BEIJING - Production safety in China has seen continuous improvement over the past decade, with decreasing numbers of both workplace accidents and deaths, an official said Tuesday.

Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, said during an online press conference that workplace accidents and deaths had decreased for nine consecutive years by 2011.

The number of workplace accidents dropped from more than 1 million in 2002 to 350,000 in 2011, and deaths from those accidents dropped from about 140,000 to 75,572 during the same period.

"Since the beginning of this year, workplace accidents and deaths have maintained the decreasing trend," Huang said.

By the end of July, cases of workplace accidents fell by 50,000, or 24.3 percent year on year, while deaths caused by workplace accidents declined by more than 16 percent, according to Huang.

"The continuous improvement in production safety in China has created a comparatively stable environment for the country's sound and rapid development," Huang said.

Since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in late 2002, the government has taken a series of measures to enhance production safety, including reforming its supervision network, improving laws and regulations, carrying out special overhauls of accident-prone sectors and enhancing emergency response mechanisms, he said.