Over 91,000 people were killed in traffic and work-related accidents in China in 2008, a 10.2 percent decline from the previous year, state media reported Friday.

It was the first year since 1995 that traffic and work-related fatalities were below 100,000 deaths, Xinhua news agency reported, attributing this to an improvement in both road and work conditions.

According to police statistics, 73,484 of the fatalities last year occurred on roads, 10 percent lower than the number of traffic fatalities in 2007, the report said.

The nearly 17,700 other fatalities occurred in industrial accidents, the report said, including 3,786 deaths in the dangerous coal mining industry.

China's work safety watchdog recorded over 413,500 traffic and work-related accidents in 2008, down 18 percent from the previous year, it said.

The figures were released at an annual national work safety conference being held in Beijing.

The work safety agency also reported 168 cover-ups of accidents in 2008, resulting in the punishment of 3,488 people, it added.