VZCZCXRO5972
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHBJ #7924/01 1162311
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 262311Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3934
INFO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 6118
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0343
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 4355
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 5936
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 7265
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 5471
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1003

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 007924 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/CM, DRL/IL 
DEPARTMENT PASS USTR FOR KARESH, ROSENBERG 
DEPARTMENT PASS USTR FOR STRATFORD, WINTER, ALTBACH, CELICO 
LABOR FOR ILAB NEWTON, LI ZHAO, SCHOEPFLE 
TREASURY FOR OASIA/ISA-DOHNER AND KOEPKE 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN 
GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD EMIN PHUM PGOV CH
SUBJECT: Safety Watchdogs Make Improvements in Mine Safety 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified; Handle Accordingly 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The State Administration for Work Safety 
(SAWS), Ministry of Labor and Social Security and All-China 
Federation of Trade Unions have deployed over 50,000 mass 
safety supervisors in China's coal mines, according to the 
Deputy Director General of the Mine Safety Department of 
SAWS.  The mass supervisors who are chosen from miners with 
actual experience digging coal or building mine shafts or 
tunnels have reported numerous safety problems and helped 
avoid many accidents, according to the DDG.  According to 
one provincial SAWS official, the program has not proven as 
useful as anticipated.  Whether the program will ever reach 
its full potential, which is considerable, under the 
auspices of the government-controlled All-China Federation 
of Trade Unions is doubtful.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Laboff spoke with Yang Qingsheng, Deputy Director 
General, Mine Safety Supervision Department, State 
Administration for Coal Mine Safety (SACMS) (Note:  SACMS 
is a part of the State Administration for Work Safety, SAWS) 
to learn the status of the program announced in 2005 to 
place 100,000 mass safety supervisors (quntizhong 
jianduyuan) in China's coal mines.  DDG Yang noted that the 
program was first set forth in a joint circular issued by 
the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the State 
Administration for Work Safety and the All-China Federation 
of Trade Unions (ACFTU) in June of 2005.  Work on the 
project began immediately following the issuance of the 
announcement, and by the end of February 2006, 49,820 of 
the projected 100,000 safety supervisors had already been 
deployed in the mines, DDG Yang said. 
 
Only Experienced Miners Qualify as Safety Supervisors 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The selection of the mass safety supervisors has 
been strictly controlled, DDG Yang asserted.  Only workers 
whose actual duties have been either digging coal or 
digging or building the mine shafts and tunnels are allowed 
to participate in the program.  When the actual selection 
of the safety supervisors is made by the company, a list of 
their names must be submitted to the local SAWS office, 
which examines the qualifications of the individuals 
selected and approves the selection.  Once approved, the 
names remain on file with the local SAWS OFFICE. 
 
Reports Show Inspectors Discover Problems ... 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) In general, the safety supervisors are highly 
motivated, and believe that receiving the certification to 
do the work is an honor, DDG Yang said.  They feel 
responsibility for doing the work well, and are eager to 
find the hidden dangers in the mine, and have been 
effective in doing so.  The DDG gave the example of a 
safety supervisor who works with many migrant workers new 
to work in the coal mines.  Because the migrant workers had 
no previous experience, the safety supervisor has had to 
instruct them that the presence of methane in the mine 
cannot be detected because it is odorless and colorless but 
nonetheless extremely dangerous. 
 
¶5.  (U) Sometimes, because of the lack of training, a mine 
worker will not listen to the safety supervisor, DDG Yang 
said; under such circumstances, the safety supervisors are 
empowered to take action.  In one such case, a safety 
supervisor observed a miner attempting to make repairs to 
equipment while the electrical power was still on.  When 
the miner refused to heed his warning and continued to make 
the repairs, the safety supervisor ordered all electrical 
power at the mine turned off.  He was criticized by the 
miners for taking this step, but the incident resulted in 
improved understanding. 
 
BEIJING 00007924  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) Overall, the numbers of hidden problems discovered 
by the safety supervisors in the mines have been large, DDG 
Yang said.  The Luan Coal Mine in Shanxi Province, for 
example, received 4,968 reports from safety supervisors 
between June and September 2005.  The reports addressed all 
aspects of the mining operation, including digging, 
transportation and ventilation. 
 
... But Remedying Problems Is Responsibility of Mine Owners 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) When the safety supervisors, in the course of their 
work, discover a relatively minor problem, they make a 
record of the problem and pass the information on to the 
staff operating in the mine.  However, when they discover a 
serious problem, they pass the information directly to mine 
management.  SAWS inspectors, in the course of their formal 
inspections of the mine, review the reports made by the 
mass safety supervisors.  The Jianglu Coal Mine in Shanxi 
province has instituted a slight variation on the way the 
safety supervisors operate.  The coal mine stations three 
senior miners at the mouth of the mine to receive the 
reports of the mass safety supervisors. 
 
Program Depends on Presence of ACFTU in Mine 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U)) The system of mass safety supervisors has been set 
up in those mines where the ACFTU has established a 
presence.  Where the ACFTU has not yet established a 
presence, the mass safety supervision system cannot be set 
up, DDG Yang said.  The system has also not been 
established in large companies, such as Shenhua, which are 
controlled directly by the central government.  SAWS is, 
however, working to get the system set up in these mines as 
well, DDG Yang said. 
 
SAWS to Further Develop the Program 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) SAWS believes that the effectiveness of the program 
can be enhanced over time.  DDG Yang will develop an 
instructional booklet to assure that the safety supervisors 
get a more thorough understanding of their work.   SAWS 
will also publish a pamphlet describing how the program 
should be managed by the coal companies, including required 
training and the additional allowance the safety inspectors 
should receive.  Currently, payment of a stipend to the 
mass safety inspectors is optional, as provided by the 
original document governing the program.  However, SAWS 
wants to require that the miner-inspectors receive an 
additional supplement to their salaries.  However, this is 
difficult because of the regional differences in standards 
of living and salaries around the country.  Currently 
salary supplements for mass safety inspectors are provided 
in Shanxi Province, at the rate of 3 rmb, and in Yunnan, at 
the rate of 10 rmb, for each time a safety inspector enters 
the mine, said DDG Yang. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment:  Laboff spoke with a SAWS inspector from 
a province that has already implemented the program who 
said that the safety supervisors had already proven useful 
in finding and correcting problems before accidents occur. 
However, he added, the program is not as useful as SAWS had 
anticipated that it would be.  Whether the program will 
ever reach its full potential, which is considerable, under 
the auspices of the government-controlled All-China 
Federation of Trade Unions is doubtful. 
 
Sedney