Yang Huanning, minister of the State Administration of Work Safety meets the press during the ongoing National People's Congress in Beijing March 8, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Investigation into fatal platform collapse concludes, safety chief says

By Xu Wei

The central government has concluded the on-the-scene investigation into a fatal platform collapse at a power plant that killed 74 workers last year, and the investigation’s findings will be made public shortly, the chief of the work safety watchdog said.

In one of the most deadly accidents last year, a work platform collapsed at a power plant in Yichun, Jiangxi province on Nov 24, killing 74 workers as well as injuring two others.

Yang Huanning, minister of the State Administration of Work Safety, told reporters during the ongoing National People's Congress that a working group of the State Council has concluded the on-spot investigation into the incident, and authorities are still considering the penalties to be given out to the relevant parties.

The investigation into another two accidents, both involving coal mines, is also coming to a close, he said.

He said the Jiangxi power plant accidents had exposed painful lessons concerning reducing the time limit for a construction project in pursuit of economic interests, which Yang said was against the law and work safety regulations.

He noted that the country still faced challenges to prevent major work safety accidents partly because of the lack of legal consciousness in society and lack of supervision from local authorities.

The work safety watchdog has drafted a guideline to prevent major accidents, and is now pushing forward the guideline nationwide.

“We are concentrating our efforts in the areas, work procedures and time periods that are more prone to work safety accidents," he said.