Forty-eight work safety inspectors have tendered their resignations over fears that they "cannot meet the tough rules" laid out for the coal-mining industry of Lianyuan City in Hunan Province.

A member of the group told China Daily on Monday he had joined 47 other inspectors to submit a joint resignation letter to Lianyuan's coal industry administration, after they found the penalties covering public accountability of the industry "too severe".

"The safety rules are extremely strict. It's hard to be 100 percent right all the time," said Zeng, a 50-year-old head of Doulishan township's work safety station.

According to the new rules issued by authorities in Hunan in a bid to make the province's mines safer for workers, the heads of Lianyuan's township work-safety stations "will be sacked for any major incident that occurs under their charge".

"We have had sleepless nights, responding to alerts and heading to mines to check reported safety threats for decades," Zeng said.

"But whenever an incident occurs, we are always the ones held responsible.

"To be fair, officials at the local and central administration should help each other and share the burden," he said.

The mass resignation comes close on the heels of escalated tensions over work safety in the region after a gas blast ripped through Lianyuan's Guaziyan colliery on December 17 last year, killing 18 people.

Two mine safety inspectors were removed from the posts shortly after.

An official from Lianyuan's local administration said most heads of the township stations who signed the joint resignation letter have "calmed down and returned to their jobs".

"The pressure they are under is tremendous and we have been trying to work out better ways to assist them," the director for general administration under Lianyuan's administration for the coal industry, surnamed Su, said.

Linfen, Shanxi province, another city hit by frequent coalmine accidents, has not had a mayor for the past six months.

In the past three years, Linfen has seen four mayors. The last mayor of the city, Liu Zhijie, was sacked last year on account of a mine accident that killed at least 270 people.

Former governor of Shanxi Province, Meng Xuenong, was also removed over the same accident last September, while Meng's predecessor, Yu Youjun, had been removed from the post after a series of mine accidents.

There have also been concerns in Hunan's Lianyuan over the average wage of its mine safety inspectors, who, China Youth Daily said, earn about 1,200 yuan (US$175) a month, making them more vulnerable to bribes.

(China Daily May 26, 2009)