Mines death toll falling

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-7-9  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA'S top work safety official said yesterday that the death toll for each million tons of coal produced fell to 1.05 people in the first half of 2008, from 1.485 for all of 2007 and 3.08 for 2005.

The decline mainly reflected better gas control, State Administration of Work Safety head Wang Jun told a national conference on colliery gas control.

Gas-induced blasts have been a major cause of coal mine fatalities. All coal mines with a high concentration of gas have been equipped with systems to monitor gas intensity, Wang said.

Such systems also covered 92.5 percent of the mines with low gas concentration.

In the first half of this year, 81 gas-related accidents were reported nationwide, claiming 294 lives, said Wang. Those figures were 43 percent and 48.3 percent, respectively, lower than a year earlier.

The mortality rate per million tons at small mines last year was eight times that of large state-owned collieries, Zhang Guobao, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, told the meeting.

"About 2,500 lives could have been spared if safety control measures at small coal mines were as strict as at large state-owned ones," Zhang said.

Among 16,000 mines nationwide, about 90 percent were small - with an annual capacity below 300,000 tons - where safety controls were usually lax, according to Zhang.

"Safety control at coal mines remains an arduous task," Wang said. He said the agency would continue with gas control and safety supervision at large state-owned collieries, while upgrading safety at small ones.

In a move to promote clean coal and improve safety records, China has closed 116,000 small coal mines over the past two years.

The country also stepped up coalbed methane development to make better use of gas reserves at coal mines.