Rome 29/03/2007 - Debated Wednesday in Beijing by China's State Council, chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, a draft law on accidents at work. During the discussions confirmed the key importance of safety in the workplace and how it can contribute to the reform, development and stability of the country. The State Council's call for increased prevention of accidents has been extended to all the organs of local government and urging the provincial government to conduct rigorous and diligent in case of accident investigations to establish responsibility. The bill requires rapid communication, accurate and complete of any incident and indicates serious consequences for the delay in notification to authorities or to the cover.
Surprisingly enough, in Shanxi (North China), to Linfen, just meters discussed the proposed legislation cited above, there has been an explosion in a coal mine. The explosion occurred on the morning of Wednesday killed 26 workers and wounded one seriously. Only 80 of the 106 miners, therefore, managed to escape from the tunnels that later analysis of the rescuers called unusable and unsafe for their property "spider web". The owner of the mine, Zhou Xiaogen, the general manager Li Mingshun and other people involved were detained by police. It seems that working conditions of the mine did not meet safety standards and that the actual annual production of coal exceeds about 60,000 tonnes the production ceiling imposed by local authorities for safety in coal mines.
The incident seems to have the same dynamic and the same tragic conclusion of what happened a few days ago in Jincheng, which has killed 21 workers.
From a statistic of the State Administration for Work Safety (SAWS) we learn that accidents in coal mines were the cause of death for 4,746 people in 2006 and the first two months of 2007 deaths for the same cause were 357.
(Photo: rai.it; Source: Xinhua)
