According to Huashang Daily,
Recently, there have been multiple mining accidents resulting in significant casualties. On the 23rd, the General Office of the State Council issued a notice reiterating the requirement for mine leaders to go underground. Previously, on July 7th, Premier Wen Jiabao presided over a State Council executive meeting demanding that "enterprise leaders take turns leading on-site shifts, entering and exiting the mines with the workers." However, investigations by reporters found that while it has become routine for leaders of most large state-owned coal mines to go underground, for small coal mines which account for about 90% of all mines, this policy may remain just a piece of paper.
Current Situation:
Mine owners going underground is almost a dead letter.
In large state-owned mines, due to administrative discipline constraints and union supervision, the system of leaders taking shifts underground is better implemented. However, the situation in small mines is not optimistic.
On the evening of July 17th, a mining accident occurred at the Xiaonangou Coal Mine in Sangshuping Town, Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province, resulting in the deaths of 28 miners. The National Coal Supervision Bureau's investigation found that the mine had not arranged for the mine manager or other mid-to-upper-level leaders to go underground.
Small coal mines account for approximately 90% of the total number of mines in China, and their production accounts for one-third of the total output. In most of these small coal mines, the system of leaders going underground is practically meaningless. Although relevant national ministries have issued documents requiring legal representatives of small coal mines to go underground, if they do not comply, there are no rigid punitive measures in place.
Old Wu, a miner, believes that requiring coal bosses to go underground is essentially useless talk—it’s not a legal regulation where failing to comply would result in imprisonment. Instead, it might be more effective to mandate local safety supervision officials or county magistrates responsible for work safety to regularly go underground. With an administrative order from the state, these "officials" can be made to go down; failure to comply could simply lead to their dismissal.
Proposal:
Leaders who haven’t gone underground should be dismissed first in case of accidents.
The practical suggestion from simple miners has already been put into practice by someone: Former Vice Chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Lü Rizhou, implemented a system during his tenure as Secretary of the Changzhi Municipal Committee requiring County Party Secretaries and County Magistrates to go underground. If a mining accident occurs at a certain coal mine and the County Party Secretary and County Magistrate have not visited that mine or gone underground, they must resign or be dismissed first, followed by further accountability. From its implementation in 2000 until now, Changzhi, which accounts for one-tenth of the province's total number and output of coal mines, has remained virtually free of mining accidents.
Event:
Crawling 400 meters underground made the County Party Secretary cry.
Lü Rizhou said in a recent interview that mining accidents are unrelated to ownership structure; the root cause lies with the leading cadres, not anything else. Mining accidents occur due to several factors: "lack of training for blue-collar workers"—workers not mastering (more) skills, "white-collar lack of going underground"—managers not reaching the front line, "cadres holding shares," "management becoming a sieve," and "non-transparent supervision."
During his term as Secretary of the Changzhi Municipal Committee, Lü Rizhou led by example and went underground in the mines. At that time, small coal mines less than 1 meter high were commonly seen across Shanxi, and Lü Rizhou crawled inside, covering over 400 meters, causing the accompanying County Party Secretary to cry out of fear.