China saw fewer deaths last year from the operation of dangerous equipment like boilers, elevators, ropeways, hoisting machines and large-scale amusement equipment, but the national accident rate remains unacceptably high, a government official has said.

There were 0.83 accidents on average in China last year for every 10,000 units of this type of equipment, 4.6 percent down from 2005, and a death toll of 0.94, 2.1 percent down, said Zhang Gang, director of the special equipment bureau with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, at a conference on Tuesday.

The frequency of accidents dropped for the sixth consecutive year, but the safety problem remains very serious, said Zhang.

Altogether 334 people were killed and 349 injured in this kind of accidents last year, he said.

The death toll from dangerous equipment accidents has risen in recent years as more and more dangerous equipment is put into use, Zhang noted. He did not provide figures for previous years.

Weak legal and accountability systems and irregular, unsafe use of equipment exacerbate safety risks, said Zhang.

He said accident rates with this type of equipment in China are six to seven times more frequent than in industrialized countries.

China began drafting a law on the safety of dangerous equipment at the end of last year, and a special regulation is being revised.

Source: Xinhua