Progress must not sacrifice safety
- Source: Global Times
- [01:43 July 19 2010]
- Comments
Just a week after a toxic leak at Zijin Mining, China's largest gold producer, poisoned or killed nearly 2 million kilograms of fish in a river in southern Fujian Province, the country's largest oil producer, China National Petrol Corp., was implicated in a huge fire Saturday that produced a 50-square kilometer oil slick off a port in the northern city of Dalian.
With many cash-laden industry giants producing world-class equipment and expertise, the country does not lack the capability to produce state-of-the-art goods for the rest of the world. But frequent accidents have exposed safety holes in the country's drive to achieve greater industrialization and modernization.
China has to be extremely careful about introducing huge projects in key sectors such as energy and chemicals. If accident-prevention schemes cannot keep up with the expansion of the projects, it is better to slow down a little bit, as many of the projects that are closely linked to the environment could trigger a major disaster if the operators do not follow strict safety rules.
For the big companies that make more than 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion) a year, the financial losses from an accident might appear miniscule. But the impact on the environment, on animals and human beings around the affected areas is hard to estimate, and may last for decades.
The amount of crude oil leaked into the Bohai Sea is not yet clear, but reports said an oil tank containing 100,000 cubic meters of oil caught fire after two oil pipes in the port exploded, and part of the oil was lost, either burned or leaked.
The oil slick on the seawater may not be comparable to the more than 6,000 square kilometers of pollution presently in the Gulf of Mexico. Pictures of oil-drenched sea birds struggling for life after the BP disaster, however, may resurface in China, too. And previous major oil spills around the world have shown that the damage to the environment and ecosystem lasts much longer even after the problem is contained.
China's red-hot economic engine will not slow down for now, but the country's rise can no longer be based on sacrificing the environment and people's livelihood. Competitiveness should not come at the expense of pollution control and safety supervision.
It is a good sign that the central government often responds to national emergencies swiftly by dispatching high-ranking officials to the scene to oversee rescue efforts. It is also exciting to see that local officials are often held responsible. In the Zijin poisoning case, for example, a county chief and local environmental protection bureau chief were sacked soon after.
But the story should not end there. An effective workplace safety system must be strictly followed before, not after, such incidents take place. Also, each of those major accidents should serve as a reminder for other companies, especially those that fall under key industries in this country, so that they would not make the same mistake.
