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State Council Reiterates Safe Production amid Repeated Accidents
An urgent circular was issued by the Office of the Committee for Safety in Production under the State Council, urging local governments to put industrial safety high on the agenda.
Several accidents involving a number of casualties in Jilin, Sichuan, Shaanxi provinces and Shanghai have been reported this month, said the circular.
In the city of Baishan, northeast Jilin Province, 21 people died from a cave-in accident at a coal mine on July 1.
A failing rocking arm of an oil drilling platform on a train arriving at the railway station in southwest Sichuan Province struck 22 people dead and wounded 10 on July 13.
Three days later, an explosion took 70 lives and wounded 85 in Mafang Village in northwest Shaanxi Province.
The following day, 36 people were killed and three injured when a crane collapsed in a shipyard in Shanghai.
Leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council showed great concern over the consecutive fatal disasters. Investigation teams were sent to find out if these accidents were all caused by negligence and "could have been prevented."
In order to learn a bitter lesson, the circular called for safety awareness as a priority.
It said that safety should be incorporated into the appraisal of officials and staff in government departments and enterprises in a bid to avoid more occurrences of such accidents.
Effective measures should be taken to deal with major problems of safety in production and "hidden troubles" in particular.
Related national regulations should be strictly observed. Necessary staff and funds should be allocated to do the safety work and no employee without proper safety training is allowed to start work.
In factories and coal mines making flammable products of petrifaction and fireworks, and public places like airports, railway stations, wharves, gas stations, department stores and cinemas, Inspection and supervision should be intensified, and emergency plans made to prevent accidents from taking place.
Anyone held responsible for such accidents will be severely punished according to set regulations, the circular stressed.
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