Companies liable for major accidents will face fines of up to 5 million yuan ($641,000) and managers will have their pay docked under the new regulation.

The Regulation on Reporting and Investigating Production Accidents, released by the State Council on Friday, will come into effect on June 1.

Personnel at an accident scene are required to report it to management immediately. Managers must report the accident to county-level work safety authorities within an hour.

The regulation classifies accidents into four grades. The most severe is defined as causing 30 deaths or more, or 100 severe injuries (including acute poisoning), or direct economic losses of 100 million yuan ($128,000) or above.

Companies such as mines, construction firms or chemical or explosive producers will receive a fine of 2 to 5 million yuan ($256,000 to $641,000) if they are found responsible for an accident.

Managers of those firms will have their yearly salaries cut by 80 percent.

If they are found to have committed a crime, they will be deemed criminally responsible.

Anyone trying to shirk their responsibilities will face severe punishment under the regulation.

A company will be fined 1 to 5 million yuan ($128,000 to $641,000) if it commits any of the following:

Lying about or covering up an accident

Faking or tampering with an accident scene

Shifting or concealing capital and possessions after an accident, or destroying evidence

Refusing to accept an investigation or refusing to provide information or material to investigators

Giving false testimony or inciting others to do so during an investigation

Fleeing or hiding after an accident

The regulation also stipulates that the company's senior staff directly liable for an accident will have a minimum of 60 percent deducted from their annual salary.

Thirty-two workers were killed and two injured on Wednesday when a piece of heavy equipment at a steel plant in Tieling in Northeast China's Liaoning Province broke off while molten steel was being transported.