Workers on nearly 8,000 construction sites in Shanghai were forced to put down their tools for an hour yesterday to undergo safety training.

The local government ordered the training sessions in response to several deadly construction accidents over the last few days. Construction accidents have killed eight people in the city this month alone.

The government also vowed to conduct a thorough investigation of safety problems at major construction sites around the city.

"The accidents reflect the carelessness of construction managers and the loopholes in our supervision system, particularly in rural areas," Sun Jianping, deputy director of the Shanghai Construction and Transport Commission, said yesterday.

There have been 27 construction accidents in the city so far this year, mostly falls from buildings or scaffolding and electric shocks, an increase of 50 percent from the same period last year. The accidents have led to eight deaths, all during this month.

"The safety situation in the first quarter was very severe," said Cai Jian, head of the commission's safety supervision sector.

Commission officials said they will impose tougher punishments on construction companies that don't take proper safety measure to protect their workers, but they didn't offer any specifics.

On April 19, two migrant construction workers were killed after the bamboo scaffolding they were working on suddenly crashed in Fengxian District.

Four other workers were injured in the accident.

When the about two-story-high scaffolding suddenly collapsed, the workers were working on an unfinished building in the economic development zone in the district's Qingcun Town.

On April 18, a crane collapsed in Putuo District due to improper operation, but no one was injured.

On April 17, the roof collapsed on a two-story dormitory building belonging to the Fusheng Compressor Factory in Songjiang District, killing one worker and injuring 13 others.

(Shanghai Daily April 22, 2005)