2005, a year-on-year decrease of 8.2 per cent. 5,986 people were
killed, a small number less than a year ago.
To improve its work safety situation, China's coal mining industry should
follow a sustainable development strategy, which demands the improvement of
management as well as enhanced work safety training for miners, he said.
He also noted that the same attention should be given to the improvement of
health conditions, especially among coal miners.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health indicated that the total number of
workers affected with pneumoconiosis disease is 560,000, an annual increase of
10,000. Half of these were miners, said the official.
(China Daily 01/06/2006 page2)
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