A new round of central environmental inspections primarily aimed at improving air quality, began in cities around Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Friday.

The on-site inspections until March 29, 2018, will root out problems with emissions and pollution control equipment, according to a press briefing by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) on Friday.

“Local officials will be held accountable if cities fail to meet environmental protection targets”, said Liu Changgen, a senior MEP official.

The MEP released a plan last week for 28 northern cities to lower a major air pollution this coming winter. Between October and March 2018, the level of PM 2.5 pollution must be reduced by at least 15 percent in cities around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

The ministry will increase air quality monitoring and deal with unauthorized operations or those which fail to meet emission standards, while controlling coal consumption in the region.

A coordination body will be set up to oversee inspections in the region before the end of September.

Density of PM2.5 nationwide dropped 6.9 percent year on year in July, while Beijing reported an average PM2.5 density of 64 micrograms per cubic meter in the first seven months of 2017, down 34.7 percent from the same period in 2013.

The State Administration of Work Safety said Friday that inspectors found local authorities in 18 provinces and municipalities had made progress in workplace safety.

From Aug. 13 – 25, an inspection targeted businesses such as coal mines, fireworks factories and chemical companies, according to the administration.

Inspectors sent by the Work Safety Committee of the State Council found problems including formalism and lax supervision by local authorities. Local governments are required to submit formal feedback on the inspection results to the committee in September.

The teams went to Anhui, Chongqing, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan and Yunnan.

Despite regular demands for more focus on work safety, frequent tragedies still occur. A lack of safety awareness, poor regulation and lax implementation of safety measures are among the factors leading to accidents.

In a recent “extremely severe” accident, at least 36 people were killed and 13 others injured on an expressway in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province this month. “Extremely severe” refers to accidents that cause more than 30 deaths, leave more than 100 severely injured or result in more than 100 million yuan (about 15 million U.S. dollars) of direct economic losses.

The number of workplace safety accidents fell 24.7 percent year on year in the January-July period, while related fatalities fell 16.8 percent.

Liu Yunshan, a senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official, said Friday the CPC cadres must improve their political ability.

Liu, president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee and member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the school’s autumn semester.

“Political ability is the primary criterion to assess an official,” Liu said.

In selecting officials, Party committees must first determine whether the candidate is sober and firm politically, namely, to gauge their political ability, he explained.

The importance attached by the CPC Central Committee to ideological and political construction is behind the achievements made since the 18th CPC National Congress, Liu said.

Only a large number of officials with strong political ability can advance the country’s development, cope with multiple risks and challenges, consolidate the Party’s ruling status and realize its historical missions, he noted.

Liu asked officials to learn from speeches of Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and conform to the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core in thought, politics and action.