Stressed safety inspectors want out
- Source: The Global Times
- [09:30 May 26 2009]
- Comments
A coal miner is given a helping hand at a pit in Loudi, Hunan Province, where 22 people were killed and 37 were injured in 2005. Photo: Xie Zhuoxun
By Huang Jingjing
Forty-eight coal mine safety inspectors from Loudi, Hunan Province, have asked to resign or be transferred to new posts since the end of last year, citing heavy workloads and unfair treatment, an official told the Global Times yesterday.
“Most of them said they wanted a change because they were not being well treated or that they were under too much pressure,” Xiao Fengjun, director of a coal safety supervision station in the Jinshi township of Lianyuan, a coal-rich city affiliated to Loudi, said.
Zhang Jiasheng, director of the supervision team at the Lianyuan Bureau of Coal Industry, said he and his fellow inspectors carry a heavy burden working in such a high-pressure and high-risk industry.
“If I could change to another post, I would take it even if it meant less pay,” he said.
“The benefits we receive are not commensurate with the amount of responsibility we have and the pressure we’re under.”
When coal mine accidents happen, the inspectors are always the first people to be blamed, Xiao said.
He said he is so busy he has to work every weekend and can never take holidays. Also, he has not been paid his basic 700-yuan monthly salary for two months and has not received his 700-yuan monthly subsidy for five months.
In comparison, an average coal miner earns about 3,000 yuan a month, Xiao said.
“The problem with delayed wages has been going on since 2005. I’m considering asking to be laid off so I can find another job. My family needs money,” he said.
The administration has traditionally been reluctant to let inspectors leave their jobs, however, as they are too difficult to replace, he said.
“No one else wants the job,” he said.
Although safety inspectors are authorized to perform their duties unencumbered, they are regularly abused and even beaten when they discover safety hazards and issue closure orders, China Youth Daily reported yesterday.
“Mine owners always think we’re picking on them,” another inspector told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.
“If they refuse to fix the safety problems when we tell them, there is little else we can do. These are rich and powerful people with friends in high places,” he said.
“Being a safety inspector in Loudi is like trying to guide a group of children with learning difficulties across a road,” Zhou Wei, deputy director of the Loudi Bureau of Coal Industry, was quoted as saying.
“There’s danger every step of the way.”
While Loudi is dependent on its coal mines for economic reasons, the small, unlicensed ones are a constant source of casualties, which puts inspectors in an awkward position, he said.
“If the legal rights and interests of the safety inspectors are not guaranteed, mine safety will also be threatened,” Hong Kefei, director of China Youth Daily’s Hunan branch and author of the newspaper’s report, told the Global Times yesterday.
Calls to the Lianyuan Bureau of Coal Industry went unanswered yesterday, while the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety told the Global Times that the man able to answer questions about the issue was at a meeting. When a second call was made at 5:45 pm, the man said it was time for him to leave for the day.
Lianyuan has 97 coal mines and is Loudi’s largest coal producer. It is also responsible for the most mining deaths: 66 in 2006, 34 in 2007 and 53 last year. A total of 594 miners were killed between 1996 and 2002, the China Youth Daily reported.