Shanghai protects people's right to know in safety accidents by law

Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Safe Production was adopted at the seventeenth session of Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Shanghai. It is stipulated clearly that in serious and catastrophic safety incidents the masses' and government's rights to know shall be protected.

The regulations will take effect on March 1, 2005.

It is stipulated in Article 35 that Shanghai's safe production supervision departments should periodically inform the public serious accidents. Moreover, it is included in the regulations that newspapers, broadcasting stations, television stations and websites should monitor the irregularities in production.

In order to ensure the government's right to know after an accident, the regulations add that the supervising departments should report in accidents to the people's governments of the districts and prefectures and should do it in time in case of serious or catastrophic accidents or typical accidents having serious social impact.

Shanghai has witnessed a grim situation over the recent years in terms of safe production. Statistics show, in 2003, 429 accidents killed 450 people, 44 percent and 42 percent higher than the 297 accidents and 318 lives in 2002 respectively.

According to sources with Shanghai municipal government, a few producers concealing, evading, or shrinking responsibility after troubles propping up are to blame for catastrophic safety accidents. Therefore it is especially important to ensure that the government and public are informed in time.

By People's Daily Online