China to extend crackdown on illegal operations to tackle notorious work safety woes

Beijing, Oct 29(ANI): China will extend a crackdown on illegal operations in mines, transport, construction and hazardous chemicals by one month, the country's work safety watchdog has said.

According to the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), the decision has been taken due to the success it has had so far in reducing industrial accidents.

SAWS head Luo Lin said that the crackdown would run until the end of November, the China Daily reports.

He explained that the crackdown on problematic companies has helped curb illegal production activities at the local level.

The latest figures released by the watchdog reveals that about half of the major work safety accidents in the past two months resulted from illegal operations, but the number was down from the 75 percent in the April-to-June period.

From August 1 to October 20, there were 178 major accidents across the country at illegal operations that resulted in 1,005 deaths, according to SAWS.

They also dealt with 612,600 cases of illegal operations, after which 62,500 organizations and companies were told to halt production and 8,687 unlicensed organizations and companies were shut down. (ANI)