China hires 70,000 safety inspectors for coal mines

The state-owned People’s Daily Online is reporting that some 70,000 miners have been recruited by Chinese coal mines to work as mining safety supervisors, a move by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions to reduce mining accidents.

The government plans to enlarge the number of safety supervisors to 100,000 in coal mines across the country.

Last year, the Chinese government says that nearly 6,000 miners died in 3,300 blasts, floods, collapses and other accidents as “mine owners pushed production beyond safety limits in a rush to meet booming demand.”

At least 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Hebei, Shanxi and Beijing, have ordered their major coal mines and some rural coal mines to hire safety supervisors, and various governments are also said to be working on improving their wider coal-mine safety policies.

The government states that while supply and demand for coal in China was at equilibrium in the first half of the year, China faces a “flooded coal market if production goes unchecked.”

National coal production increased by 9.4% in the first half of the year, while the average price of commercial coal in formerly state-owned coal enterprises is now 302 yuan per tonne, off 1.3% from last year’s prices. The average price of coal used to generate electricity is 212 yuan per tonne, up 0.6% from last year.

The government notes that the demand for coal in electricity generation, construction and chemical engineering has already begun to fall, emphasizing that, “it is highly unlikely that the industry will ever again witness the extraordinary growth rates of the past.”