Shaanxi Province will now shut down any coal mine that causes three or more employee deaths, and will oblige local authorities to partake in regular mine inspections, Wu Dengchang, a deputy governor of the province said Wednesday, Chinese Business View reported.

The new regulation asks the county's government officials to regularly inspect coal mines to ensure production and worker safety. County magistrates and village or town heads will also be obliged to inspect the mines periodically.

"We should no longer respond to these accidents with only verbal threats," Wu said yesterday.

The regulation will also limit the number of miners allowed to work simultaneously, to prevent overloading and overcrowding, which may cause serious accidents. Only 20 miners will be allowed to work in a typical small-scale mine, with a capacity of six tons.

Additionally, every worker who perishes on the job will cost the mine a 500,000 yuan (US$62,000) penalty. Mines with accidents causing two deaths will be forced to suspend production for half a year and those incurring three or more deaths in one incident will be forced to shut down permanently.

All penalties, which are executed by local production safety monitoring authorities, will be used to develop new measures to curb potential mining safety issues, the report said.

(Shanghai Daily May 12, 2006)