Work safety officials should avoid working for the intermediary organizations that provide work safety technology, minister of the State Administration of Work Safety Li Yizhong said.

The head of China's state work safety watchdog spoke out against corruption in the work safety field at a national meeting on Tuesday. He said officials are not allowed to introduce deals for intermediary companies, or receive any kind of payments or benefits.

The work safety agencies at some local governments have become too involved with intermediary companies. Xinhua News Agency quotes Li Yizhong as saying they are abusing their authority to approve and supervise projects for private gain.

He called on local governments to separate the departments that supervise work safety from the organizations that provide intermediary services. He also warned that intermediary institutions may have their licenses revoked or be held legally responsible if their irregular deals have serious consequences.

The State Administration of Work Safety says some intermediary institutions issue false reports on their products in order to generate illegal profits. One intermediary agency published an evaluation report that falsely claimed a coal mine in Jixi, northeastern Heilongjiang Province, has an annual production capacity of 90,000 tons. The coal mine actually has a production capacity of 30,000 tons with a reserve of 210,000 tons.

China plans to shut down all coal mines with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons or less by the end of this year, according to the State Administration of Work Safety, citing safety concerns, Xinhua says in an earlier report.

Editor: Yan