China law seeks to cut workplace deaths

Chinese mines are one of the deadliest workplaces in the world

(CNN) -- China is to introduce a new law on industrial safety in a bid to cut the growing number of workplace fatalities, particularly in the nation's frequently deadly mines.

The Law on Safe Production, to be introduced in November, will cover private as well as "collectively owned" factories and mines, according to official media.

Existing laws are only valid for state-owned enterprises and large-scale factories and mines, but some analysts in Beijing have raised concerns that the new law will not go far enough, as China tries to juggle worker safety with the pursuit of rapid economic growth.

The announcement Thursday came as the state-run Xinhua news agency reported the latest in a string of mining accidents with 39 people reported trapped underground following a gas explosion at a mine in the northeast of the country.

Local officials were quoted as saying that by late in the day none of the missing had been found alive and there was little hope anyone would survive.

The announcement of the new law also coincided with the announcement of a $20 billion gas pipeline deal, part of a long-term project designed to reduce China's dependence on highly polluting coal. (Full story.)

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For the time being however, coal provides some 70 percent of the nation's energy needs -- a factor that some believe encourages local officials to keep dangerous mines open.

As a result, fatal mining accidents have become an almost daily occurrence with the death toll so far this year standing at over 3,400, according to official figures.

Responsibility

The new safety law would spell out to owners and managers of enterprises and mines thier responsiblities in the area of accidents and other safety issues, the China News Service quoted a vice-chief of the State Supervision and Management Bureau on Production Safety, Shan Chunchang, as saying.

There will also be stipulations on the provision of key safety-related equipment and working conditions.

With rapid economic development safety concerns have often taken a backseat

However, some commentators have expressed doubts as to whether new legislation will target the root cause of the problem.

The Beijing Youth Daily said in a commentary Thursday that vicious industrial accidents were often "the result of the alliance of capital and power."

The influential daily said that in remote areas such as Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Guangxi provinces, where several deadly accidents had taken place in recent months, the owners of mines were in cahoots with local officials.

Factory and mine owners ignore safety regulations because they enjoy the protection of friends and relatives in regional governments.

The daily said many accidents arose because "local governments had been corrupted by the power of money."

Unemployment

Labor experts in Beijing have also pointed out that regional administrations are reluctant to enforce safety regulations for fear the mass closure of poorly equipped mines and factories will exacerbate unemployment problems.

Meanwhile, Premier Zhu Rongji has ordered a thorough investigation of the circumstances behind an accident in a privately run gold mine in Shanxi Province, which killed at least 37 workers.

While the mishap took place on June 22, the owners were able to cover up the disaster for more than a week with several corpses secretly removed from the scene.

Chinese industrial accidents claimed the lives of 130,000 people last year in about a million separate accidents, according to official figures.

The figures were up respectively 10.4 percent and 20.5 percent from comparable data in 2000.