中文
China's top coal-producing Shanxi province has launched a month-long special safety inspection on equipment for transporting personnel at all of its coal mines following an accident late last week, according to a notice issued recently by the Shanxi Bureau of the National Mine Safety Administration.
All the coal mines including those in normal production and under construction are required to conduct thorough inspections on overhead personnel transport facilities and other personnel transporting equipment, said the notice issued on June 17. The inspection will last until July 16.
The move came after a personnel transport accident happened in Luliang on June 15, which caused three deaths, one serious injury and 15 minor injuries. The incident was caused by the reversal of steel wire ropes at an overhead personnel transport facility in normal operation.
The authority attached great importance to this accident, especially as it occurred in June, the national work safety month.
Shanxi Bureau laid out several aspects as the key points of inspection, including the reliability, the implementation of safety responsibility, the on-site safety management and the rectification over safety loopholes.
Coal mine accidents in China has increased since the start of this year, compared with a falling trend in previous years, which are partly believed to be connected with the country's stress over guaranteeing national supplies and overproduction at some mines.
China produced 385.46 million tonnes of raw coal last month, up 4.2% from a year earlier and 1.05% from April, and production from January to May totaled 1.91 billion tonnes, a 4.8% increase from the corresponding period in the previous year.
Back on February 22, an opencast mine collapsed in Alshaa Left Banner, Alshaa League, Inner Mongolia, killing six and leaving 48 lost. This accident was the worst in recent years, but still didn't promoted related department to carry out large-scale inspection.
Such an extensive inspection over all mines in Shanxi this time is rare to see in recent years. Two factors possibly explain why the government can risk a production decline at this time.
The first reason is the coal industry now is seeing balancing supply-demand dynamics after efforts to guarantee supply and stabilize prices. Boosting production is no longer the top priority for the industry, and it is fine as long coal production can be maintained stable.
The second reason is increased accidents. Since China have reiterated multiple times safety must come first, it's a requisite for the whole industry to restrain the upward trend of mining incidents.
Shanxi, the main force to ensure energy supplies in China, took the lead in the number of mines getting approval for capacity expansion and the completion of supply guarantee tasks. It's necessary to sound an alarm for coal companies.
(Writing by Rebecca Liu Editing by Harry Huo)
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