Wang said at a national conference here on workplace safety that serious accidents dropped markedly last year, with major accidents that killed more than 10 people down 10 percent in terms of occurrence and death toll, and those in which over 30 people died down 31.3 percent in terms of occurrence and 16 percent in terms of death toll.

Noting that industrial safety also improved in the coal mining and transport industries, Wang said the average fatality rate per million tons of coal produced in 2002 dropped from 5.07 to 4.64, and the fatality rate per 10,000 vehicles fell from 15.46 to 12.3,with no major road accidents that killed 30 people or more. In water transport, the number of people killed fell by 16.6 percent, and the occurrence and death toll of serious accidents both halved.

The state of industrial safety in some cities and provinces also improved. No major accidents of any kind occurred in the cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai or northwestern Qinghai province, and no major industrial accidents occurred in Beijing, Tianjin or seven other cities and provinces, Wang said.

The growth rate of accidents had also fallen in recent years, he said.

Besides, China will step up enforcement of industrial safety law and increase international cooperation to meet its 2003 goal of reducing the number of major industrial accidents by 10% and reducing the number of fatalities in the coal mining and transportation industries.

Wang said the SAWS plans to establish nearly 30 auxiliary rules and regulations and eight departmental regulations relating to the newly-enacted law on production safety at the earliest possible date. It will also set up a system of national standards on workplace safety, consisting of 38 regulations on blast safety and powder and dust explosion prevention.

Wang also stressed the importance of law enforcement, adding that any breach of the law should be reported immediately to the relevant administrative departments or local governments.

(Edited by china.org.cn January 17, 2003)