A Legal Research On Chinese Coal Mine Safety Production

Coal, the primary energy source in industrial society, cannot be substituted in the near future. Safety problem during coal production in our country is extremely alarming with the frequent occurrence of accidents. The annual casualties of colliery accidents in our country amount to around 6-7 thousand. The casualties in producing 1 million tons of coal and the average death toll of each accident are much higher than other coal-mining countries in the world. Having investigated the causes of coal mine accidents, the inconvenient storage of coal can account for part of the accidents, however, their key reasons lie in man-made and management problems, such as the collusion of colliery owner and officer, lackness of safety measures in small colliers, instability of safety production, inadequacy of safety production consciousness of employees, and rightlessness of peasant miner.Confronting the severe environment of safety production of coal mine, the State Department has decided to promote the Administration of Work Safety to the State Administration of Work Safety, and has specially set up the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety which is under the direct supervision of the State Administration of Work Safety to strengthen the censorial authority, and to reinforce law execution.While establishing accident prevention and coalmine safety system, great importance should be attached to the reference to experience of coal safety supervision in other major coal-mining countries all over the world, especially the USA and England. These two countries have distinctive features of their own in coal mine safety lawmaking, labor union, setup of safety supervising organ, accident investigation and treatment procedures, etc. The UMWA and the British Occupational Safety & Health Association have greatly boosted the improvement of coalmine safety in their own countries.Therefore the aim and principles of coal mine safety production should be well defined to minimize the rate of accident occurrence through constitution of laws and regulations and establishment of long-term and effective safety mechanism while making our coal mine safety production laws. Concrete proposals and measures are as follows: improve and enhance safety legislation, reinforce super intendance, check the collusion of colliery own and officer, establish coal mine security system, improve the safety quality of miners, enhance the consciousness of rights and interests of miners, increase almsgiving, and regulate, transform and rectify small coal mines.