China makes progress in workplace safety

The State Administration of Work Safety said Friday that inspectors found local authorities in 18 provinces and municipalities had made progress in workplace safety.

From Aug. 13 - 25, an inspection targeted businesses such as coal mines, fireworks factories and chemical companies, according to the administration.

Inspectors sent by the Work Safety Committee of the State Council found problems including formalism and lax supervision by local authorities. Local governments are required to submit formal feedback on the inspection results to the committee in September.

The teams went to Anhui, Chongqing, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan and Yunnan.

Despite regular demands for more focus on work safety, frequent tragedies still occur. A lack of safety awareness, poor regulation and lax implementation of safety measures are among the factors leading to accidents.

In a recent "extremely severe" accident, at least 36 people were killed and 13 others injured on an expressway in northwest China's Shaanxi Province this month. "Extremely severe" refers to accidents that cause more than 30 deaths, leave more than 100 severely injured or result in more than 100 million yuan (about 15 million U.S. dollars) of direct economic losses.

The number of workplace safety accidents fell 24.7 percent year on year in the January-July period, while related fatalities fell 16.8 percent.