The Supreme People's Court has asked courts at all levels to impose harsher punishments for crimes related to work safety.

Major criminal cases related to work safety can go immediately to higher courts, like intermediate people's court or above, a statement from the top court said on Wednesday.

"Courts at all levels should severely punish crimes related to work safety that will result in major accidents, to ensure the safety of people's lives and property," Zhou Qiang, chief justice of the SPC, said in the statement.

The notice follows a series of recent deadly accidents across the country, including a plant fire in Jilin province that killed 120 people and injured 77 others on June 3; and a bus fire in Xiamen that claimed the lives of 47 people on Friday.

According to the statement, if a prosecuting department says a criminal case is one of work-safety endangerment, courts must immediately schedule a trial and punish those found guilty to the full extent of the law.

"Such criminal cases with great social concern will have a huge impact, and courts face difficulty identifying those responsible for such accidents," said Zhu Jian, SPC press officer.

"Courts will pay close attention to such cases and strengthen the guidance. As for major and sensitive criminal cases related to work safety, we could directly appoint a higher court for judgment in accordance with Criminal Procedure Law," Zhu said.

The notice stipulated that in serious situations, such as illegal production, lack of work safety measures, as well as not actively rescuing those injured after an incident, those found responsible will face strict punishment.

In line with a related SPC regulation, courts should harshly punish government employees if corruption is detected to have led to work safety accidents, it said.

"The courts will impose harsher punishments to duty-related crimes found behind such crimes, including bribery, abusing the law for favoritism, covering up facts, as well as concealing and lying about the crimes," the notice said.

Moreover, courts will increase cooperation with authorities, including safety supervision and public security. Prosecuting departments will conduct safety inspections across the country to prevent similar fatal accidents from happening again, it said.

Hong Daode, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said that if people are convicted of work safety accidents, they will face jail terms less than three years, and if the circumstance are serious, they will face sentences from three to seven years. But those convicted of conducting illegal dangerous operations, will face a prison term of up to 15 years, he said.

zhangyan1@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 06/13/2013 page4)