BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) - China has launched a safety drive among firework makers after a string of explosions that have killed 40 people since October, state media reported on Thursday.

Three people died when an explosion tore apart a fireworks workshop in Hebei province in the north in late October, and five were killed in an illegal fireworks factory in the same province just two days later, the Xinhua news agency said.

The Ministry of Public Security has ordered police to strengthen controls on the storage and transport of fireworks and "ensure that the public's lives and property are safe," Xinhua quoted the ministry as saying.

Small fireworks factories, often in the countryside with little supervision, are among the deadliest workplaces in the country.

In May China launched a crackdown on deadly accidents in mines, factories and building sites, demanding that officials and managers do more to lower the death and injury toll accompanying the nation's economic boom. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Golnar Motevalli)

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