Officials in Heilongjiang Province will be held responsible for any severe fires that break out in their areas, a government news release said yesterday.

If two severe fires that kill 10 people or injure 20 people, or a fire that kills more than 30 people, occur, the leaders responsible will have to resign, the news release said.

Wang Donghua, vice-governor of the province, has signed a liability agreement on fire prevention and control with 13 deputy mayors and the heads of nine departments in the province.

Those who are found to be in dereliction of duty in the prevention and fighting of fires that lead to massive losses and injuries will be given administrative punishments or face criminal charges.

The agreement came after Liu Haisheng, a vice-governor of Heilongjiang Province in charge of production safety, was given an administrative penalty, similar to an official warning, by the central government on Wednesday for a deadly coal mine blast that killed 171 people last November in Qitaihe, one of the province's major coal production bases.

The provincial government was also ordered to submit a self-criticism for a series of deadly production accidents that have occurred recently.

On Wednesday Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, which produced a bogus drug that claimed 11 lives in May, were also deprived of its production license.

A series of forest fires broke out in the province this spring, and under the new liability system officials will now be responsible for such incidents.

The regulation comes at a time when the central government is determined to improve the country's dire work safety situation.

In 2003, Zhang Wenkang, minister of health, was removed for his incompetence in coping with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic.

Ma Fucai, president of China National Petroleum Corporation, resigned because of an oil well eruption accident in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in 2004.

And Xie Zhenhua, head of the State Environment Protection Administration, resigned after the Songhua River was heavily polluted last December.

Local residents said greater accountability would lower the number of accidents.

"If they don't plug safety loopholes, they will lose out as well," said Li Hailong, a taxi driver in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang.

Zhao Ruizheng, an expert from the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The main aim is not to remove officials after accidents, but actually to enhance the government's management level," Zhao said.

(China Daily July 21, 2006)