Work Safety Chief Calls for Improved Coal Mine Inspections

December 6, 2005

Li Yizhong, Minister of the General Administration of Work Safety (GAWS), commented that the Chinese government should implement stricter safety standards for coal mines and a regularized process of mine inspections, according to a November 15 Legal Daily report. Li led an inspection tour of coal mines in Hunan province, one of nine province-wide inspections of unsafe mines that the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, a unit of GAWS, conducted in November.

Li Yizhong, Minister of the General Administration of Work Safety (GAWS), commented that the Chinese government should implement stricter safety standards for coal mines and a regularized process of mine inspections, according to a November 15 Legal Daily report. Li led an inspection tour of coal mines in Hunan province, one of nine province-wide inspections of unsafe mines that the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, a unit of GAWS, conducted in November.

In the Legal Daily report, Li exposed falsified coal mine safety records by the Rongfu Coal Mine near Hengyang, Hunan province, to highlight illegal mine operator efforts to avoid the current safety inspection regime. Authorities had already suspended operations at the Rongfu mine until the operator completed safety improvements, but Li also found during his inspection that Rongfu managers underreported the mine’s output in 2004 by a factor of ten and gave false figures for gas venting. According to Li, the managers intended this false reporting “to skirt the rules to avoid [permanent] closing.” Li faulted mine operators for their "disregard of miner safety" and called for a more rigorous coal mine inspection system to address the problem. Li estimated that at least 400 mines in Hunan province would have to be closed permanently.

The State Council issued a Circular on the Immediate Closure and Rectification of Coal Mines Failing to Meet Safety Standards and Illegally Operating on August 22, in which it ordered all unsafe mines to suspend operations immediately for safety improvements. Mine operations could not restart until inspectors certify safe working conditions. According to a September 16 statement by Minister Li in the China Daily, "We will give [the unsafe coal mines] one chance, by suspending production, to root out their unsafe practices [or] they will be closed if they cannot meet the safety standards by the end of this year.”

For a discussion of coal mine safety issues in China, see the 2005 CECC Annual Report.