CHINA is reluctant to announce draft regulations on workers' safety in foreign-funded enterprises, despite the latest in a series of fatal industrial accidents in Zhuhai, a senior labour official said.
Labour Ministry Safety and Health Monitoring Department official Zhang Shoumin said the delay in publication was due to concerns foreign investors would be discouraged - thus slowing economic development.
Besides yesterday's fatal blast, two women were trampled to death last week when about 1,000 women fled their workplace dormitory in panic over a fire scare. About 100 workers have been killed in Zhuhai in the past two years.
Mr Zhang said yesterday: 'The economic conditions of many regions have not developed into a mature stage.
'That's why some provincial officials, especially in the south, are reserved about putting further controls on foreign investors.
'They fear that if foreigners are discouraged from investing, the economic future of their regions will be affected.' Such fears, it is understood, have also restricted the drafting of the laws, which do not stipulate much heavier penalties for irresponsible employers.
Concerns over labour safety have been high because southern China has been hit by serious industrial accidents, mostly in crowded foreign-funded factories.