BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's workplace safety record continued to improve, with the number of accidents and fatalities both dropping in the first seven months, data from the country's work safety watchdog showed on Wednesday.
The number of workplace safety accidents fell 24.7 percent year on year to 27,478 during the January-July period, while related fatalities went down 16.8 percent to 19,783, according to the State Administration of Work Safety.
Despite regular calls by the government for more focus on work safety, frequent tragedies still occur. A lack of safety awareness, poor regulations and lax implementation of safety measures are among the factors leading to accidents.
In a recent "extremely severe" accident, at least 36 people were killed and 13 others injured on an expressway in northwest China's Shaanxi Province this month.
In China, "extremely severe" accidents refer to those that cause more than 30 deaths, leave more than 100 severely injured or result in more than 100 million yuan (about 15 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses.
The Work Safety Committee of the State Council has started a four-month nationwide inspection on workplace safety.
The inspection, running from July to October, covers all regions, all industries and all types of enterprises, as well as crowded places.
