41,000 workplace deaths in four months

Chinese government says numbers have stabilized, safety has improved in mining and trading enterprises

In the first four months of 2004, 41,000 workers in China were killed on the job, according to Xinhua, China’s main government-run news agency.

China said the numbers have stabilized, and the State Administration of Work Safety said 310,000 accidents occurred across the country in the first four months. The death toll of 41,000 was roughly the equivalent to the first four months of 2003, it said.

Last year in China there were 963,976 work-related accidents resulting in 136,340 fatalities — a decrease of 112,963 accidents and 2,591 fatalities compared to 2002.

The statistics also showed a 12.8 per cent reduction in accidents and fatalities at mines and a 12.3 per cent drop in accidents and fatalities at trading enterprises, according to a report from United Press International.

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