Workplace safety improves in China

BEIJING - Workplace accidents continued to decline in China after the government took iron-fisted efforts to curb illegal operations, official data showed on Monday.

The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) reported 60,000 workplace safety accidents in 2016, including colliery gas explosions and factory mishaps, down 5.8 percent from a year earlier.

Those accidents killed 41,000 workers, down 4.1 percent from the deaths reported in 2015, Yang Huanning, head of the administration said at its annual meeting.

SAWS highlighted the substantial decline in the number of severe workplace accidents, defined as those resulting in at least 10 deaths.

The number of severe accidents fell by 15.8 percent year on year to 32, while deaths declined by 25.7 percent to 571.

Some 200 responsible have been punished and 97 have been sent to judiciary departments for investigation, the administration said.

Despite improvements, the safety situation at small collieries remains dire, SAWS said, with severe accidents at small pits on the rise.

Huang Yuzhi, director of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety affiliated with SAWS, said 60 percent of the nation's coal mines are small collieries with production capacity less than 300,000 tonnes a year.

Outdated equipment, lack of technicians and loose management have plagued those mines, where nearly 80 percent of severe coal mine accidents happened.X In addition, illegal small coal mines reemerged in a number of regions as local governments loosened oversight in pursuit of economic interests, Huang told the SAWS's annual meeting.

As part of the nation's drive to eliminate outdated industrial capacity, SAWS asked local authorities to strictly fulfill their oversight duties and close down all illegal small pits in 2017.