BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The discipline watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has brought in new punishments targeting corrupt members involved in production safety following a spate of major coal mine disasters.

    Government officials will be punished or even expelled from the Party if they take advantage of their posts to get involved with buying equipment and public bidding, intervene in accident investigations, and change or refuse to implement punishment against people who are responsible for accidents.

    The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said its Regulation on Disciplinary Punishment defines the crimes and punishments.

    This is the first time that the CCDI has explained its disciplinary punishment regulation in any specific area.

    Officials, who make allow to companies failing to meet work safety requirements, give certificates to unqualified units and people, or don't revoke approvals for companies breaking work safety regulations, will be punished in accordance with the disciplinary punishment regulation, the explanations said.

    Officials in state-owned enterprises will be punished if they fail to take effective measures to clear hidden dangers, force employees to work overtime or take risks at work, or allow unqualified people to work.

    They will also be punished if they provide dangerous materials, including poisons and explosives to illegal or unqualified companies, or provide dangerous materials to qualified companies with larger amount than regulated.

    Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), said government officials' dereliction of duty and collusion with businessmen were significant causes of some accidents.

    Earlier this month, Li called for strengthening supervision and intensifying punishment of corrupt officials to improve production safety.

    Gan Yisheng, spokesman and deputy head of the CCDI, said it's the first time that the CCDI has issued explanations about work safety, which demonstrates the CPC's anti-corruption resolution in this field.

    Last year, Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed the need to punish corrupt officials involved in workplace accidents and called for the building of an effective system to combat corruption.

    "These new regulations are an improvement of the intra-Party punishment system," Gan said.

    China has made efforts to ensure work safety in recent years. Statistics showed in the first 11 months, the death toll in workplace accidents dropped by 13.8 percent.

    However, fatal accidents still happen. China has seen three major coal mine gas blasts in Shanxi Province this year, which killed 159 people in total.

    Li Tiantai, the mayor of Linfen in north China's Shanxi Province, has been removed from his post as the city's deputy Party chief after being found responsible for a colliery accident that killed 105 on December 5 at Xinyao Coal Mine, Hong tong County, Linfen City.

    The Shanxi provincial CPC committee said in a notice on Wednesday that Li had breached his duty of supervising the mine's work safety. The committee also suggested to the People's Congress of Linfen, the city's legislature, to remove Li from the mayoral post.

    Major accidents in other fields, such as fireworks plants, metal and non-metal mines and construction, have been rising since November.

    Statistics showed that 12 major accidents in fireworks plants from late October to the end of November killed 86.

    Gan urged discipline departments at all levels to implement the explanations and show no leniency towards corrupt officials in workplace accidents.

    "Every corruption case in workplace accidents should be investigated and related officials should be punished or prosecuted," he said.

    He also said local discipline departments should urge companies to build long-term self-examination system, preventing the accidents from happening.

    Li Yizhong urged local work safety supervision departments to intensify inspection over work safety from now on, especially in coal mines, chemical plants, fireworks plants, construction sites, and the fields of transportation and fishery.

    "Hidden dangers should be identified and cleared to avoid accidents from occurring," he noted.