TOUGHER fire safety regulations for Hong Kong factory operators are to be adopted by the Guangdong Government. The new rules are being drafted in an effort to prevent tragedies such as the Zhili Handicrafts factory fire last November which killed 84 people and left 25 injured. Authorities were devising management rules for foreign-owned enterprises in the province where there are 70,000 such operations, vice-director of Guangdong Public Security Department's Fire Bureau, Zhong Jiaorong, said. Eighty per cent of the foreign-owned enterprises have Hong Kong investors. Ms Zhong said Guangdong had recorded the nation's highest number of industrial accidents for four consecutive years. Fires caused losses of 300 million yuan (HK$266 million) last year, and 130 million yuan in 1992. Sixty per cent of the losses were attributed to foreign-owned factories. ''Although the foreign-owned enterprises will have to meet the same fire safety requirements as local ones, the new rules will be tailored for them,'' Ms Zhong said. She was speaking after a seminar on fire safety in foreign-owned factories, during which a 10-minute video of the rescue and aftermath of the Zhili fire was shown. The seminar heard in detail about factors which contributed to the high death toll, including blocked exits, sealed windows and work done by unlicensed electricians. The fire caused 2.6 million yuan in damage. Five people, including the Hong Kong owner of the factory, Lo Chiu-chuen, have been arrested, but no hearing date has been set. New penalties came in on March 1, with fines to be calculated on the basis of 30,000 yuan per death, 3,000 to 5,000 yuan per injury, plus one to five per cent of the total cost of damage caused by the fire. Factory management may also face criminal penalties. Chief executive of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, Lee Cheuk-yan, called for more compensation for victims of industrial accidents, and urged the Chinese Government to set up more channels for workers' complaints.