Ministry warns of accidents at work

The Ministry of Emergency Management has warned of a grim situation for workplace accidents amid the resurgence of the COVID-19 epidemic, and as the country enters a season with a high frequency of extreme weather events.

Generally, the country experienced a marked year-on-year decline in the number of workplace accidents in the first quarter this year. "The safe production situation in most industries and regions is stable," Shen Zhanli, the ministry's spokeswoman, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The country, however, saw a rebound in the number of serious and especially serious accidents, she continued.

She said 38 people were killed in three serious accidents in the construction, mining and fishing industries. The Flight MU5735 crash on March 21, an especially serious accident, claimed 132 lives.

In China, a serious accident refers to an accident that causes the deaths of 10 to 29 people, serious injuries to 50 to 99, or direct economic losses of 50 million yuan ($7.9 million) to less than 100 million yuan.

If an accident results in even larger casualties or losses, it is considered especially serious.

China had no especially serious accidents for two straight years in 2020 and 2021, which is the longest time span with no such accident since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Shen said a growing number of violations found in the mining sector had resulted in a rebound in accidents.

"As the prices of some mineral resources hovered at high levels, some lawless people rushed hastily into dangerous mining operations," she said.

The country has also entered a period when accidents often become more frequent in the marine fishing sector, the spokeswoman continued. Ahead of the annual fishing moratorium that starts on May 1 in some areas, many fishermen may attempt to brave risks to fish during unfavorable weather conditions.

The annual marine fishing moratorium in the country lasts for at least three months, but it ends at different times in different sea areas.

She said safe production could be hampered by more extreme weather events, such as heat waves, torrential rain and thunderstorms, in the second quarter, a period that usually sees business entities busier.

The resurgence of the virus and unstable supply chains may further exacerbate the situation, she said.

Also at the news conference, officials noted a more positive situation in forest fire control.

The country had 616 forest fires last year, a record low since 1949, said Peng Xiaoguo, deputy head of the ministry's forest fire control bureau.

"It's the first time that the country saw the number of forest fires in a year drop below 1,000 since then," he said.

There were no serious forest fires in the year, he continued. The size of burned areas and casualties also fell from 2020.

Zhou Hongsheng, director of the fire control department of the National Forest and Grassland Administration, said the achievement was thanks to a series of campaigns jointly rolled out by the administration, the ministry and some other central government bodies last year.

In a campaign targeting wildland fire use, for example, 157,900 locations with fire risks were identified, he said. A total of 9,242 people were given administrative penalties for violations in wildland fire use.

He said another main focus in forest fire management in 2021 was to rule out safety hazards at the country's electricity transmission facilities in forest and prairie areas.

As of the first quarter this year, authorities across the country have combed 210,000 kilometers of transmission lines, Zhou noted.

He said rectifications have been completed in almost half of the 74,000 km of lines that were found with hazards.