Yang Huaning: Some people want coal rather than laws; they want money rather than their lives

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Yang Huaning: Some people prefer coal over laws, and money over their lives. On December 24th, Yang Huaning, head of China’s State Administration of Work Safety, said that with the increase in serious accidents in coal mines this year, coal prices have risen sharply since July. Driven by these high prices, small mines that had been unable to operate profitably for several years seized the opportunity to engage in illegal mining activities. “They want coal rather than laws; they want money rather than their lives. This enthusiasm **exceeds our initial expectations. We knew that rising prices would bring problems, but we didn’t expect the impact to be so severe.** ”　　On the morning of that day, the 25th meeting of the 12th Ren Da** Conference held a joint session to review the report submitted by the law-enforcement inspection team of the Ren Da** Conference on the implementation of the Work Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, and to conduct special inquiries. In response to Committee Member Wuritu’s question, Yang Huaning expressed the above sentiments. 　　Wuritu pointed out that in the past two months or so, serious accidents in coal mines have occurred one after another, drawing the attention of the whole society to work safety. ****The State Council attaches great importance to this, and the relevant departments work diligently and hard. Yet in some places, safety regulations for production cannot be implemented or enforced properly. What is the root cause of this? 　　In response, Yang Huaning said that the current safety situation in the coal mining sector typically reflects the overall safety trends: on the one hand, the total number of accidents in coal mines has decreased by 10%, while on the other hand, serious and major accidents have increased. From January to November this year, there were 9 such accidents, compared to only 4 during the same period last year – a 125% increase in the number of accidents, with a 128.8% rise in the number of deaths. “We are engaged in safety supervision work, and we feel that we are not doing our job well; we are deeply ashamed. ”　　Yang Huaning further responded: Looking at these 9 major accidents, first of all, coal mine accidents such as gas explosions account for the majority – 7 out of the 9 were gas explosions ； Secondly, the coal mines involved in the accidents were all those that, according to the regulations issued by the State Council and relevant departmental rules, were supposed to be phased out and closed ； Third, illegal and non-compliant production is widespread; among the 9 accidents, 4 involved unauthorized mining beyond designated limits, and 1 occurred when production resumed without going through the required revalidation process. 　　“As Commissioner Wuritu said, these three problems are not merely accidents in a few mines; what’s more important is that they now exhibit a certain degree of prevalence. ”Yang Huaning said, “We have recently sent many undercover inspection teams to the areas below to conduct investigations; problems can be identified right away at night, mainly in the small coal mines.” This characteristic, to some extent, explains why accidents occur so frequently – they have doubled this year compared to last year. ”　　Yang Huaning pointed out that the first reason is the sharp rise in coal prices since July this year; according to the data we have reviewed, as of December 7, China’s coal price index had increased by 45.7 percentage points compared to the beginning of the year. Driven by such low prices, small mines that had been unable to operate for years and were losing money seized the opportunity to engage in illegal mining. Coal over law, money over life.