The standard compensation award for work-related injuries and death will be substantially increased next year, the state council announced Monday 26 July. From 1 January 2011, the basic one-time compensation award for work-related death will be raised from 200,000 yuan to 343,500 yuan. And when funeral expenses and monthly pension payments to the relatives of the deceased are included, the total payment will come to around 618,000 yuan on average.

At least 51 miners have been killed in four separate coal mine accidents over the weekend, the official Chinese media has reported The most serious accident occurred on Saturday evening when a fire swept through a privately-run mine in Hancheng, Shaanxi, killing 28 miners working underground at the time. The mine owner was subsequently detained by police.

A retired miner from Sichuan with stage-three pneumoconiosis, who has been seeking occupational illness compensation from his former employer for the past three years, has finally been awarded 136,000 yuan in a court mediated settlement Xiao Huazhong had been seeking 190,000 yuan, the amount he should be legally entitled to, but accepted the lower award because he is currently seriously ill in hospital, has already spent his entire life savings of around 80,000 yuan on medical care, and is faced with additional hospital bills of several hundred yuan a day.

At least 47 miners were killed and dozens more severely injured when an explosion ripped through a privately-run coal mine in Henan in the early hours of Monday morning. The Xingdong No 2 coal mine in Pingdingshan had been operating without a valid licence since 6 June, the official Xinhua news agency reported

When Xia Shihua was disabled in a mining accident, he sued the mine for compensation but was frustrated on three occasions by the obstacles thrown in his way by the courts and his former employer.

The number of coal mine deaths in China has risen for the first time since 2002. There were 592 fatalities related to coal mine accidents in the first three months of this year, compared with 509 in the first quarter last year, the China Daily reported today. The sharp rise in the number of fatalities can be partly explained by the low demand for coal at the height of the global economic crisis early last year, but also because of the widespread renovation and construction of new mines to meet higher demand this year. According to official figures, as of 1 March, there were 7,939 mines under construction or renovation.

CLB’s latest research report The Hard Road: Seeking justice for victims of pneumoconiosis in China was highlighted in the print edition of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on 8 May 2010.

In a frank and honest assessment of China’s coal mine safety record, a senior government official has admitted that enforcement of safety laws, investment in coal mine safety and worker training are all woefully inadequate. The number of accidents and fatalities has steadily declined over the last five years but China’s mines remain the world’s deadliest. If it is to reduce accidents further, the country needs to address its production-driven development model as well as fundamental safety issues, said Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety.

Over 10,000 workers in China are diagnosed with a deadly lung disease each year from breathing in dust from cutting gemstones and drilling rocks, but only a few manage to get compensation, said a rights organisation.

It is the number one work-related disease in China, with an estimated more than one million cases. It is contracted by inhaling mineral dust, most common among coal miners and those who work on building sites, sand-blasting, welding and gem and jade processing. It has no cure and in nearly all cases, is fatal.