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Safety accidents down 20% in past 10 months

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-03 22:40

The number of industrial accidents in China was 339,956 from January to October this year, down 20.1 percent from a year earlier, the country's work safety regulator reported on Monday.

It said 69,764 people were killed by various accidents including coal mine accidents. The number of fatalities was 13.5 percent lower compared with the same period last year.

China counts ordinary traffic accidents, even minor ones, as industrial accidents.

Talking about the eight serious workplace accidents in October, Zhao Tiechui, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), emphasized that local authorities needed to improve their work on accident prevention, reporting and investigation.

He urged departments at all levels to discover the truth about collaboration between corrupt officials and illegal merchants and punish relevant parties severely.

SAWS released a blacklist of 42 companies involved in serious accidents and said these companies would face sanctions from local administrative departments such as administrations for industry and commerce.