To promote first aid skills, officials from about 30 government departments participated in a one-day training course on workplace safety with both the Shanghai Safe Production Administration and Shanghai Red Cross yesterday.

"Proper first aid skills can effectively prevent deaths from accidents in the workplace. There are always deaths due to poor awareness of safe production and emergency therapy," said Li Derun, vice director of the Shanghai Safe Production Administration. "About 2,000 people die of accidents in Shanghai every year, including 1,300 to 1,500 from traffic accidents and another 400 in workplace incidents."

According to Li, China has a high death toll from accidents. "Every year, 120,000 to 130,000 Chinese die of production accidents, and 100,000 people die in traffic accidents," Li said. "Effective emergency treatment on the spot can save lives."

"We want the training to cover three percent of the city's population by 2010," said Xiong Fangjie, vice director of Shanghai Red Cross.

(Shanghai Daily June 13, 2007)