China's Heilongjiang urged to ensure work safety with decisive measures

BEIJING -- The Work Safety Committee of China's State Council on Monday urged the Heilongjiang provincial government to learn a lesson from recent accidents and take decisive measures to ensure production safety in the northeastern province.

Wang Xiangxi, deputy director of the committee and minister of emergency management, said the provincial government must reverse the passive situation caused by the frequent occurrence of major accidents as soon as possible.

This year, the work safety situation in Heilongjiang province has been extremely severe and complicated. A coal mine accident caused by gas explosion in Shuangyashan city on Nov 28 left 11 people dead, while a transport accident in a coal mine in Jixi city left 12 people dead on Dec 20. Cover-ups and false reporting were found in both accidents.

This reveals that the local government has not fully learned the lesson from the accidents and that local enterprises lack awareness of the rule of law, the committee said.

The province should earnestly shoulder the major political responsibility of coordinating the development and safety of the province, urge relevant departments and all types of enterprises to fully implement measures concerning work safety responsibilities, and resolutely curb serious and major accidents, said the committee.

An industrial overhaul on work safety must be held forcefully, covering all mines in the province, the committee said.

The committee will supervise the investigation into the coal mine transport accident in Jixi city.