BEIJING/TAIYUAN - The safety of coal miners has improved significantly and more efforts will be made in the coal-rich province of Shanxi to ensure things get even better, top local officials said during the sessions of the country's top legislature and political advisory body.

Many lives have been lost in the past in the province in mine accidents and the government should do more to prevent further fatalities, said Yuan Chunqing, Party chief of Shanxi province.

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"About 400,000 people work in mines in Shanxi," he said. "When I took office last year, I reached a consensus with Governor Wang Jun that work safety was as important as economic growth to Shanxi. If work safety cannot be improved, people will not be living better lives."

The mortality rate for every million tons of raw coal fell from 0.905 in 2005 to 0.187 in 2010, said Yuan. He noted that the average nationwide was 0.749 last year.

Shanxi produced 740 million tons of raw coal last year and 139 workers died in mine accidents during the same period.

While the number was alarming, it was lower than the 500 who died in mine accidents in 2009 and far less than the 1,661 lives lost in 2008, he said.

"The fall in the death toll shows the situation is being handled much better," added Wang Jun, the province's governor, who was speaking at a news conference. "We are confident that work safety will improve further. More efforts by the government, enterprises and workers will be made to ensure the mortality rate will not go back up again."

The provincial government made 12 regulations last year related to coal mines, including a slew of anti-corruption measures against mine managerial personnel and the assigning of work safety assistants who will work with the heads of local governments.

Yuan said there is no room for corruption in the industry. All heads of counties and townships in the province will work with their new assistants on reducing hazards and accidents in mines.

In 2010, more than 1,500 small mines with inadequate safety provisions were closed in the province.

"By the end of next year, 90 percent coal mines in Shanxi will adopt automated manufacturing," said Yuan.

An expert said more automation is the main way to make things better.

"The fundamental way to improve mine safety is to utilize more large machinery, instead of manual operations, because automated manufacturing will better prevent mine accidents from happening," said Yang Gengyu, director of the National Safety Training Center for Coal Mines in Beijing.

At the same time, workers will get more training before being put to work in the pits, said Yuan.

"My company organizes a three-to-six-month training course for each miner that starts the first day they arrive," said Li Junping, a deputy with the National People's Congress who works in the Guandi Mine in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province. "Miners will be told about the geological structure of the mine they are working in because a lack of awareness of the underground terrain could kill them if there is a flood or gas explosion."