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Death versus GDP! Decoding the Fatality Indicators on Work Safety Regulation in Post-Deng China*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2012

Hon S. Chan  and
Jie Gao
Hon S. Chan
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong.
Jie Gao*
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong.
*
Email: jiegao@cityu.edu.hk (corresponding author).
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Abstract

This article examines how Chinese reformers have used a set of “fatality indicators” to deal with the serious work safety situation in the past two decades. It argues that the system of fatality indicators is a prudent strategy to tackle the responsibility deficiencies in the previous work safety regulatory system and strengthen the central government's supervision over local safety management. The primary purpose of implementing the fatality indicators is to shift local officials' focus from a GDP-centred growth mode to a new mindset of achieving a balance between economic development and social stability in local governance. The article also indicates that the decline in work-related fatalities in recent years is evidence of the effectiveness of the fatality indicators. These achievements aside, however, the introduction of fatality indicators is closely associated with an increase in local officials' dishonest reporting of real death tolls and the fluctuation in very serious accidents.

Keywords

Work safetyperformance measurementfatality indicatorsGDPwork-related accidentsaccountability
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 210 , June 2012 , pp. 355 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2012

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Footnotes

*

This study is funded by a grant from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong (project title “The capacity-building paradox of the Chinese Communist Party in the reform era: the case of performance measurement in Chinese local governments”).

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19 Wright, “The political economy of coal mine disasters in China,” p. 632.

20 Ibid. pp. 641–42.

21 Shaoguang Wang, “Regulating death at coalmines,” p. 22.

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23 Interviews with three leading officials in Zhuhai city and Foshan city, Guangdong, May–June 2010.

24 It is notable that the road traffic accident is categorized as one type of work-related accident in China. According to the statistics of the China Work Safety Yearbook 2004–07, around 80% of work-related accidents in this period are road traffic accidents (coal-mine accidents only account for 4.3%). In 2004 when the WSC leaders initiated the system of the fatality indicators, they tended to exclude the road traffic accidents. The major reason, as explained by Wang Xianzheng, was because there was no proper way to add up road traffic accidents caused by different factors. However the national fatality indicators in 2005 contained indicators of road traffic accidents and this has continued. One interpretation is that the statistics on work-related accidents would be misleading if road traffic accidents were excluded. For example, many serious and very serious accidents are road traffic accidents caused by unsafe operation by transport companies. We thank the anonymous reviewer for pointing out the need to clarify this point.

25 Jianjun Tu, “Coal mining safety: China's Achilles' heel,” pp. 46–47.

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28 Ibid.

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31 This is an estimated number according to the statistics of the China's Work Safety Yearbooks which compile the annual reports of each provincial-level government on work safety issues. Localities that produce coal have a special report on coal-mine production and safety.

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33 Ibid.

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35 Ibid.

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