Seventy-four companies responsible for a number of workplace accidents will soon be put on a public blacklist.

This new step is to enforce work safety and curb the number of accidents, a senior official said Tuesday.

"As a long-term measure to intensify work safety, companies with at least 10 deaths in one single accident will be put on the list," Huang Yi, a spokesman with the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), told a press conference.

Banks, insurance, industrial and commercial firms will be notified of those on the blacklist so that they can take action against them if approached, Huang said.

The new measure is intended to tarnish the reputation of offending companies, and warn others they must pay more attention to safety measures and take preventative action to rectify safety problems.

Huang said the crackdown also involves illegal companies operating with scant regard for safety rules.

Yunnan, Henan, Liaoning and Shanxi provinces recently announced that senior officials with State-owned coal mining companies and related bureau chiefs will immediately be removed from their posts in cases of major safety accidents and will not be rehired for a period of five years.

Local county heads and town chiefs will also be fired.

For example, a dam burst on Sept 8 in Xiangfen county, Linfen city, Shanxi, killing 271, the most serious mine tailing accident in the world, Huang said.

Public security departments to date have take action against 23 people in the county.

The former Shanxi governor resigned and a vice-governor was sacked.

(China Daily October 8, 2008)