China has set a goal of reducing the
number of coalmine fatalities by 3.5 percent in 2006, according to
the head of the state work safety watchdog in Beijing on
Sunday.
The country will also reduce the number of workplace accidents by 7
percent this year, said Li Yizhong, director of the State
Administration of Work Safety (SAWS).
"Given the grave situation, we did not set too ambitious a goal,"
Li said, adding: "Even this will take a great effort to
realize."
Chinese coalmines are death traps and considered to be the most
unsafe in the world. China reported over 3,300 accidents that
killed nearly 6,000 miners in 2005.
Li said China will strengthen work safety management in all
coalmines this year, especially in large state-owned ones. More
will be done also to prevent underground flooding and gas
explosions, he stressed.
According to SAWS, China will use the rates of coalmine deaths,
traffic accidents and other production-related accidents as
indicators when evaluating the work of local authorities in
2006.
(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2006)