2011-10-19   Source: ChinaDaily

BEIJING - China aims to reduce the work accident death toll by at least 10 percent between 2011 and 2015, the State Council, or Cabinet, said on Tuesday.

The work safety task remains very arduous, as it has to deal with deeply-rooted problems and new challenges, according to the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) on work safety circulated by the State Council.

By 2015, enterprises should comprehensively improve work safety and remarkably enhance supervision, the document said.

The work accident death toll at mines and other commercial and trade enterprises should be reduced by at least 12.5 percent, it said.

Also, the number of work accidents with a death toll of at least 30 or injuries of at least 100 should be cut by half at least.

The number of work accidents with a death toll between 3 and 30 and injuries between 10 and 100 should be cut by at least 15 percent.

Work safety especially in coal mines has been a headache for the Chinese government, as profit-driven bosses often turn a blind eye to substandard and risky working conditions.