More efforts pledged to boost work safety

China will do more to ensure that workplace safety rules are better enforced, State Councilor Wang Yong said Saturday.

“Despite progress, work safety remains in a severe situation,” he said while answering legislators’ questions at a joint inquiry meeting.

The meeting was part of the bimonthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee that ended Sunday.

Legislation on work safety will be improved, and supervision and inspections will be stepped up, Wang said. He added that the authorities will focus on key industries and sectors to prevent serious accidents.

In answer to a legislator’s question about coal mine accidents, Yang Huanning, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, said such accidents were the result of inadequate investment in equipment and weak safety management.

Supervisors will be sent to more than 7,000 coal mines nationwide along with 30 secret investigation teams, he said, adding that regions or mines that are found to have work safety problems will be named and shamed.

At Saturday’s meeting, Chen Zhenggao, minister of

Despite progress, work safety remains in a severe situation.” Wang Yong, State Councilor

housing and urban-rural development, called for standardized supervision on the construction quality of homes in rural areas, as frequent accidents have occurred.

Vice-Minister of Agriculture Chen Xiaohua also said over 1,000 people a year are killed in accidents involving farm machinery.

“We have improved management of license plates for tractors and combine harvesters and driver’s licenses, and provided subsidies for farmers to buy better-quality machinery,” Chen said. He said China has about 25 million tractors and combine harvesters.

Legislators also discussed a report on traffic safety. Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng promised to make it easier for the public to report illegally modified or overloaded trucks and vowed tougher penalties for violations.