Deep despair
Being a coal mine worker is a risky job in China, the world's most intensive consumer of coal and minerals and boasting the biggest coal mining industry. Though the Chinese government claims 6,027 coal mine workers lost their lives in 2004, other estimates peg the toll at 20,000.
In the latest incident on March 19, at least 60 workers were killed in a gas explosion at the Xishui Coal Mine in the northern province of Shanxi. On March 15, 16 workers were killed following a gas explosion in a mine in Qitaihe in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, according to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency. Barely a month earlier, on February 14, 214 workers lost their lives in a mine in Liaoning in the worst coal mine disaster in the country in five decades. The list of mishaps is endless (see table: Deadly job), but the message is clear: coal mining is the most lethal job in China and its coal industry, the world's deadliest.
While China accounts for 35 per cent of the annual global coal production, as much as 80 per cent of coal mining deaths worldwide occur here. On an average, a coal miner in China produces 321 tonnes of coal per year, which is about 2.5 per cent of that produced by a coal miner in the us. But the death rate in Chinese mines is more than 100 times that in the us mines (see table: Accident prone). Why?
"China produces enormous amounts of coal and has the largest number of coal mines in the world. A large number of mines are located in areas where there are huge problems of gas and inundation,' explains Stephen Frost, research fellow at the City University of Hong Kong and director of the weekly, Corporate Social Responsibility Asia ( csr Asia). In fact, there are more mines and smelters in China than in the rest of the world put together. The highly gaseous nature of the coal seams means a high risk of methane explosions. Also, most seams in China are located deep underground, increasing the risk for workers.
Another major reason for the high number of accidents is work safety precautions are almost non-existent, says Roger Moody, director of Nostromo, a community consultancy on mining based in London. "Almost 99 per cent of the accidents are caused by human errors, something which can be easily avoided,' he adds.
"Little has been done to change the situation and inspections are neither regularised nor thorough. Funds are insufficient. In addition to state mines, there are private mines